The Day of the Lord (Genesis 7, Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org The Day of the Lord

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Good morning. I can tell Harry's ready to go.
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Yeah, Eric's ready. All right, let's let's go.
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So good morning everybody. We are here to worship the Lord, and we are going to begin this service actually with a video on Compassion International, and then we're going to invite
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Jill to come and share a little bit about Compassion before I'll do the rest of the announcements. So guys, cue it up.
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When I was nine, one of my neighbors told me about Compassion. I didn't know what it was about, but I liked it because I received a lot of help.
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I was fed there at the church, and I learned how to take care of myself.
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I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I was special, and that God loved me, and that He had a plan for my life, and I learned that I could ask
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Jesus into my heart, and when I did, I was so happy. I was waiting to get a letter from my sponsor, and when it finally came,
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I felt very happy and special. They were very loving in their letters.
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They loved me so much, even though we never met in person. At 15,
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I remember being so thankful for my sponsors and everything they did for me.
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I will remember them until the last day of my life. Without their help, my life would be so different.
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All I can say is thank you for so much love that showed me God's love.
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Now, I know I have value, and I know I have a future. Let me see that this is my story.
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Release a child from poverty in Jesus' name. A child is waiting for you.
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My journey with Compassion International began in 1989 when
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I sponsored a child from Colombia named Leidy, and I was so very thankful three years later when
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Drew and I got married that he wanted to continue that sponsorship journey with me, but the story that sticks out the most in my mind concerns our daughter
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Phoebe when it was time for us to sponsor another child, and she and I were on Compassion's website, and we were scrolling through all of those beautiful little faces, and at the same time,
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Phoebe and I were both drawn to a little boy from India named Nilkant, and at first, I wasn't able to understand the look that I saw on little
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Nilkant's face, but the Lord allowed me to understand that it was hopelessness, and we began sponsoring
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Nilkant that day, and in the subsequent letters that we received from him and pictures that we received of him, we realized that he was no longer hopeless anymore, and we were so thankful to be part of what the
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Lord God was doing in this child's life to provide not only spiritual education where he would receive and hear the gospel, but he received food, he received medical attention all through his local church, so I would encourage you today to pray and ask the
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Lord whether or not he would have you be part of releasing a child from poverty in Jesus' name, and if you'd like to stop and visit us on your way out.
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Thank you. Ditto to what
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Jill said. That is so true. I echo. You will be so blessed by the letters you receive and the relationship you build over the years with the
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Compassion child, so highly encourage you to check that table out on your way out today.
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There is no women's Bible study for the next two weeks, so if you're part of the Tuesday morning
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Bible study with Jill here, it's on break for two weeks, and then it resumes on May 7th.
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Resumes May 7th. The women's retreat is this weekend, so it's not too late, ladies.
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Talk to Antoinette. You can sign up. Let one of us know if you don't know how to get the app on your phone, but you can sign up, and we will help you do that.
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The women's retreat is this weekend. We'd love for more women to come join that, and tonight there is a young adult
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Bible study, so Tim Robinson is the leader of that ministry as well. Sunday. It's every other
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Sunday, but tonight is one of those, so if you're a young adult, you can come to prayer meeting at six o 'clock and just stick around at seven o 'clock for the young adult
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Bible study. Some of you got the email that was sent out yesterday regarding Russ Kenny.
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If you did not get it, I just wanted to let everybody know now that our dear brother, he would sit right about here in the middle.
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We would clear out a couple of rows. He was the man in the wheelchair. Just a man of God.
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Just so encouraging. I can't tell you how many times he said something to me that just lifted my heart.
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There is a YouTube video where Russ shared his testimony and talked about Proverbs. He went to be with the
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Lord this week, and we did not see that coming. He was just at the congregational meeting on Monday, and then just went to be with the
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Lord later in the week. Can you imagine the joy that Russ is experiencing right now in the presence of the
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Lord? In Acts 3, it talks about the crippled man who was walking and leaping and praising
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God. Can you imagine his joy in the presence of the Lord as he's able to leap and lift his arms in praise for the first time?
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Well, if Russ is doing that in heaven right now, I think we should lift our arms a little bit in praise today here on earth.
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We'll all be reunited in due time. We are grieving the loss of a dear brother. Our hearts are heavy, but not like those who have no hope.
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Let's pray. Father God, thank you for the life of Russ Kenny.
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Thank you for what he has meant to this congregation, the encouragement that he has been to us, and even this morning, encouraging us now as we think about his legacy and his joy and his trust in you.
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Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Lord, we thank you for Russ, and we pray for his family right now that you would comfort their hearts.
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You are the God of all comfort, that you would surround them in Christ Jesus with your love,
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Lord. We pray for his funeral at Columbus Baptist Church this Saturday, that many would hear the gospel and come to saving faith.
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And Lord, we thank you for our brother Russ. Father, we pray for ourselves this morning that we would worship you with joy.
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The joy of the Lord is our strength. Nehemiah 8, 10. Lord, let us be filled with your joy and worship you as you deserve to be worshipped.
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You deserve so much more than what we've ever brought, and we want to bring you our best this morning,
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Lord, for you are worthy. Come and help us now to worship you in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Good morning, church. Would you please stand as we worship the Lord together? He opened the prison doors.
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He parted the raging seas. My God, he holds the victory.
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There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today.
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And we won't be crying. We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the
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Lord. Our God is surely in His place. He won't be crying.
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We shout out your praise. We sing to the
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God who heals. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the
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God who always waits away. Cause he hung up on that cross, and he rose up from that grave.
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My God's still holding stones away. There's joy in the house of the
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Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be crying.
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We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in His place.
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We won't be crying. We shout out your praise. We were the beggars.
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Now we're royalty. We were the prisoners. Now we're running free.
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We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace.
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Let the house of the Lord sing praise. We were, we were the beggars.
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Now we're royalty. We were the prisoners. Now we're running free.
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We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace.
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Let the house of the Lord sing praise.
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There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be crying.
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We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in His place.
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We won't be crying. We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the
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Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be crying.
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We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in His place.
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We won't be crying. We shout out your praise. We shout out your praise.
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We shout out your praise. We shout out your praise.
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Is it good to be in the house of the Lord? Amen. Praise the Lord. It's good to be here on this
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Sunday morning. I just received some great news from home. And honestly that feels great because when new believers come to the
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Lord, that is just a wonderful thing. Is it not? There's joy in the house of the Lord today.
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Amen. This next song is called This is Our God. Remember those walls that we called sin and shame
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They were like prisons that we couldn't escape
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But He came and He died and He rose Those walls are over now
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Remember those giants we called death and pain
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They were like mountains that stood in our way But He came and He died and He rose
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Those giants are dead now This is our
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God. This is who He is. He loves us This is our
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God. This is what He does. He saves us He bore the cross, paid the price
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Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus Remember that fear that took our breath away
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Faith so weak that we could barely break But He heard and we heard and we whispered
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Now those altars in the wilderness Tell the story of His faithfulness
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Never once did He fail and He never wills
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This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us
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This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us
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He bore the cross, paid the price Let heaven and earth proclaim
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This is our God, King Jesus That pin,
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He did, He did Who paid for all of our sin?
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Nobody but Jesus Who pulled me out of that pin?
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He did, He did Who paid for all of our sin?
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Nobody but Jesus Who rescued me from that grave?
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Yahweh, Yahweh Who gets the glory and praise?
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Nobody but Jesus Who rescued me from that grave?
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Yahweh, Yahweh Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Him This is our
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God. This is who He is. He loves us This is our
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God. This is what He does. He saves us He bore the cross, paid the price
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Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus Mercy never fails me
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All my days I've been held in Your hands
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From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head
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Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God Cause all my life
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You have been faithful And all my life
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You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able
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Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God I love
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Your voice You have led me through the fire
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In darkest night You are close, I know other
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I've known You as a father I've known You as a friend
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And I have lived in the goodness of God Cause all my life
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You have been faithful And all my life
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You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able
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Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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With my life laid down, surrendered now I give You everything
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Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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With my life laid down, surrendered now I give You everything
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Your goodness is running after It's running after me
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Cause all my life You have been faithful And all my life
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You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able
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Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God Cause all my life
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You have been faithful And all my life
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You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able
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Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God We'll sing of the goodness of God Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God Dear God, thank
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You Thank You for this time that we have To worship You freely as a body of believers I pray that we never take this for granted
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Because You are so good And we are undeserving of Your greatness And God, we thank
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You for this We thank You for this time that we have You give life
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You are love You bring light to the darkness
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You give hope You restore every heart that is broken
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Great are You, Lord It's Your breath
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It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise
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We pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs
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So we pour out our praise You hold me
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Great are You, Lord You give life
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You are love You bring light to the darkness
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You give hope You restore every heart that is broken
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Great are You, Lord Take it out
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It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise
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We pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs
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So we pour out our praise You hold me
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Great are You, Lord On the earth we'll shout
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Your praise Our hearts will cry These bones will sing
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Great are You, Lord On the earth we'll shout
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Your praise Our hearts will cry These bones will sing
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Great are You, Lord On the earth we'll shout
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Your praise Our hearts will cry These bones will sing
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Great are You, Lord It's Your breath
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It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise
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We pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs
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So we pour out our praise You hold me
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Great are You, Lord Great are
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You, Lord As on that day between us
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How high the mountain I could not climb
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In desperation I turned to heaven
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And spoke Your name into the night
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Then through the darkness Your loving kindness
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Tore through the shadows of my soul
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The work is finished The end is written
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Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Who could imagine
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So great a mercy What heart could fathom
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Such boundless grace The God of angels
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Stepped down from glory To wear my sin
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And bear my shame The cross has spoken
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I am forgiven The King of kings calls me
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His own Beautiful Savior I'm Yours forever
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Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free
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Hallelujah Death has lost its grip on me
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You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name
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Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Hallelujah Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free
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Hallelujah Death has lost its grip on me
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You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name
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Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Let be the morning That sealed the promise
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Your buried body Began to bleed
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Out of the silence The roaring lion
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Declared the grave Has no claim on Say our church that came forth
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That came the morning That sealed the promise
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Your buried body Began to bleed
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Out of the silence The roaring lion
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Declared the grave Has no claim on me
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Jesus, Yours is the victory
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Praise the one who set me free Hallelujah Death has lost its grip on me
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You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name
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Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free
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Hallelujah Death has lost its grip on me
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You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name
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Jesus Christ, my living hope Jesus Christ, my living hope
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Oh God, You are my living hope
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Amen, church. You may be seated. We can all just go home now, right?
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We've met with the Lord, and He has spoken to us. Don't say amen to that.
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My cup runneth over. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, You have been so good to us,
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Your people. We know it's all a gift of grace that we have been brought into the ark, the rescue boat of safety that we have in Jesus Christ.
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Jesus, we thank You that You bore the wrath of God on our behalf on the cross.
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So that all of us who come to You are kept safe from the judgment to come.
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Lord, we pray this morning that those who hear this sermon would take seriously the warnings of Your word, and if any have not yet come to Christ, God, that You would draw them in, that You would bring them in to safety in Christ.
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And for all of us who have, we pray that You would send us out warning of the day of the
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Lord and reminding people of this incredible grace that You have given, that we have not been struck dead on account of our sins, but You are patient with us and are waiting and sparing us, desiring for all of us to come.
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So Lord, we pray for the preaching of Your word and the hearing of Your word this morning in Jesus' name.
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Amen. The day of the Lord was a day of judgment in Noah's day.
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It was a day of wrath. And just as it was in Noah's day, a day of judgment, it will be in the future for the terminal generation.
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The last generation will experience a flood of God's wrath, not in water, but in raging fire.
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I would like for us to begin this sermon by looking at how the New Testament speaks of the story of Noah.
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Because I feel like my sermon ought to be written from the pages of the
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New Testament. How do the apostles use this story and how do they proclaim this story to the people?
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Let's begin in Matthew 24, verses 36 to 39.
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Matthew 24. Here the disciples have asked Jesus what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age.
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So it speaks of things yet future, things to come, eschatology. And Jesus says in Matthew 24, 36 to 39,
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But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the
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Son, that is in His humanity, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the
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Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when
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Noah entered the ark. Mark, the day, the day of the Lord, when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the
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Son of Man. Notice that people were unaware. They were going about their daily lives. It's not as if they had already seen the wrath of God poured out in seal judgments and trumpet judgments and bowl judgments, but rather they're going about their days.
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When like a flood, judgment sweeps them away. This is the day of the
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Lord. Peter also makes much use of the story of Noah. Last week we saw 1 Peter 3, verse 20.
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Presently we have a group of people getting ready for baptism. They're meeting with Pastor John in the classroom. And here we have a reference to baptism in 1
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Peter 3, 20 and following. But Peter uses the story of Noah to warn of judgment.
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There is coming a flood of judgment. But listen, I don't know if I stressed this enough in first service. It occurred to me as I was worshiping.
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I need to stress this, that now is the day of grace and of mercy.
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There is coming a day of wrath in which God's judgment will be poured out on the earth.
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But right now there is a free offer to come and be rescued, go into the waters of baptism, come out of those waters and be safe in Christ.
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It says in 1 Peter 3, 20, because they, this refers to those who disobeyed the preaching of Noah.
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Those demon human hybrids we talked about last week, the giants that were born, the
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Nephilim, and also all of those of that generation who rejected the preaching of Noah.
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It says in verse 20, they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water.
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Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. Not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.
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Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is by faith in Christ and in his resurrection, those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is
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Lord, believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead, will be saved.
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And we demonstrate that faith as an appeal to God by going underwater as the world was inundated with the flood in Noah's day.
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There is coming judgment, but we escape that judgment through the water as Noah did.
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That's Peter's analogy. He then picks up on this very strongly in his second epistle.
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Second Peter. Here he begins with exhortations to godliness.
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He calls to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing as ours. And he exhorts those of us who have that faith to now add to that faith such things as godliness and knowledge and love.
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But as he gets into the second chapter, he begins to warn of false prophets, false teachers.
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And he likens our day in which there are false teachers all around us to the days of Noah.
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Here's how Peter refers to Noah's story. Second Peter, chapter two, verse four through nine.
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For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment.
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That refers to the beginning of Genesis six. We studied last week. Verse five.
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If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.
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If by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen, going to happen in the future.
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That's Peter's concern. And if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.
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For as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.
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Verse nine. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.
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And especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
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God knows how to rescue from judgment. Noah was rescued like this by getting into a boat when the waters of judgment came, he was lifted up in safety and kept from judgment.
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In the same way, God knows how to rescue us from judgment and keep us from the day of the
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Lord. Turn one page to 2 Peter 3. In verse six, he's talking about how people are scoffing when
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Christian preachers like me say there's coming a day of the Lord. The world by and large outside of this room and those who listen and agree, most people scoff at the idea.
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You've been preaching this way for 2 ,000 years, where's the coming of the Lord? Everything goes on as it has from creation.
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Although they wouldn't acknowledge a creation any longer. Everything goes on. But Peter says to be aware, not to mistake the patience of God and his kindness for slackness in judgment, but that the day of the
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Lord will come. Look how he compares it to Noah and the day of the Lord, verses six and 10.
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That by means of these, that is the water from which the world was formed,
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Genesis one, by that same water, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
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Peter is warning of a coming day of the Lord, a judgment like the flood.
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Again in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. He learned that language from Jesus and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
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The day of the Lord will come like a thief. When you think of Noah and the flood, think of this phrase, the day of the
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Lord. Paul will not reference Noah explicitly unless he's the author of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse seven, but he will pick up on this language that he also learned from Jesus in Matthew 24.
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Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians, chapter five, verses one to three.
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Recall from Matthew 24 that Jesus said that no one knows the day of the hour, but like in Noah's day, a flood will come.
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People will be eating and drinking and carrying on. Well, he goes on to say it will be like a thief in the night. If the owner of the house had known when the thief was coming, he would have waited up for the thief, protected himself.
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But the people in that last generation, which could be our generation, will not know the day or hour.
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That judgment flood will come like a thief in the night. So Paul understands this and he uses the same language in 1
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Thessalonians, chapter five, verses one to three. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the
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Lord will come like a thief in the night. Jesus first taught it, Peter taught it, now
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Paul says the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, a day of wrath and judgment that surprises you that you're not ready for.
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The world does not see it coming. Verse three, while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.
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The apostle John also references this day of the Lord. It's in Revelation chapter six, verse 17.
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A few comments about Revelation. The church is prominent in Revelation two and three.
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In those chapters, the church is still on earth. In Revelation four one,
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John is caught up into heaven like Enoch was caught up into heaven, like Elisha, like the church will be caught up into heaven and from that moment on in the book of Revelation, you see the church only in heaven.
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Revelation four one to three, the 24 elders around the throne represent the church.
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Jew and Gentile, the 12 tribes of Israel and the Gentile tribes brought in as one body, one church belonging to Christ.
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They are now in heaven worshiping the Lord. So you see the rest of the book of Revelation revolves around Israel, the 144 ,000, 12 ,000 from each tribe and you do see the church in Revelation 19 but they're celebrating the wedding supper of the
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Lamb just before Jesus comes. So the church has already been lifted out of the world when the day of the
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Lord strikes. Notice Revelation 617. The people recognize that the judgment that is hitting them is the great day of their wrath, the day of the
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Lord theme. There it is again, Revelation 617. So we know that this
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Revelation 617 refers to the day of the Lord. When we correlate this with second
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Thessalonians two, Paul told us this day of the Lord cannot come until the
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Antichrist is revealed. The apostasy, the Antichrist revealed and made known.
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When is this Antichrist made known in the book of Revelation? He is the rider on the white horse.
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When the first seal is broken, a rider on the white horse comes out to conquer the world.
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He's mimicking Christ, that's why he rides a white horse. Christ will come riding a horse in Revelation 19, but this is the
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Antichrist. He's bent on conquering. And then after he is revealed, the other seal judgments are unleashed on the earth.
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The day of the Lord includes wars breaking out that consume the world.
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And with that famine and then pestilence and then the martyrdom of these Jewish believers and others who have come to faith during the tribulation, then an earthquake.
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And then the people are so devastated by the day of the Lord, they're hiding in the clefts of the rock, calling on them to fall on their heads to hide them from the great day and from the wrath of the lamb.
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It's kind of an odd expression, isn't it? When you think of a lamb, you think of a gentle animal.
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Lambs don't have wrath. And so people regard Jesus, the lamb of God, who laid down his life for sinners.
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And that is true of him. He is that sacrifice. And those who come to him are safe in him.
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But revelation teaches us that the wrath of the lamb will be unleashed on the world on the day of the
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Lord. It is not only the wrath of the father, but also of the son. For there is only one
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God in three persons and they are not at cross purposes. So on the day of the
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Lord, wrath will be poured out on the earth. Now, I would like us to turn to Genesis chapter 7.
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Because when we read the story of Noah, we need to recognize that the New Testament directs us to preach to our world the way
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Noah preached to his. And to be aware of this coming day of wrath like Noah was, building an ark, taking seriously the warnings of the
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Lord, and so coming safely into Christ. We live in a world that is very much like the days of Noah.
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The days of Noah are here. In Genesis 1, we're taught that the world is made by God.
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And we live in a culture that teaches Darwinism and believes Darwinism that the world just evolved from nothing.
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The world says there is no God. Genesis 2 teaches us that there is male and female, but we finally now live in a culture like the world has never seen.
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The world has never seen a culture that denies the distinction between male and female.
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But it's happening in our day. As I suspect it was in the days of Noah. Genesis 3 says that there is sin as the serpent tempted
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Adam and Eve and they fell into sin. Rebellion against God's law commands. The world says there is no sin and there is no promised
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Savior. In Genesis chapter 4, life is in the blood. Murderers had broken out in the land.
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Cain killing Abel. And then Lamech killing and boasting about his freedom to do that.
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It occurred to me between the two services that we have a president in this country who is advertising on television his stance for the killing of babies.
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It is the Lamech spirit. Lamech murdered a young one and then bragged to his two wives that he was free to do that.
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When a president of a country has made it his platform that he would run on the killing of innocent babies in the womb.
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Church, you need to understand. I need to understand. We are living in the days of Noah. Rejection of life in the blood.
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Life is in the blood says the word of God. But Lamech disregarded the value of life in Genesis 4.
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In Genesis 5, family was discarded. The godly line of Seth versus the godless line of Cain.
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Destroying family. In Genesis 6, we learn that there are demons.
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There is a such thing as a devil. But the world in which we live, the days of Noah, rejects that there is a devil and that there are demons.
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But church, here is what the world hates most to hear. That there is judgment.
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That the God who made the world, who is a God of love, is also a God of wrath. Because he is just and he must punish sin.
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He is holy. Far more holy than we could imagine. If any of you could look at the sun, 10 minutes straight, without turning away, you've not even begun to experience the brightness of his presence.
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That's just the sun he made for our universe, for our galaxy. For our solar system even.
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How much brighter is the presence of the God who made all? You cannot look at him.
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He is holy and he has wrath. And so now when we read Genesis 7, don't read it like some of you may have been taught in Sunday school.
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Like a flannel graph with cute little animals all happily running aboard.
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This is the story of God blotting out all living creatures from the face of the earth except those who believed.
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Genesis 7, 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.
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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.
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For in seven days, mark that, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights and every living thing that I have made
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I will blot out from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
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The first thing I need to say in this culture in which we live is that the flood was an actual historical event.
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In our culture, people scoff at the idea that God once flooded the world.
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There's a documentary called Deluge. You can easily find it if you just Google Deluge.
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G .S. Muse. He's the author of it. G .S. M -U -S -E. In that, he shows how most of the cultures around the world have some universal flood story.
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Even cultures that had no contact with Christian missionaries, that had no access to the books of Moses, the book of Genesis included, they still have a worldwide flood creation myth.
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From Hawaii, that distant island, to the Native Americans, to China, and at least 17 other places documented that tell about a flood that destroyed the world.
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And not just a localized flood, but one that covered the mountains and was unleashed by God to punish a wicked world.
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Early in the 1900s, when Darwinists were scoffing and mocking at the Christians who were still clinging, clinging to their view that the
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Bible is the authoritative word of God, they said, scientifically, it's impossible because if there was water piled up higher than the mountains, where did it go?
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How could it have receded? Where is it now? We don't see that moisture in our atmosphere or under the earth.
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There's no water in the earth. There's no water in the sky. You say that the flood destroyed the world.
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Where'd your water go? Until 1969, when a scientist whose last name was
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Ringwood made a discovery and published it, which is now fully accepted even on Wikipedia and science .com,
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all acknowledge that 400 miles under the earth for a period, a range of earth's mantle, there is what is called
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Ringwoodite, named after the scientist who discovered it. And if I can show you a picture of it,
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Ringwoodite contains water three times the amount of all of the ocean water combined.
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Where did that water go? It seeped and bled down into the earth and it is there to this day.
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Scientists acknowledge that within the minerals of the crust of the earth, 400 miles deep, there is enough water between one and three times the amount of water that exists in the oceans today.
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Where did Noah's flood water go? It's in the earth. And science no longer mocks that concept.
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It is readily acknowledged. I'd encourage you to do more research by going to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, or just visiting their website and getting answers to the questions that those who oppose the gospel will bring at you.
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But what they cannot answer is how it is that there are fish fossils on the tops of mountains.
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How did these fish fossils end up on top of mountains? We have an answer for that.
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It's called the flood. Let's watch again. But notice before I move on, Noah brought with him into the ark the animals.
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He also was preaching in his generation. 1 Peter 3, we read it earlier. He was a preacher of righteousness, pleading with his generation to come into the ark, but they refused.
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In the same way, we want to take with us whoever is willing to come. Jesus tells a parable, and it's one of my favorites.
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In Luke 14, he was inviting his own countrymen, the Jewish people, to come in.
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But in his parable, they all refused, largely, because they had better things to do.
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So Jesus tells his servants, all right, you go out and invite the crippled and the lame.
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You go to the highways and the byways, and you compel them to come in. In the same way, this is how we are to welcome people into the ark of Jesus Christ.
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Genesis 7, verses 6 through 10. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.
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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.
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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
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Noah. And after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
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After seven days. We made reference to that in verse 4. Here again in verse 10, after seven days, what does this indicate?
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That at the very last week, Noah was told how long it would be.
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And he was sent out with this urgency, the signs of the times. It is seven days.
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Church, we are not told how many days until the return of Christ. But if you look at the news, you see
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Iran launching missiles at Israel. Of the very people who were driven into Diaspora spread out around the earth, having no land.
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In 1948, they were brought back in. Now they're under attack again. There will be wars and rumors of wars.
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Earthquakes in various places. Anybody feel that one about two weeks ago? Birth pains that the time is short.
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Noah was told the number of days. We are not. But we were told this. The farmer looks at the signs in the skies and he can tell in the morning if there's going to be rain.
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So it is with you. You ought to discern the signs of the times. We don't know the day or the hour, but when we look at the signs of the times, we ought to increase our urgency.
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Especially in a generation that has become complacent. Zephaniah was a prophet.
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Anybody read Zephaniah this morning? I'd be impressed. You just happen to read? No? We don't often read the book of Zephaniah.
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It's the fourth to last book in our Old Testament. Turn there.
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We're just going to look at a couple of verses. I want you to understand that this theme of the day of the
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Lord was very prominent in Joel, in Isaiah, in many of the prophets.
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And Zephaniah takes up the idea of the day of the Lord as his primary theme.
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He was warning Jerusalem when they had fallen into sin and the southern kingdom of Judah was going to be overrun by Babylon.
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The Babylonian captivity was just around the corner. God sent prophets to plead with the people, warning them that they are going to be swept away.
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Now, Zephaniah was speaking of that judgment, but he was also looking to a greater day of the
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Lord, the great day of God's wrath. And that is that final tribulation period.
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If you look at Zephaniah 1 -2, the prophet says, I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth.
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Declares the Lord. It sounds like the warning that Noah gave. But in verse 12, the people are complacent and they don't take that seriously.
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They're going about their days. They're not interested. They greet it with a yawn.
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But in verse 12, it says, at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and I will punish the men who are complacent, who say in their hearts, the
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Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill. Verse 14,
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Zephaniah says, the great day of the Lord is near. You see that urgency.
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That's the urgency that Noah had with seven days left. It's coming, pleading with people.
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The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man cries aloud there.
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What kind of day is the day of the Lord? This is important for something
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I'm going to say in a few minutes. The day of the Lord is a period of wrath.
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Look at verse 15. A day of wrath is that day. A day of distress and anguish. A day of ruin and devastation.
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A day of darkness and gloom. A day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
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The turning point in Zephaniah comes in chapter 3, verses 8 and 9. The warning, therefore wait for me, declares the
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Lord, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. After this day of the
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Lord, the day of this burning anger and fire of jealousy, the earth shall be consumed.
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And after that, he changes the heart of the people. After the day of the
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Lord, the tribulation period, there will be a millennium. And the hearts of all those in the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, will be changed.
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It will be a time where their speech is changed to a pure speech. No more cursing, like a
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Taylor Swift album. All of them may call upon the name of the
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Lord and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.
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There must be a day of the Lord before a millennium. So turn with me now to Genesis 7.
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We'll move quickly through the text. And I want to make the point that the
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Lord rescues a people before the day of the Lord. Did you know this? Some people don't believe this, and I know it's a controversial theological point, but the
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Lord will rescue out of and over the flood of judgment before that day is unleashed.
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Because Noah will be lifted up over the mountains. In the same way, the church will be lifted up over the flood of judgment that's coming on the world.
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Verses 11 to 20. 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 heavens were opened, and rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
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On the same day, Noah and his son Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons went with them into the ark.
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You see this safe place into which they run. The righteous run into him and are safe.
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They and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds.
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That's a reference to Genesis 1, 21 to 25, when he makes creation according to their kinds.
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Now this is going to be a new creation, each one according to their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind.
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Notice the repetition comes from Genesis 1. Every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life.
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And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God commanded him, and the
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Lord shut him in. It was God who closed the door, sealing them safely in the ark.
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The flood continued for 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
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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.
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The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep. That's about 22 1⁄2 feet.
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If the height of the ark was 30 feet, that means, based on the buoyancy of the ark, that it is suspended high enough that even the tallest mountain,
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Mount Everest, could not puncture the bottom of the boat. It's held up high enough, kept safe from that which would cause it damage and tear it apart from underneath.
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It's buoyed up. It's safe in God's protective care. Church, we will be caught up to meet the
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Lord in the air. And then the day of the Lord. Now, I know this is controversial theology, and I'm not preaching it as dogmatically as I preach the
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Trinity, substitutionary atonement, resurrection of Christ, but I do firmly believe that this is what is clearly taught in the
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Scriptures. We're going to look at one more correlating passage and finish it out, the last few verses, okay? 2
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Thessalonians 2, verses 1 to 9. Now that we've set the context regarding the day of the
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Lord, as good Bible students, if you've been paying attention and not zoning out, you know that the day of the
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Lord is a huge theme in the Prophets. It's a huge theme in the Scripture.
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So the day of the Lord is a specific thing. It's a day of wrath. And by day, it doesn't, like in the days of Zephaniah or Noah, it doesn't refer to a 24 -hour period.
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It refers to a period of judgment. In this case, it's going to be a seven -year period of judgment.
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2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 to 8.
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Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, that first verse sets the stage of eschatological timetables.
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When is this going to happen? And it's about the whole thing, the coming of the
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Lord, the parousia, when He actually arrives, foot in mountain in Jerusalem, and also us being caught up, all of these end -time things.
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Now He says something very specific in verse 2 regarding the day of the Lord. Don't be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the
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Lord has come. Now I want you to hear something. The day of the
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Lord here cannot refer to Jesus coming for His church. It refers to a day of wrath.
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It wouldn't even make sense if it was referring to Christ arriving from heaven and landing on the mountain.
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What would they have done if they got a letter that said that? You go to Jerusalem.
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Go see Jesus. He's come back. No problem here. No. The context of Thessalonians, the first chapter, is all about their suffering.
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It's all about the wrath that they're enduring. The martyrdom sounds like the seals are being broken.
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They're suffering. The day of the Lord is here. God's wrath is being poured out. So the first chapter is about suffering.
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Now Paul is telling them in verse 2, it cannot be. Let no one deceive you.
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Verse 3, for that day, the day of the Lord, will not come. Don't miss that.
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Unless the first A, apostasy, the rebellion comes first.
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That has to happen first. And secondly, the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
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The Antichrist has to be made known, be revealed as the Antichrist, before the seven years of wrath, the day of the
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Lord, unfold. So there's a timetable here.
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We don't know the day when Christ comes for the church. No one knows the day or hour. But keep reading.
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Verse 4, this Antichrist opposes and exalts himself against every so -called
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God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God. Jesus calls that the abomination of desolation.
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He proclaims himself to be God. This is halfway through the tribulation. Do you not remember that when
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I was still with you, I told you these things? And Peter will say at the end of his epistle, listen to what
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Paul told you. He's hard to understand, and people twist what he says like they do the rest of the scriptures. Even Peter acknowledges, this is a little hard to follow,
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Paul. But notice what it says in verse 5. Do you not remember when
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I was still with you, I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time.
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For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains it will do so, until he is out of the way.
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And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will dispose of neatly at the end of the tribulation.
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But I want you to follow this timetable. The day of the
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Lord can't come until what? The apostasy and the Antichrist is revealed.
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The Antichrist can't be revealed until the restrainer is taken out of the way.
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And so the simple question is, what is the restrainer? What restrains evil in the world?
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If the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, as it was in Adolf Hitler, when he wanted to run the world.
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When he was conquering and killing the Jewish people, the apple of God's eye. There was a spiritual war happening, but the restrainer in the form of bullets and bombs, moved in to Germany and restrained that mystery of lawlessness.
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The restrainer is the Holy Spirit of the living God, working through the church. As we preach righteousness, and we proclaim the word of the
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Lord, and we make disciples in America, we are restraining the evil that the devil is trying to unleash on this country.
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There are world forces that seek to bring forth a one world government, with a one world religion.
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And under the banner of secularism and modernism, it's easy to see what their tenants are.
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That system wants to take over, and they will have an antichrist, some charismatic figure who will lead them.
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But they cannot do it while the church is here, empowered by the Holy Spirit, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And so the principle is simple. The day of the Lord cannot be unleashed on the world, when
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God's wrath judges this antichrist. Because I'm telling you this, when that rider on the white horse comes to conquer the world over which
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Jesus is the true king, he has wrath against that antichrist, and all his works of darkness, and all of his deceit.
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He will come in wrath on the day of the Lord. It will be unleashed in the seven seals being broken, and the seven trumpets blown, and the seven bowls of wrath.
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The day of the Lord is coming. It is soon. And so we are kept safe from that.
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And here's what I wanted to stress, and I think I maybe missed the mark a little first service, is that the whole point of this, that there's coming a day of wrath, that we should be aware of and take seriously, is that Christ has borne the wrath of God on the tree, opening the way of the ark, so that whosoever will is free to come.
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We are rescued, and that ark is for you who believe. We will be shut in.
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That's 1 Peter 1 5 language, by the power of God kept from judgment.
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And so we are kept in Christ, safe above the day of wrath.
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Did not Paul say that the church is not destined for wrath? In 1
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Thessalonians 5 9, he did. So lastly, we'll read about this horrifying judgment in verses 21 to 24.
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Genesis 7, we conclude, And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
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Everything on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died.
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He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals, creeping things, and birds of the heavens, they were blotted out from the earth.
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Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
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Church, there's coming a day of wrath. We need to preach this to the world.
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I'm going to be changed by this message. Next time I go evangelize at the college campus, I'm going to be sure to incorporate a warning of a coming day of wrath.
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Because people no longer take seriously the warnings of God. When you're talking to your family members, will you, like Noah, warn them of a day of coming wrath?
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And more importantly, offer them that perfect rescue, that ark of deliverance, the righteous run into him,
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Jesus Christ, and they are safe. One last thing. Remember the story of Job?
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Chapter 22. Eliphaz warned Job using the language of Noah.
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He said, you're like Noah. You're going to be taken away in this flood because of your wickedness,
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Noah. Job. Listen. It was actually
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Eliphaz who needed the warning from Job. Job was the most righteous man on earth.
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Eliphaz was warning him about the flood of Noah. Later in the book, God will rebuke the three friends including
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Eliphaz and ask Job if he's willing to offer a sacrifice in order for the forgiveness of this man.
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Maybe you're here this morning and you've heard this warning and you assume it's only for somebody else that you're thinking of.
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Maybe you, like Eliphaz, need to hear this warning for yourself. God has a day of wrath that we are to take seriously.
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And if you are continuing like the world around you, carrying on in sin, unrepentant, unashamed, unafraid, maybe it's you.
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Maybe God is pleading with you, come into the ark. Maybe what you've gotten on is a different boat that only looks like Noah's ark.
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Are you like Eliphaz? Examine your heart. Make your calling and election sure,
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Peter says. Make sure you belong to Christ. This is a day of warning.
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There's coming a day of the Lord. Let's take that first to ourselves and then go preach it to the world.
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Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your word today. Genesis 7, it's a terrifying chapter of the word of God.
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Every living thing blotted out from the face of the earth. Lord, I pray that we would be trained by this.
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Fear is a friend if it leads us away from danger. God, give us a healthy fear of the
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Lord that we would rightly fear you, a
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God whom the angels call holy, holy, holy. We can no more look at you than look at the sun.
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And yet God, you have looked down and condescended to us and come down and made a way of rescue.
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I pray for all those hearing this sermon that they would repent and believe the good news.
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Trust in Christ for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
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Grant faith, grant repentance through the preaching of your word. And Lord, send us out to preach as Noah did.
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Lord, we know the days are short. We can see in the news that there are birth pangs.
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So Lord, give us a prophetic zeal to go out and proclaim the gospel.
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In Jesus' name, amen. Would you guys please stand as we sing our closing song?
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♪ ♪ My Jesus, my
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Savior ♪ No man is not like you ♪
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All of my days I want to praise ♪
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For wonders of your mighty love ♪
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My shelter, tower, refuge, and strength ♪
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Let every breath ever cease to worship you ♪
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Shout to the Lord all the earth and sing ♪
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Power and majesty praise to the King ♪
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Mountains bow down and the seas adore ♪
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At the sound of your name ♪
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I sing for joy at the work of your hands ♪
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Forever I'll stand ♪
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Nothing compares to the promise I have given ♪
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My Jesus, my
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Savior ♪ No man is not like you ♪
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All of my days I want to praise ♪
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For wonders of your mighty love ♪
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My shelter, tower, refuge, and strength ♪
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Let every breath, all that I am ♪
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Never cease to worship you ♪
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Shout to the Lord all the earth and sing ♪
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Power and majesty praise to the
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King ♪ Mountains bow down and the seas adore ♪
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At the sound of your name ♪
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I sing for joy at the work of your hands ♪
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Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand ♪
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Nothing compares to the promise I have given ♪
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Nothing compares to the promise I have given ♪
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Nothing compares to the promise I have given
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Paul ends that same 2 Thessalonians with a peaceful benediction.
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Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way.