The Faith of Noah (Part 4)

Well, I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and open them up to the book of Hebrews, as we have been over the last few weeks and are continuing to do now.

We've been looking at the passage in Hebrews 11, which talks about a man by the name of Noah.

And in Hebrews 11, 7, it gives us simply a glimpse as Hebrews 11 is all about people that exemplified genuine faith and Hebrews 11, 7 gives us just a snapshot of who Noah was.

And because I felt like it was something important for us to do, I felt very led to do this.

We have been using this as a springboard to take us back into the Old Testament and examine the lives of these individuals.

So far with Noah, we've only really gotten about halfway through where we need to be.

So this morning we'll continue on in our study of Noah, but we'll begin with reading this passage in Hebrews 11 to remind us the context of the lesson.

I invite you to stand as we read this passage.

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

By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Father God, as we examine this text of Scripture this morning and as we examine and continue to look at the life of Noah, I pray that first and foremost, that you would keep me from error and that you would shield the hearts of the congregation from error.

Lord God, that you would also open their hearts to the truth.

We pray also, O God, as we examine this text, that you would use it to change our hearts, move us closer to you, show us, O God, in these passages where the line is drawn between those who will receive your grace and those who will receive your justice.

And Lord, remind us of our condition, show us clearly where we are.

And Lord God, move on our hearts.

If a change needs to be made, Lord, all these things we ask in Jesus' precious name.

Amen.

Amen.

Back in Genesis chapter six, if you want to turn back to Genesis, you'll remember over the last few weeks we have been examining the life of Noah and in Genesis chapter six, we see what was the impetus for God's disfavor on the world was that corruption had increased in the world.

Sin had increased.

There was a situation with intermarrying that caused a rise in corruption to the point wherein the scripture says the only intention of man's heart was only evil continually.

So God promised he was going to destroy the world and the inhabitants therein.

But he was also going to demonstrate grace.

He was going to give grace to a man named Noah, who had a wife and had who had three sons whose names were Shem, Ham and Japheth.

And so we get through Noah having gotten the command from the Lord to go and to build an ark and upon that ark, there would be two of every kind of animal and that that ark would include the animals, it would include the food for them to eat, it would include the people of Noah, his three sons and all their wives.

And then last week we got to chapter seven and we looked at verses one through five of chapter seven, where God calls Noah into the ark.

And he says to go into the ark and wait for seven days so that at the end of seven days he would bring the flood.

And that is where we ended last week at verse five, because verse five, I told you, was one of the great passages which remind us of the character and nature of Noah, because it says, and Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

This is so important that we understand that the reason why Noah's name is given in the list of Hebrews chapter 11 is because of these types of verses, because they tell us that Noah, upon hearing the command of God, obeyed the command of God.

Beloved, obedience to God is such an important attribute for us to possess.

It is such an important thing for us to do to be obedient to God when he gives us commands.

It is it is so dangerous for us to read the Bible, to hear the word of God, command us to do something and for us to look back at it and say, that doesn't fit my personal feelings.

Thus, I'm not going to do it or that doesn't fit in with my view of the way things ought to be.

So I'm not going to do it.

We have to be submissive to the word of God.

If we are who we say we are, if we believe that God is God and we are his creation, his creatures, then we are bound to be in obedience to him.

A few weeks ago, I said in a sermon and it just keeps reiterating in my mind something that I said, because it's it's it's important for us to get this concept that to do life and the way that the author of life intended life to be done is the best way to do life.

Let me say that again, to do life the way the author of life intended life to be done is the best way to do life.

Because he created life, he created us, thus his commands are good and righteous and wholesome and pure, and those things which he commands us to do are the right things to do.

And when we see somebody like Noah, when it says he did all that the Lord commanded them to do, can we say that of ourselves? Well, this morning we are going to continue on and we're going to witness what happens to the disobedient.

We're going to witness what happens when the world rises up in opposition to God, and we're going to witness pure, unfettered, unrelinquishing judgment.

This is no easy message.

This is no simple message.

And when we see it.

And what I what I would like to say in a very real way, because I think this is often put away from our thought, this is a real event that really happened to a real people in a real time, in a real place.

When we see it like that, it should make our chins drop and stand in awe, because it says in verse six, Noah was 600 years old and we talked a few weeks ago about the age prior to the flood that there seems to be a much older age that people were able to attain, most likely because of atmospheric pressures that were quite different from what was different prior to the flood.

The world was a different place before the flood.

We do not live in the same place that God called good when he created the world.

When God created the world, he said and all that he created, he said, it is all very good.

We don't live in that place anymore.

That place was washed away.

That's something important to remember.

We live in a post-Diluvian world.

We live in a time after the flood, says Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth and Noah and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood of clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground.

Two and two male and female went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded Noah.

Now, some have questioned.

How Noah could have collected all of the animals in the world and put them in the same place when we know that all of the animals in the world live in different climatic conditions, they have different climate requirements.

Penguins live in a different climate than do grizzly bears and grizzly bears live in a different climate than do koala bears and so on and so on.

And that is a legitimate question, but it is an easily answered question because the answer is that we do not know at all what the conditions prior to the flood were.

And we do not know that the conditions that the animals live in now were the conditions that they lived in prior to the ark.

And I would submit to you, we can feel fairly confident they were not the same conditions that were the world's conditions prior to the flood.

Something to consider is that the amount of variation in the animal kingdom that exists today is likely much greater than the amount of variation that existed in the animal kingdom at that period in time.

People say that Christians don't believe in evolution because we don't believe in what is called macro evolution or the evolution where one strand of DNA can change and become a new strand or a different type of strand of DNA.

We do not believe dogs can become sheep or that turtles can become sharks or that baboons can become people.

But we also don't deny that time changes and adapts things that happens.

We see adaptation all the time and adaptation is not evolution.

Adaptation is something that is built into our DNA that gives us the ability simply to adapt to certain characteristics of our environment.

There are people who live in our world that can swim in subarctic temperatures and it doesn't bother them at all.

And I can't get in the water at Ichetucknee without feeling like I'm going to die.

But they have adapted and I've seen these pictures.

There are tribes that live in arctic areas and they get in the water and they swim around and they frolic as if they're in a swimming pool.

Any one of us, we get hypothermia in a minute.

Yes, people and animals do and can adapt.

But again, that does not mean that one species can become another species, but we can't deny that adaption does happen.

And it is likely that the large array of dogs that we see in our world today came from a singular canine source and the larger array of felines that we see came from a large array or from a singular feline source.

In fact, if you have a cat, first of all, I'll pray for you.

No, I'm just kidding.

I love I know we got some real cat lovers and cats scare me because I know if they were any bigger, they'd eat me.

If the cat was big enough, I would be prey.

And that's that's the thing about it is we see cats, they still have the instinct of the lion and they hunt and they like to seek after and they act like even in their domesticated condition, they act like the lion.

They behave like that.

And dogs, well, dogs are just foolish, but they're nice.

They're nice to have around.

They're sweet dogs, but we see a singular source most likely for these things.

And thus, when we talk about all the animals that were on the ark and we talk about climatic conditions that they now live in and how different types of dogs live in different places, this is all post flood.

This is a situation that occurred as a result of the flood.

But it doesn't mean that that's the way it was prior to the flood.

Remember this.

And don't forget it, that Genesis six, seven and eight changed the world.

And we know that this is a result of the flood, that nothing before Genesis six is the same after Genesis eight, except that God is still God, because the whole world changed.

Our lifespans changed the world in which we live, the geological anomalies that we see all around us, many of which are the result of the flood.

We watch and look and see these things, and we know that we live in a different world.

Genesis six, seven and eight changed the world.

And furthermore, it is possible, especially if you are a young earther like I am, if you believe the earth is not as old as we have been, we have been beat, it's been beat into our mind.

The earth has to be this old and it has to be.

Because why? Because evolution demands this amount of time to take place.

But that presupposes that evolution is necessary to get us to where we are today.

That's a whole other topic.

But the point is, if you believe in a younger earth, then one of the things that we understand is that after the flood, when everything changed, one of the things that probably occurred after the flood was that we had our first ice age.

And it's not like the one in the movie where you got the squirrel chasing the little nugget, but it was a major shift in the climatic condition of the world.

And as such, there would have been a major adaptation in the world where animals that go in different directions after the flood, as they begin to procreate and change and move around and fill the earth.

Redoing that command that God had commanded us to do, fill the earth in the beginning that we see the adaptation as the climate around the world changes and animals begin to adapt.

But again, this is not our focus of the morning.

I just any time you talk about knowing the flood, people think you're talking about a fanciful story.

It's not a fanciful story.

It's the story that changed the world.

It's the event that changed the face of the world, and we shouldn't forget that.

Verse 10, and after seven days, remember last week we said it was God said, go into the ark and after seven days I'll bring the flood.

So they've been waiting for seven days, the same amount of time from last Sunday that y'all were here to right now that we're looking at this passage.

That amount of time has passed and they've been sitting there waiting, waiting on the flood.

That's faith demonstrated.

It says after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth in the 600th year of Noah's life in the second month on the 17th day of the month.

On that day, all the fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened and rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights.

The fountains of the deep bursting forth answers the question that is posed by many who oppose the historicity of this story.

In fact, I've had this conversation where a person will say, well, I don't believe in Noah's flood because 40 days of rain, even if it was torrential rain, 40 days of rain just isn't enough to cover the earth.

And there are scientists who've tried to make that argument, they said, listen, if it rained buckets and they demonstrate what a lot of rain would look like, if it rained this much all day, every day, 24 hour periods for 40 days, it still wouldn't be enough to cover up the earth.

And there's two problems with that.

Number one, the Bible doesn't declare that the water from above is the only place that water is coming from.

And number two, you're assuming and remember, that's what happens in the scientific community, they make presumptions and assumptions and they base their facts upon their assumptions.

And they're assuming that the landscape of the earth today is the same as it was before the flood.

And I would submit to you that I do not believe that the landscape that we have today is at all indicative of what it was prior to the flood.

I believe that the mountainous regions that we have today sprung up as a result of the flood.

And as such, there would not have been as much to cover.

So that's a point all and to itself.

But here's the point.

This text tells us very clearly that water came from two places and a lot of people forget, a lot of people think the storms clouds covered up and people began to look up and people got nervous and water started to fall and then it started to rise up and slowly people began to drown.

That is not the way it is described in this text.

The Bible declares in this text that the springs of the deep, it says it actually says the great fountains of the deep burst forth.

How many of you have ever been to see the geyser Old Faithful? I mean, you've ever actually been there, Paul's been there, a couple of people have been there, you've actually witnessed it, you've watched it, you've seen it burst forth.

I've never seen it in my life.

I've seen it on video.

And it is a true natural wonder.

Water from rain and snow works its way into the ground and is heated by the Earth's magma, and it is then brought back to the surface as the pressure increases.

And then when it comes out, it bursts out in a violent burst of energy.

So you've got this water that seeps down into the ground.

It's heated back up like a like a teapot when we heat up a teapot and then it bursts out.

Well, the same thing happens and it bursts out of the ground in what is called a geyser.

And it is a violent burst of energy.

Would you want to be standing looking down at the hole? No, it would it would probably harm you greatly, if not take your life.

And I believe that this text for us, that this text describes for us that all over the world, the Earth began to burst forth.

I believe this would have been the most frighteningly horrific event that anyone could have ever seen.

In an instant, the Earth burst open and water flooded out.

Those who were present, men, women, children watched as the Earth below their feet tore itself apart and brought forth an instant.

Demise.

It wasn't a group of people floating in water, it was the very Earth itself becoming the instrument of the judgment of God.

It is a horrible picture of judgment and so many people forget the absolute devastation of that day.

Those of us who do believe in a younger Earth would say that the scars of the deluge are still seen in the geonomical anomalies that exist all around the world.

It wiped the face of the earth clean, it ripped it apart, it changed it forever.

It's a frightening thing, but it happened.

Yet in the midst of this powerful display of God's wrath, we are reminded of his grace.

Look at verse 13.

On the very same day, remember, it just talked about how the earth split open, burst forth, water came from the top and the bottom.

And it says on that very same day, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wives, and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark.

They and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature, they went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.

And those that entered, male and female and all flesh, went in as God had commanded him.

And the Lord shut him in.

That last phrase, and the Lord shut him in, is a picture.

It is a symbol.

It is something that actually happened, but it's also symbolic of the closure.

God is providing for them safety.

It is like when we read in Ephesians chapter one, where it says that we who are believers have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In the same way, Noah was sealed within the ark.

He was sealed from the judgment of God.

He had a bulwark, a wall of defense between him and that which was happening outside.

As the earth outside the walls of the ark was splitting and dividing and tearing itself in two, inside of the ark was safe from the wrath of God.

Verse 17, the flood continued 40 days on the earth.

The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth.

The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the face of the waters.

Why 40 days? Well, I do not get into numerology, I'll tell you that, because I have seen that become very dangerous.

People finding numbers in the scriptures and making too much to do out of them.

Some even trying to determine the end of the world by adding this number and carrying it by two or whatever, you know, dividing it by two or something.

But I will say this, the number 40 does come up in scripture a lot.

It's important to recognize that it comes up generally as a period of probation or testing.

Jesus was tested 40 days in the wilderness.

Elijah and Moses both fasted 40 days.

It was 40 days that the Ninevites had or else judgment would come.

That was what Jonah was to preach.

So we see this 40 days as sort of a repetitious thing.

And we see here this initial instance where God in 40 days destroyed the earth.

Some have argued again that it's impossible that the earth could be flooded.

But it's not impossible because we don't even know, again, what the earth looked like prior to this situation.

Genesis chapter 7 and verse 19 says, And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth, so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains were under, the whole heaven were covered.

Now, again, I didn't say earlier that there were no mountains.

I said that I didn't know.

I didn't believe necessarily that the mountainous regions were as they are now.

There were certainly mountains and valleys and things like that prior to the flood.

But my question is whether Mount Everest was as high as it is today.

Here, it says, though, that everything was covered, the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep, 15 cubits translated into English is 22 and a half feet approximately.

So here's what we know.

Everything, including the highest mountain in the area, in the world, anywhere, in any area, was at least 22 and a half feet underwater.

Now, here's something important.

There are those who theorize that Noah's flood.

Well, let's call it God's flood.

The flood that Noah survived in the ark.

That this situation was simply local in its geography, that it only happened in one localized area, that the rest of the world didn't go through this flood, that it was only one localized area that actually went through this flood.

Beloved, you will never, ever be able to make that argument from Scripture.

You can only make that argument by going outside of Scripture and trying to find some logical reason, because this passage tells us that the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

This is telling us, this is trying to push us to understand that there was not an inch of ground on the earth that was not at least 22 feet underwater.

The part I always ask people is, if the earth was only partially covered with water, why did God ask Noah, or command Noah to make an ark? Why not command Noah to move? If it's only going to cover a part of the earth, and you've got 120 years, remember that's how long it took him, I can go anywhere at 120 years, even if I gotta walk.

Couldn't he have just walked, and why all the animals? Why take all the animals who have breath in their nostrils? Remember that was a big deal, that they actually breathed.

Why take all the animals onto the ark, if this is only going to be a local flood? And by the way, I might add, let's start preaching in a second, I will add this, later on, the Bible tells us that God made a promise that he would never do this again in this way, and he put something in the sky to remind us of that promise, and we call it the rainbow.

And beloved, if God's promise was that he would never do this again, and all it was was a local flood, and from then until now, we see local floods all the time, then God did not tell the truth, and the Bible is in error.

So either the Bible is consistent with itself, God flooded and destroyed the world, and all things save Noah and his family were destroyed, and the animals in the ark.

Or it was a local flood, and this story is totally without merit, because it demonstrates twice that it would be untrue.

One, in saying that the whole world was covered, and second, in saying that God would never do it again.

Beloved, it is without question that the Bible teaches this.

The question is, do we believe it? And if this is the word of God, then we certainly have no reason not to.

Verses 21-24 remind us of exactly what happened.

And all the flesh died that moved on the earth.

Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind, everything on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died.

He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the earth.

Again, somebody who tries to argue the local flood theory, you've just got to throw this passage out, because it doesn't allow for it.

It says, every living thing that was on the face of the ground died.

Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, they were blotted out from the earth.

Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark and the waters prevailed on the earth.

One hundred fifty days.

It is in this passage that we receive the death toll.

You know, it's always staggering to hear a death toll after a cataclysmic event.

A few months ago, when we saw the tragedy that happened in Japan, when the earth had but a slight eruption and we saw the devastation from a slight eruption that occurred.

I call it slight when compared to what we're talking about today.

But even that slight eruption brought destruction and devastation.

I know we all turned our televisions on and we watched the news or you turned on the Internet and you saw the video of the water coming out of the sea and encapsulating cars, houses and buildings and destroying them all without any mercy.

Water is a very merciless thing.

And what did we see? The death toll has risen to this amount.

And the death toll has risen to that amount.

And we sat in awe as the death toll rose.

Beloved, when you read chapter 7, verses 21 through 24, you're reading the death toll.

You're reading what happened.

And all flesh died and the waters prevailed.

Noah's story reminds us.

It reminds us of something so very important, something so important that we must never forget it.

Noah's story reminds us that everyone in the world, everyone in the world is in one of two conditions.

We're either safe in the ark of God or we're outside of the ark waiting on his wrath.

You are either right now safe in the ark of God or you're outside waiting for the earth underneath your feet to burst open and encapsulate your soul.

The Bible shows us that the ark is a type of Christ in that it saved Noah from the wrath of God.

Beloved, I will say this to you today with a heart that I truly trust has been given to me by God.

I will call you to repentance and faith.

If you are outside of Christ, if you are outside of the ark, repent and come in.

For outside of the ark is judgment and inside is safety.

Outside of the ark is devastation and inside is consolation.

Outside of the ark is death.

Inside the ark is life.

Come inside the ark.

Repent and know the Lord if you are outside.

This is the call of the gospel and I call you today.

Let us pray.

Father, as we think about the devastation of the flood, we are reminded that your promise is that there is another judgment coming.

But that this judgment will not be with water, but that this judgment will be with fire.

And we pray, oh God, that we would be safely within the ark of Christ.

For your word tells us that if we are in Christ, we are a new creature.

Old things have passed, new things have come.

Your word tells us that if we are in Christ, we are safe from the wrath.

If we are in Christ, we can stand before you clothed in righteousness.

But that if we are not in Christ, we stand under judgment until the hammer of that judgment falls.

Lord, save us.

That there be one among us who does not know you.

And Lord, this is the day that you have called them to repentance.

I pray, Lord, that you would open their heart to that repentance and faith.

And Lord, those who are in Christ, who are safe in Christ, Lord, remind them of their safety.

Remind them of the faith that they have in Christ, who is the only ark, the only one that can save us.

And that has saved us by his glorious work.

We pray, oh Lord, for you to move on all of our hearts.

In Jesus' name and for his sake.