Genesis 7:1-8:19 Carried Through the Storm

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan where you can grow in faith community and service. This is a message from the series beginning with God walking through the book of Genesis by pastor of teaching and vision Don Filsack.

If you'd like to learn more about recast or access our sermon archive, please visit us at recastchurch .com. Here's Pastor Don. All right. Good morning and welcome to recast. How y 'all doing this morning?

Faces shining y 'all look so good. We're happier you're here today. As usual you have a worship Folder or handout there and there's some important announcements in there. We encourage you to go through that.

You'll see an envelope there and you are welcome to Make a gift if you'd like to do that and you put the money in the envelope drop it in that box back there. There's also a connection card if you'd like to like to give us your information your name and An information we'll put you on an email list so that you can see what's going on.

I'm in the life of the church and we'd love for you to do that and also you can put your prayer requests there and We as the elders pray for you pray for those cards every Tuesday morning and we encourage you to connect with us that way.

And then just one announcement there and maybe you saw them up on the slides too. But we want to highlight it the Madawan area food pantry. We need volunteers for that this Saturday. It's recasts turn to Staff that and serve our community there 8 to 12 this Saturday.

And as of this morning Scott only had one person signed up for that. So if that's something that you could do on Saturday. It's an awesome way to help their community and connect with people who might be in need there.

So Please and encourage you to do that and see Scott quackin Bush to sign up. So this morning I'm gonna do the intro for Don as he has viral bronchitis, he's not contagious. Don't worry, but he's trying to save his voice and I'll do my best to kind of enter the sermon and read with you but as you know, we're in a series called walking through the book of Genesis beginning with God and We are coming up on Genesis 7 and 8 this Sunday.

And or this morning and as we get to this text We're diving into the tempest and if you know the story of Noah and the flood account. You know that things are gonna get crazy here and that has been because of what we saw last week that essentially God looked down on humanity and saw everything that was happening and The thing that he had made that was so good this creation that he had made full of beauty and and wonder and peace and.

And and his life had now become corrupted and the language Don pointed this out last week, you know that the language paralleled. In the beginning when he said at the end of the day, you know, he looked and he saw that it was good.

But last week we saw that he looked and he saw that it was not good anymore. That that life was not as he had intended it. In fact As we look back in verse 6 it talks about how the earth was filled with violence and God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth and Talks about the every intention of the the thoughts of our hearts had become evil all the time and What what a difference and so in?

This passage that we're gonna read today. We're gonna see that God's judgment finally.

Comes.

And he sees the need to do something cataclysmic to basically hit the reset button and. Of course, it seems like well God must be angry to do something like that. But what we understand from God is that his judgment just doesn't come from anger at disobedience, but it also also comes from sorrow.

He is sorry that he he has seen the sin and that he made us and that we have fallen so far. And and Don kind of uses this illustration. He talks about it's like a parent who has a child who has gotten Mixed up with drugs, right?

And you you walk with that child and you go again and again with them and you're trying to rescue them from that. But there's a point where there's a stop and there has to be a cutoff and in some ways.

That's what we see God that point that he's gotten to This morning that he's not going to let it continue anymore. He's going to stop it and and so we see the flood come but in this really difficult picture of Death and judgment.

We also see God's grace and favor and that's going to be highlighted for you today as Don preaches that Yes wickedness Resulted in judgment, but God made a way and he built an ark and he saved his people through it and there's an opportunity there.

And it wasn't just an opportunity for them, but it's an opportunity that continues for us Today in Christ, so please turn with me to Genesis chapter 7 and this is a lengthy text, but It's a word of God.

So it's good. So we're gonna read from Genesis 7 chapter 1 through 8 19 and it's begins on page 5 of the Bible. In the pew there in front of you then the Lord said to Noah Go into the ark you and all your household for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation take with you seven pairs of all clean animals the male and his mate and a pair of the animals that are not clean the male and his mate and Seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also male and female to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

For in seven days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground and Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth and Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood of Clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground.

Two and two male and female went into the ark with Noah as God commanded Noah and after seven days and 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 great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened and Rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights on The very same day Noah and his sons Shem and Ham and Japheth and Noah's wife 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 of all flesh went in as God had commanded him and the Lord shut him in.

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 and The waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed above the mountains covering them 15 cubits deep and all flesh died that moved on the earth birds livestock beasts all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark and The waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark and God made a wind blow over the earth and the water subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heaven were closed.

The rain from the heavens was restrained and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the water had abated and in the seventh month on the 17th day of the month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat and The waters continued to abate until the 10th month.

In the 10th month on the first day of the month the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of 40 days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot and she returned to him to the ark. For the waters were still on the face of the whole earth.

So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days and again. He sent forth the dove of the ark Out of the ark and the dove came back to him in the evening and behold in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf.

So no one knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove and she did not return to him anymore. In the 601st year in the first month the first day of the month the waters were dried from off of the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry in.

The second month on the 27th day of the month the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah Go out from the ark you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you. Bring with bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh Birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him. Every beast every creeping thing and every bird. Everything that moves on the earth went out by families from the ark. Let's pray Father we thank you and delight in your word.

We thank you God that you inspired Moses to record this for us and to leave us this record and God we read it today and I know that sometimes we read it as a children's story as if it was just that about rainbows and cute animals.

Lord, but It's really a tragic story and yet one full of redemption and hope. And I pray God that as we come to worship this morning and as we as We sing to you the God who who would require something of this who would implement a plan like this.

God I pray that we would tremble in our hearts Knowing that you are a mighty and awesome God capable of judgment but God I pray that Truly in the depths of our being we would sing to you out of gratefulness that you have made a way for us to pass through the tempest and I pray that this morning that would be what we celebrate God that we would recognize that.

That you are a God of love who weeps and is and it grieved over our sin and yet who makes a way for us Lord, and I pray that we would not miss or Fail to understand what that way is that you provided for us to be rescued Lord so We sing to you and we give you all the praise and the glory because you are worth it.

And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Thanks a lot to the band for leading us this morning. Very grateful for them and their work. Encourage you to get settled in as I say most weeks. There's more juice. There's I think some more donuts and coffee.

I know we just took a break, but you might need to tank up before the end. So and then on the other hand, there are bathrooms available back here as well. You've been drinking coffee all morning anyway, so.

But I encourage you to have your Bibles open to Genesis chapter 7. And just to get this out of the way at the beginning, I didn't really say this for service. But if my voice goes through the stages of puberty during this morning, just know that I finally hit puberty.

So this is happening right now, but um, I've had this bronchitis thing and it's this morning I woke up and I was very pleasantly surprised to find it in my throat. So That's the way it's going this morning.

But um, we see in the text here what we saw last week really is that God selected a man who trusted him. Told him to build a big boat and said my judgment is coming build this thing huge. We saw last week that Noah was chosen by God based upon his faith.

That is faith is Trusting God that he is good that he is true and that he has our best interest in mind. It's kind of not far off a real genuine faith is not far off of the word love in that. That Noah adored God and said I really trust in you and I really believe you have my best interest in mind and that you are going to fix all of this mess that humanity has caused and Ultimately going back and believing the promise that God had issued to Eve that one would be born of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent and would restore all things.

And so there was some level of that trust that was going on in there. We saw last week that in essence Noah Stumbled upon the grace of God back in verse 8 if you were to just a glance up the page I don't know if it's there on your page if you turn one back.

But but verse 8 of chapter 6 said but Noah found favor in the eyes of God. We made much of that verb found in the text because that word found is like to stumble upon something. It is not that he earned it.

It's not that he gained it. It's not that he worked hard to get the grace or the favor of God. It's like he was walking along in the field and tripped over some of God's grace. Oh, what was that? Oh, that was God's grace and it was something that was given to him as a gift.

Grace is always a gift. It is not something that is earned kind of like Christmas presents on Christmas morning. You don't work hard all year. So that your spouse buys you a Christmas present because they might not if you didn't earn it or something like that, right?

I mean a gift is just that it is a gift. So Noah stumbled upon that and so in verse 1 we start With this God who has called out Noah among the peoples of the earth and it says then the Lord said to Noah So who is this Lord that we're talking about?

We've seen that word Lord multiple times in the text and I haven't taken the opportunity to explain it. But I want to this morning because I think it's valuable to understand the name that God gives himself.

Within the context of this flood event that we're gonna see that's pretty Cataclysmic and on this huge catastrophe on the face of the planet then the Lord said to Noah Lord there. You see how it's written in the verse.

It's all capital letters, but it's kind of smaller caps. That is the formal name of God. That is the name that he issued to Moses when Moses was standing before the burning bush in the out in the wilderness of Midian up on the hillside.

And he saw this bush that was burning and it wasn't being consumed and it just kept burning and kept burning. So he went and took a took a peek. God said you're the bush. God spoke out of the bush to him said you're on holy ground take off your sandals and then basically called Moses into ministry to go back to Egypt and Pull his people out through the Exodus and some of you know know that history and understand that but God says who should I tell?

Pharaoh has that who should I say has sent me and God says you shall tell him I am has sent you the Almighty's title for himself the way that he calls himself and he says I am you can just tell Pharaoh I am has sent you the word is Yahweh or Jehovah in various translations.

I wish we didn't translate it as Lord in the ESV. I wish that it just left YHWH in there or Yahweh or Jehovah or went ahead and translate it as the formal name of God because that's what it is. But there's something significant about this title.

He is the great I am. It's a mighty and a powerful and a bold and a steadfast title for God. What he ultimately says is I mean he declares of himself. I am. But it's it would be sufficient for us to say when we're thinking of God He is like in the third person to call his title.

He is and to really think of it this way come what may.

He is.

In the past He is in the present He is and in the future.

He is.

You see God is the only one who is self-sufficient and self-sustaining. What does God need that he might exist?

Nothing.

He just is.

That.

Does that title blow your mind a little bit? I remember I I kind of remember as a kid kind of wrapping my mind around that question. So who made God. Have any of you had your children ask you that question or where did God come from?

The answer is his name.

He is.

He always has been is now and always will be and Yet he is a God in relationship with his creation willing to share even his intimate name. With humanity. And here it is that God who says to Noah. And we saw in the text last week 120 years of patience.

120 years of preparation for the flood. 120 years of preaching and proclaiming righteousness as we're gonna see here in a minute. 120 years of building a boat pretty big boat. Massive undertaking. This wasn't a factory operation.

Okay, so think about how long it took for Noah to build this boat. But 120 years of preparation goes by and God comes to the Lord. Yahweh comes to Noah and says it's go time. It's time His patience has run out and it is time He's given 120 years for the people to repent and now it is time to float the boat.

Noah stood out in his generation as a man who walked with God. We saw last week in the fact that this distinction is based upon faith does not minimize the significance of Noah's Blamelessness and righteousness the man of faith will stand out.

The woman of faith will stand out. There will be something distinct about the life of a person who genuinely loves God who genuinely trusts him. The life of a person of faith is not one trying to match the culture and blend in and fit in.

The life of faith is one of obedience. That's radical and changes you and is different. Do you hear what I'm saying? And Noah stood out in his generation. The same thing that distinguished Noah can distinguish you.

Now what's declared of Noah has been declared of you and I mentioned that last week that just like Noah was declared Righteous and blameless if you are in Jesus Christ if you've asked him to save you then you are blameless and righteous.

That's a mystery. Any of you any of you out there who have put your trust in Christ and you go. That is that is strange that God sees I see myself and I mean I could blame myself on a lot of things. But he has pushed all of that over on his son and he has taken it for you and you will stand Righteous before God one day because your sins have been put on Jesus on the cross.

So we are declared that. But there's also a distinction that can be designated and the thing that distinguished Noah was.

Faith.

So the question that I have for all of you men here Are you a man who trusts God regardless of the mess that you see around you? Do you believe he is good? Do you trust him with your life? Even when things don't make sense around you and you're frustrated and you're struggling will you put your trust in him?

Or for your women Are you a woman who loves God and walks with him despite the pain and hardship that you see around you in life and the difficulties? And the struggles for all of us. Do we wake up praising him and close out our day with gratitude and Meditate on him and walk with him in the in-between times.

Are we living our lives as if we are living before the face of God walking with him side by side? Noah was distinguished not because he was great. This is key. Noah was distinguished not because he was good at acting the part.

Noah was set aside and distinguished because he truly loved God. Do you hear the difference? You see my fear for us here at recast is I could get up and preach and proclaim and you I fear that on Occasion you might walk out of these doors and walk away with a sense that what Don wants from me What the Word of God is preaching to me is that I ought to act better.

You hear what I'm saying? Have you ever walked away from a sermon and felt like what you needed to do is go out and act better? What I'm preaching for and hoping for and praying for week in and week out is for a heart change from the inside out.

How many of you know that it's possible to add to play the part and not be in the boat? You can look the part on the outside and you can scrub all of this up and dress right and talk right in these and vows and Holy Roller speech and all of that stuff.

Do you know what I'm talking about and Never have had a changed heart and really deep down I would encourage each one of us and here's the test look down and say do I love God? Do I delight in his word?

Do I do I long for his presence? Am I hopeful for that day when he returns and sets everything straight?

Do you love him?

That's my prayer for each and every one of us. We just sang it and I don't know if we realized what we were singing. God changed me from what the inside out in Faith faith is that that desire that love that that trusting in him to walk with him.

Noah stood out because he wasn't acting like he loved God. He loved God. And God clarifies instructions then to the man of faith in verses 2 through 4 He has to take seven pairs of clean animals and a pair of unclean animals.

And he doesn't even say how many pairs of clean underwear to take. I hope there were a lot because it's gonna be year-long and I don't know if they had laundry service there on the boat. And that is not in my notes.

But I did say it in both services. So Whatever along with seven pairs of every bird I think there's reason for that and I kind of speculate about why the birds why the clean animals. I believe that the reason for seven of each clean is for the purpose of offering some of the offerings were also birds.

And so I think that that's part of what's going on there. We know that way back in Cain and Abel's time earlier in the text centuries before Noah's Ark Centuries before that happened there were sacrifices and offerings happening.

Cain and Abel were offering Sacrifices. How well that was formed? We don't know but the concept of clean and unclean is Expressed here in the text and there was a sense in which there was already a an understanding.

Maybe some of these who walked with God maybe Enoch came back from one of his Jaunts out in the woods with God and came back and said, you know what? He really these are the kind of animals I don't I don't know how that went down.

But they have a sense. Are you seeing it in the text? They have a sense of clean and unclean. They didn't just offer snakes on the idol or on the on the altar or something like that. They had clean and unclean.

We know that. Some of you might it might think from Sunday school classes or from hearing this account before that well the clean animals they took in. Because they're gonna eat them right anybody anybody kind of heard that notion or whatever.

But we're gonna see in the text next week that it's not until after the flood that God gives permission for humans to eat meat. So up to this point, we're basically looking at a vegetarian society prior to the flood and then at the end of the flood.

He's gonna say and now I'm giving you all flesh. We saw him earlier in Genesis actually give all plant life to humanity to eat. But now he's gonna say I give you I give you meat to eat as well. So I don't think that's the notion of the clean and unclean there but in verses 4 and 10.

Look at those two verses for just a second while I take a drink. It's obvious that he allows for a week a final loading of the ark says four in seven days so he comes to Noah there's been a hundred and twenty years of preparation.

He had come to Noah before 120 years prior to this and said this is gonna this is gonna happen. But now in seven days, I will send rain on the earth in 40 days and 40 nights. It will rain and then look down at verse 10 after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth basically seven days of loading.

Getting final preparations together getting the animals on the ark and this is all going to happen soon. He says and just like verse 22 last week. We see here in our text that Noah as a man of faith does all that God commanded to him.

We know that faith leads to obedience not vice versa. Obedience doesn't lead to faith. It's very important that we understand the way that those two things go. But faith does lead to obedience loving God and believing that he has your best interest in mind.

Therefore when he gives a when he gives instructions you say I love you God. I believe you have my best interest in mind. So you have given me this instruction because you love me and therefore I know that this is best for me to either avoid or to Do depending on the command, right?

So I look at I look at that and say faith drives the Christian life. Faith drives our relationship with God and without faith. You're doing something other than living a Christian life. You're Beautifying yourself you're making a kingdom for yourself.

Or you're making you're building up yourself and making yourself look better in the culture and the society and in the church and whatever but faith truly trusting God will change us from the inside out and we will obey and so God says do this and.

And Noah does everything as the Lord tells him. Verse 6 serves to keep dates for the remainder of this text. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of the waters came upon him all the dates Given in this text are going to be based on Noah's age.

So how old was he when this happened? How old was he when this happened? But we know that he was 600 years when the flood started and everything can kind of fit into that. Some of you maybe weren't here and you look at that age and you go 600 years.

What is that all about? You could go back in online and listen to my sermon from a couple of weeks ago. If you're interested in knowing more about the dates and the times one of my sermons that was basically on the two genealogies and all of the Extended life of humanity on the earth during that time.

I don't have time to get into it this morning. But I believe that Noah was 600 years old and that's not a mistake in the numbering there. So Noah had many years of walking with God. He lived and obviously wicked and in a obviously wicked and perverse generation.

We saw that things were really really denigrated in his society in his culture. I think um, I don't know how that relates to our culture. I can't really say definitively that our culture is as bad as that one or whatever that our culture is better.

But one thing is for sure is that the human heart has not changed in its wickedness. One thing is for sure and that is that in our hearts in our thoughts in our intentions we are corrupted through and through and.

That's that that stands at least. But Noah had many years of walking with God and according to 2nd Peter 2 5 Noah was declared a preacher of righteousness. He was a man who wasn't just spending a hundred and twenty years building a boat.

But he spent a hundred and twenty years proclaiming to his culture the righteousness of God and the call to repent from your ways. Stop living your way and turn to God's way. That's what repentance means and in all honesty.

That's our call as believers to our culture and our society is stop. Stop doing things your way your way leads to death and destruction. Turn to God by faith and embrace the way that he has provided for you.

Which is the way of salvation through his son, right?

So.

He was a preacher of righteousness. But also we see in first Peter 3 20. And if you can pull that up Gavin and throw that up on the screen for people. To just kind of follow along as I read this and this is a key passage talking about Noah.

And the people in his time and era it says because they formerly did not obey. They being the people that were listening Receivers of the preaching of righteousness from Noah because they did not they formerly did not obey.

When God's Patience waited in the days of Noah. Why 120 years before the flood? Because God is patient. God waited. He wanted Noah to proclaim righteousness. He wanted Noah to give a chance to that culture to turn individuals who could have turned from their ways.

So he picked when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In which a few. That is how many does the text read?

Eight.

Persons were brought safely through Noah a preacher of righteousness like how many think he he passes with a high success rate as a preacher. Eight and what's common about those eight people? What do they all have in common?

There's family they had to follow him. My kids have to come to recast at least for now. I Pray that they want to eight people. Brought safely through the water. I Believe it by implication. I don't think it's a stretch at all for me to say that first.

Peter 320 Identifies that more could have come it's a genuine call to the culture. He's genuinely proclaiming righteousness. He's genuinely calling people to repent. And only eight show up. Only eight come with him in the boat, but it was a demonstration of God's patience.

I Think it's very much like God I think of. I think I was thinking through this and I can think of story after story where God does something like this. Where when he's getting ready to destroy Sodom we see we're gonna see Abraham going through and basically bargaining with God.

Well, what if I find 50 righteous people? Would you spare it? Okay, what if all the way down to 10? What if what if 10 are righteous there? Well, were there 10 righteous?

No, there weren't.

But he gives that option and then we see Rahab the prostitute in the city of Jericho a city devoted to Destruction and we talked about that back when we were in Joshua a couple summers ago. So how many of you were here for the series in Joshua?

We talked about how she was it was in the city devoted to destruction the spies come in. Everything is supposed to be destroyed. She houses them. Here's their message and says I believe in your God. He is true he is right and he is the one true God and she repents and She and her household Are saved out of this city devoted to destruction.

It's just like God to provide an opportunity, but it shows how dire and wicked things were in Noah's day. He's preaching and proclaiming righteousness for 120 years and only his family comes in. Pretty scary.

We might at times give in to the temptation to think that real ministers. People who are really called to the ministry people who are really called to share the gospel with others. They'll have good success.

Right, it'll be all good for them because they're called to it.

Noah.

120 years and eight people. Well six. Seven his wife too, I guess. But salvation comes from the Lord. We are called to faithful proclamation. That all are under condemnation. God forbid that you see Me and Zach and Rob and Kyle as the leaders of this church and ultimately say well, that's their job.

Evangelism is their job sharing the gospel proclaiming. The truth is their job. Raise your hand if you think you ran into somebody this past week that you see regularly that I don't know. Go ahead and raise your hand.

If you know somebody, I don't know. That's what I'm asking you and you saw them this week. Okay, I can't reach them. I can't. But the goal of recast church is that you are sent ones when you go out these doors.

Each and every one of us with a calling to proclaim the reality of Jesus Christ and his glory and his salvation and his forgiveness that indeed there is a coming judgment popular message a good one a Great lead-in to a conversation at the water cooler tomorrow morning.

Hey, everybody's under condemnation you too. Is that the way is that the way you launch off a good Monday morning conversation punch? You're down, right? It's over. Well, some of you are stronger than that but for me, yeah.