Transcript

Good morning, church man. It's great to be here on a Sunday.

Some of you know this, that we had Sunday on a Saturday two weeks ago. We had Sunday on a Friday last a week ago. But finally Sunday on a Sunday. How about it? And so we're happy to be here today.

We're in part two of our series that we started last week and it's entitled the how the Bible Explains Everything. And we're on a 12 week journey going through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And we won't be able to study every part, but we're going to dip down into the major themes along the way and we're going to show how the Gospel holds it all together, that the Bible is gospel centered, but even more than that, it's Christ centered. We're going to be looking for Christ on every page. And how it's one book.

It may have been written by over 40 authors. It's 66 books written by over 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. But yet it's one unique book that tells one meta-narrative, one major story. And the major themes really revolve around four Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. And as we look at it, we'll see that from creation to consummation, the Bible tells one great story of a good and holy God rescuing a broken world through the person of Jesus Christ.

And so today we're going to be looking at the story of the Genesis flood, of Noah's ark and the worldwide flood. Now, a lot of people view this story about a story being about a big boat, but it's more than that. It's more than a big boat. It's about a big God. And as we're looking at this story, the Bible reveals his justice and his mercy to us in this story.

So let's understand that this isn't a myth. This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't just wallpaper for your child's nursery. It's a true story. The prophets quoted it, the apostles affirmed it, and Jesus himself believed it.

As we look in the book of Matthew, he was in Matthew chapter 24 talking about the end times. He says this. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the 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 Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of man.

So Jesus affirms this story as a true story, as A historical event. Now, I believe that the flood was a literal worldwide global deluge that destroyed all life and reshaped the earth geologically. A book that I would refer you to, I don't have time to go into great detail, is a book written by Dr. Henry Morris and Dr. John Whitcomb called the Genesis Flood. This book was a great help to me when I was in university in the late 70s, early 80s, and as a young man that was encountering a lot of atheistic professors. And it helped me to take a strong scientific view while affirming the scripture.

And so I would recommend this book to you, the Genesis Flood, if you don't have this one in your Christian library. Now, people doubting the Flood account is nothing new, but it's not the only thing that people question today. Perhaps you've even asked this question. Have you ever looked at the world and wondered, how much longer will God put up with this?

God, when are you going to do something about all the violence, all of the vision, all the moral decay in our world today? God, where are you? And so that's a question that believers will ask God, have you forgotten us? Do you remember your promises? Well, Genesis 6:9, and we're going to be looking at certain excerpts of these chapters, Chapters six through nine of Genesis.

We'll see that God is never indifferent to sin, but he's also never absent in mercy. He's never indifferent to sin, but he's also never absent in mercy. In Genesis 6 through 9, Moses recorded how God judged the sin and rebellion of the ancient world by sending a worldwide flood to destroy all the living. Yet at the same time, he preserved a remnant, providing an ark of salvation for Noah and his family. And we can see in this story how God's justice and mercy are put on display for us to consider.

And as we look at the text today, I think we'll see three ways the flood account reveals both God's justice and his mercy to us today. Now, my pattern today is we have a lot of scripture to cover. So as we did last week, I'm going to read some and then we'll comment on it and so forth. And we'll take a break after each reading. And so let's dig in.

We'll start with chapter six, and I have certain readings that we've put in your bulletin. We put them on the screen and we'll dip down and get some of each chapter, starting at verse five. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land.

Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And then down to verse 13. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above.

And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower second and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh. In which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

But I will establish my covenant with you. And you shall come into the ark. You, your sons, your wife and your son's wives, with you and every living thing of all flesh. You shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for three ways that the flood account reveals both God's justice and mercy. Now here's the first way. By showing the depth of our sin and the height of his grace.

By showing the depth of our sin and the height of his grace. I would have you first take note of how this story shows us the depth of humanity's sin and separation from God. And I would also have you take note of God's response. Verse 5 says the Lord saw. You might wonder about that sometimes.

Lord, do you see this? Do you see what's going on on planet Earth? Do you see what's going on? Or maybe it's more particular for you. There's something going on in your life and you're wondering, does the Lord see me?

Do you see my situation? Know this, my friends. The Lord sees. He's omniscient. He's an all knowing God.

The Lord saw and he saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. It wasn't small, it was large. It was beyond what he could allow. It got to the point where a holy God had to respond. And not only were their actions wicked, but their attitude was.

It says every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Even when they weren't acting evilly and wickedly, they were thinking about their next evil act. And so God saw that man was utterly wicked. Now how does he respond? He saw this.

And then we see in verse 6, he regretted that he made man. It's an interesting phrase, the word regretted. And then again down in verse seven where it says, I am sorry that I have made them. It's the same Hebrew word. It's translated regretted here in the ESV and then later sorry in the King James.

It's translated repented. It's the same Hebrew word to. To regret, to be sorry, to repent of. Not to repent as we do of sin, but to change your mind about a thing like a potter who made a pot where the clay had a problem with it, it had an inaccuracy to it that would ruin the pot so that the potter would then just put it back into the clay and put the water back in and mix it back together and start over. He regretted that he had made man.

Such was the depth of his sin. He was sorry that he made man. And then we look at his deeper response in verse 6, he regretted that he made man on the earth. And it grieved him to his heart. It grieved him to his heart.

Friends, until we get to the place where we recognize that our sin has grieved a holy God. We haven't really understood the grace of God until we get to that place where we as believers recognize our rebellion, our sin, no matter how small, no matter how great, it breaks the Father's heart. It grieves him. And I used to hear the old preachers back in the day when I was growing up. They'd say, when you preach, you got to get them lost before you can get them saved.

And we live in a world today that loves a therapeutic sermon, a feel good sermon, a sermon that would make you feel good about you, but the scripture comes to you and it comes to you today. First of all, you'll never recognize your need for a savior until you recognize your need that you're drowning and distant from God because of a sinful heart that we're all born with. We're all born with a human condition called sin. And it grieves the heart of God. Have you gotten to the place, believer, where you recognize that you grieve God when You sin an unbeliever.

Have you gotten to the place where you're willing to admit that you're a sinner? We see in this story God's response, a holy God's response, his feeling about it and his response to it that he judges sin because he's a holy God. He was sorry that he made man. But then at the same time, at the same time that we see the depth of our sin, we also see in verse 8a but. And it's nice to get this particular contraction to find a but here.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. We find here in the Bible, in chapter six of Genesis, the first occurrence of God's grace. The word favor and grace are synonymous in the scripture. It's often translated one or the other. Indeed, when we define grace, we define it like this.

We say that grace is God's unmerited favor. Unmerited meaning you can't earn it that God bestows it upon you. And we find that salvation of humanity came through one man named Noah. And so we see here a christological type. What do I mean by that?

We see a prefiguring, a foreshadowing of one who is to come. Because as a believer that believes that the Bible is one book, I look for Jesus on every page, and I look for where God's already giving us. He's given us little crumbs along the way to find the path to Jesus. And so we see here the salvation of humanity comes through one man. And through this one man, his household is saved.

And so we see later in verse 18, as we just read, he said that you, your sons, your wife and their wives will be saved. Why? Because Noah found favor with the Lord. So we see not only the depth of our sin, but we also see the height of God's grace, of his favor that he shows to Noah. We have details here.

Let's not forget them. Verse 13, he says, I will destroy them with the earth. He's going to destroy all breathing life except for that which is within the ark of God. He's not only that, but he's going to destroy the earth. Which I think speaks to something more than just humanity, that this was a catastrophic event that impacted not only all that was living, but the geology of our planet was affected.

And I think that we see this, that the Earth was changed. And even though many modern scientists from the time of Lyell, who was a big influence upon Darwin, who purported the theory of uniformitarianism, that you could see what happened in the past based on observations in the Presence. That's not what we see in the Bible. What we see in the Bible is a catastrophic explanation for the way the world looks today. And so he says, I will destroy the breathing life as well as the earth.

And so that says more than what we sometimes suppose, I think. He gives details about the size of this ark. He. In esv, we have it in cubits. A cubit was normally measured from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger.

On average, for a man, that's around 18 inches if you do the math. The ark was to be built 450ft long, 75ft wide and 45ft tall. Now, here's a photo of my son Stephen and his family and his in laws. They went to this ark experience or this ark encounter in Williamston, Kentucky, where they've built an ark to full size or to the size that the Bible describes. And it's pretty overwhelmingly large, isn't it?

It's taller than a four story building. And so I want you to get your mind around it. This is not the Lego ark that you bought for your kids. This is a historical event described by the scripture where Noah was to build it. And it took place over a period of 100 years.

We find in chapter five, we didn't read it today, but Noah was around 500 years old when God gave him the word that was coming about the flood. And the flood comes, as we'll find in chapter seven, when he was 600 years old. And so the New Testament says that Noah was preaching during this time. And so there was 600, or excuse me, 100 years from 500 to 600, where I believe Noah was preaching that, you know, repent for God's about to judge the earth. And a lot of people are going, boy, that's, that's something you're building there, Noah, Crazy Noah.

And no one believed. And so we have this reality of this story that has great detail. And then he says this to Noah. He says in verse 18, I will establish my covenant with you. I'm going to.

I'm going to make a covenant with you. The Hebrew word is barit, which has the idea of to cut. It literally means to cut. Many have noticed that our modern marketplace way of talking about making a contract is we say we cut a deal. I'm going to cut a deal with you.

Which we think references itself all the way back to the Jewish idea of there had to be blood. When a covenant was made, there was a cutting that took place. He says, I'm going to cut a deal with you, Noah. You found favor in my eyes, and I'm going to rescue you. And so we see God's great mercy in view here in his great grace.

The depth of our sinfulness is seen. In the book of Romans, chapter three, we read, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Friends, there's not one person in this room who hasn't sinned and been in rebellion against God.

There's only been one sinless person who's ever lived on planet Earth, and that's Jesus Christ. And he came and lived a sinless life and died in our place for our sins. And so we read then In Romans chapter 5, not only the depth of our sinfulness in Romans 3, but the height of God's love and grace in Romans chapter 5, where it says, but God shows his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is God's mercy in view. Tim Keller says that the Gospel comes bearing both the news of God's justice and grace simultaneously.

He says it like this. The gospel is this. We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believed. Yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is true of the Gospel.

The gospel comes to us and it says, you're a sinner, but Christ has died for your sins. It comes telling us that we are both a sinner, but we are also saved in Jesus. Have you ever bought a diamond at a jewelry store? You ever bought some really expensive jewelry? Those of us young men, older men, you probably remember buying an engagement ring, perhaps for your bride.

I remember when I asked my wife to marry me. We headed back to my house in Bristol, Virginia, to tell my mama. We came and told her. Oh, she was thrilled. She loved Robin.

In fact, as time went on, I really think my mama loved Robin better than me. Those of you that know Robin probably understand why. But my mom, my daddy died when I was 8 years old, and so my mom still had the engagement ring in her jewelry box. She wasn't wearing it anymore. Her fingers had swollen as she'd gotten older.

She wasn't able to wear it. And so we were so tired because we'd stayed up all night. When I asked her to marry me, we were so thrilled. And then we drove all the way To Bristol to be with mom from Radford University. We were both students there.

And my mom just decided on her own. She's so thrilled about Robin. She came out with that engagement ring that my dad had given her and stuck that on Robin's finger. I was like, mom, that was my job.

But fortunately, I was able to do one thing, and that was it didn't fit Robin, so I had to take it away from her. I said, I'm going to have to have that back. And I took it to the jeweler to have it repaired. I remember the jeweler, when he brought it out of the little box, he put out a black velvet cloth on top of the showcase and he put it on there. You know why they do that?

It's so that that gold and that diamond, they just pop off of that black background. And I want you to know something. That's what Jesus is. He's that diamond on that black background. That black background is our sin.

It's the darkness of the fallen world, but it's the purchase of Jesus that shines brightly. I don't fully understand God's plan. I don't understand his sovereignty. But within his perfect plan, he allowed what happened to happen so that the glory would be increased. When we see the diamond of Jesus sitting on the blackness of man's fallenness, that he would rescue us a sinner.

Have you ever treasured God's grace? Well, you'll never treasure it fully if you keep making excuses for your sin, if you keep minimizing it, if you keep saying it. I didn't mean to. Somebody else made me do it. You blame it on your parents, you blame it on your peer group, you blame it on the world, you blame it on your addictions, you blame it on whatever you blame it on.

But when you'll finally come to the place and you see the depth of your sin, that you've broken the Father's heart, you've grieved God. When you get to that place where the Holy Spirit, you feel his grief like we do. And we read about in Ephesians, chapter four, where it talks about how our disunity grieves the Holy Spirit, like someone died. When you get to that place and your heart is broken and you finally repent of your sins, now you're ready, now you're ready to receive a Savior and to fully understand what God has done for you, it's like your sin is the black cloth and Jesus is the diamond. The problem isn't the world.

The problem isn't Somebody else until you come to the place. You say the problem's me. I'm the problem. Lord, save me, a sinner. And then mercy comes and you find favor with the Lord.

Let's keep reading. We're going to look at chapter 7, verse 11. 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, 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 kind, every winged creature, they went into the ark with Noah, 2 and 2 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. And the Lord shut him in. The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore upon the rock, bore upon 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. As we look at chapter seven, and we look for God's justice and mercy, we see a second way that it's revealed by showing the certainty of his judgment and the security of his provision. We see God's judgment and mercy on display here by seeing the certainty of his judgment that be sure your sins will find you out. Be sure that God is not lapped, lapsing, that he will judge and that he will save those he's promised. Notice the word prevailed is here three times the waters prevailed.

And so it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, the scripture says. And then it says in verses 19, 20 and 21, prevailed, prevailed, prevailed. So that rained for that period of time. And then as we keep reading down into verse 24, we didn't read that far. It says the waters lingered for another 150 days.

The waters covered the entire planet, like even Mount Everest. Well, I'm not even sure Mount Everest had come into being. Yet I think there's the possibility that the geology of the world had been changed. And so perhaps at this point Mount Everest was being formed by the activity. Perhaps what we see in verse 11, where it says the fountains of the great deep burst forth.

And so something happened so that the greatest amount of the water seemed to burst forth from under the earth somehow, and it was stored in a certain way that caused a disruption to the continental shelf, and it caused even the formation of the continents and of the modern mountains. And so perhaps one of the best explanations of the Grand Canyon is not deep time, eons and eons of time, but a sudden catastrophic event. And so we see a bursting forth of the water, but also the heavens were opened and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. And some would say, how in the world is this possible? Again, I would refer to Dr. Henry Morris and others who have talked about the possibility of a vapor canopy surrounding the earth prior to the flood that somehow was extinguished.

And so it just, it changed the whole way so that. So that prior to that, perhaps the earth was surrounded by this vapor canopy that kept a constant temperature and would have allowed for longevity and for different types of life around the world than what we see post flood. Some have even suggested that perhaps the first rain that was ever seen on planet Earth was at the time of the flood, that the earth had been fed by dew prior to this. Now, some of this, as I'm saying, is supposition, but it's also based on a different view. Rather than the view of uniformitarianism, it's the view of catastrophism, the idea that a catastrophe happened in the past that is the best explanation for the world we see today.

So I say all this to give especially those of you that are young people, that are still in the school system, them, and still on the Internet, believing that the Internet will give you the answers to all your questions. I would say to you as a believer, trust God's word. All truth is God's truth. And the world just hasn't caught up to God's truth yet. And I'm not sure I'm quoting this accurately, but I believe it was Einstein who once commented that all the scientists were climbing the mount of truth and one day they would get to its apex only to find out that the prophets had already been there a long time, that the word of God had already been there.

And I think that we don't have to make an apology to science. I think science is a great friend of Christianity and that the idea that the world makes sense and that it's not chaotic and without meaning gives us the best prerequisite for good science. Well, I chased a rabbit and I'm going to let him go now. I'm going to come back. I just said that for the young people because I don't want your faith to be demolished or challenged by the world.

We notice some things here that I want to bring out. The 40 days and 40 nights we see repeated throughout scripture. 40 is an important number in the Bible. They have 40 years in the wilderness. We know that Jesus, when he goes under the deluge of water at his baptism, goes out for 40 days and 40 nights in order to be tempted in the wilderness of Satan.

We know that this is an ongoing kind of observation that we can make. And so we look at the scripture and I want us to think about now, how do we see Jesus in chapter seven? Well, let's look again at verse 16. And the Lord shut him in. So I'm looking for the activity of God we looked for earlier.

The Lord saw, the Lord regretted, The Lord was sorry. The Lord destroyed, the Lord sent the rain. But we see what does he do for Noah? Noah's obedient. He goes into the ark that God has given him the detailed instructions to make.

And I don't know what that door is like. It was on the side of the ark. It says in the scripture. Maybe it was like a ramp so that you could walk up it. It's probably really heavy.

I don't know how you would seal it so the water doesn't get in it. I don't understand it. The Bible's not detailed enough. But for whatever reason, here's the detail. We know Noah didn't shut that door.

God did. And when I look at the Book of John, chapter 10, I see Jesus say, I am the door to the sheep. No man comes to the Father except by me. I'm the gate. I'm the door.

And then he goes on in chapter 10 that says, and no one can snatch them from my hand. And my Father, who is greater than all, no one can snatch them from his hand. He says, I'm the door. I'm the lock on the door. And the Father's the deadbolt.

He's the one who has sealed us in safe in the ark. And so he's the door. But he's not only the door of the ark, he's the Ark itself. He's the Ark itself. Jesus is our ark.

We can look at this passage and first of all, and recognize that God will not let sin go on forever. He's patient. But there's a certainty to judgment. It says in second Peter, chapter two, God did not spare the ancient world. Except for Noah and the seven others in his family.

Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. Peter affirms the Noah story, and he says it points to the final judgment, which is just as sure. I guarantee you, during those hundred years when Noah was praying, preaching, and the people were laughing at him, they were thinking, that'll never happen.

And here, Peter tells us, just as sure as that was in history, it really happened. Judgment day is coming for sure. Jesus is our ark. And are you in Jesus? I remember what Paul says in Romans 8:1.

He says, There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus Christ is the ark. He's the ark of God.

Are you in Christ? Is Christ in you? And you in Christ? There's only one door into the ark, and that's Christ. He says, I'm the door.

There's no middle ground. You're either in Christ or you're still under God's judgment. When the rains of judgment fell upon planet earth, it fell upon the ark. But those in the ark were found safe. And God's wrath fell upon Jesus on the cross.

He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And all the sin and all the wrath of God, all the judgment fell on him. But those that are in him are found safe in the ark, which is Christ Jesus. Well, let's keep reading. We're going to pick up some verses from chapter 8 and 9.

Verse 1 of chapter 8. 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 waters subsided. Then verse six, 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 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 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 Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Verse 18.

So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him. Every beast and creeping thing, every bird, everything that moves on the earth went out by families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took son of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man. For the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. And then we go down to chapter nine, verse eight. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you in verse 12. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature, creature of all flesh. And the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Well, let's pause there and conclude with this final way. This third way that we can see God's justice and mercy in view is by showing the faithfulness of God's covenant of his covenant and the patience of his mercy. By showing the faithfulness of his covenant and the patience of his mercy.

Notice in chapter eight, verse one, God remembered. What a strange, strange thing to consider. But God remembered Noah. Is God a forgetful God? Did God have a lapse?

I don't know if you're like me. As I'm getting older. Seems like I get more forgetful. Sometimes I'll be in one room and I'll think, I need to go get something, and I'll go to the other end of the house to get it. And by the time I get to that room, I can't remember why I'm in that room.

And so I'll stand there and look around for a minute and go, hmm. And then I'll go back to the original room, hoping that whatever memory I had was still sitting back there in the original room. You're laughing because it's happened to you. Well, God doesn't have that problem. Our God is an all knowing God.

He's not a forgetful God. So why does it say, but God remembered? God remembered. Whenever the Bible says God remembered, it's not showing that God is forgetting and then suddenly remembering. No, it's in God's covenantal time, his perfect timing.

He's acting on the thing he has promised for us. It looks like we're looking up from the bottom, looking up at heaven, going, it seems like God forgot us. Seems like he forgot the promise of his coming. Where is he? And then one day we'll go, well, God finally remembered.

Well, God didn't forget. It just wasn't time yet. And so from our perspective, we feel like, well, he finally remembered. But no, he always remembered. He finally has acted.

He's called it to mind.

There was some suspension, there was some delay, which was actually for our good because it would cause us to lean in closer and to call out louder to him so that when he does finally act, we are ready to receive. And when he acts, how does he act? It says he made a wind blow over the earth. This is how he decided to sweep the waters clean of the earth. He got out a giant blower, like I do my driveway, except much bigger.

And he blew off the whole earth. With what? The Hebrew word is used here for wind is ruach. It could be translated wind, as it is here. It could be translated breath, as it is when God took the dust of the earth and ruach into the dust of the earth and made man a living soul.

It could be translated breath. Or it could be translated spirit, as it often is. So we see a recreation of the earth taken at this point. In a way, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void.

And the spirit hovered over the deep. The ruach hovered over. And so there was a separation at later point between the land and the water that we see in the original creature creation. And here it's happening again. And it's the spirit of God, it's the breath of God, the wind of God acting here.

And so we see then these two birds. It's an unusual story. There's a raven and a dove. He releases the raven first, and the raven is an unclean bird. In Jewish understanding, it's a bird they're not allowed to eat.

It's Unclean, it represents impurity, and it does not return. He lets that bird go, it doesn't come back. I think it was Dr. Spurgeon who commented that the raven is like a worldly person. A raven. I don't know if you've ever noticed this.

You'd be driving down the road and you see something dead on the side of the road. You'll often see ravens because they'll eat dead things. And Dr. Spurgeon took. Took note that perhaps the raven never returned because they were floating carcasses upon the waters and it could eat and find its own way out there. It didn't have to come back.

And then he took note that the dove had to come back because it's a clean bird. In Jewish understanding, it's considered a clean bird, a symbol, an emblem of purity. And it had to come back to the ark. And he goes on to say that, are you a raven or a dove? Because if you're worldly, you'll go and feast on the worldly things and you'll be happy out there.

But if you're a believer, if you're dove, you won't be satisfied out there. You'll always come back to the ark, which is Jesus. You'll return, you'll have to. You won't be able to stay out there because you won't be able to feed on what you once fed on. That's a good sermon all to itself.

I thought I'd preach it a little bit myself.

And then he returns with, finally, after a second attempt, with an olive leaf in his beak. And he comes back, which was evidence that. That the waters are receding and life is being restored. And when Augustine of Hippo looked at this and Tertullian from the early centuries of the early Church fathers looked at it, they began to talk about the dove being an emblem of peace and an olive branch being that which you offer as an emblem of being at peace. And so this bird comes back.

We know that the dove also points to what happens after Jesus is baptized under his deluge, under the flood, that he goes under as a representative in our place. And he comes up and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. Oh, I love this Old Testament and how Jesus fulfills all of it in the New Testament. And then we see the faithfulness of his covenant in that he did not forget his covenant. He remembers.

And then we see the bow in the cloud. The word bow could easily be translated the kind of bow, archery bow. It's the same word that he puts in the sky. It's almost as if the Father said, there's no more war between me now because I've decided to make a covenant through Noah. And he takes his bow and he takes it, and he hangs it up in the clouds just like that.

I have a longer reading here I want to give you from second Peter, but I want you to see it because I think we tend to fall into the same trap of this idea that God is somehow not going to somehow judge, that he's going to forget his covenant. Here's what Peter observes. Apparently this was already happening in Peter's day. He says, most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days, God scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, what happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again from before the time of our ancestors?

Everything has remained the same since the world was first created. They deliberately forgot that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command. And he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty fleet. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.

They're being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends. A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he's being patient for your sake.

And he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. We see that he's not forgotten his covenant. He's not forgotten his promise to judge. But he neither has forgotten his mercy. And he's being patient.

And our timing is not his timing. God, have you forgotten? No. God has remembered. He has remembered.

We live in the rainbow years. We live in the time when God has shed his grace upon us. But there's a day coming when the door of grace will be shut. God will close the door, and then a day of judgment will follow. It's just as sure as the sun coming up tomorrow.

Now we know. The flood shows us. This story shows us God does act. But before he brings judgment, he offers and provides a way of mercy. Before the ark door closes, before that day comes.

And that day surely is coming for some of us sooner than others, because no man knoweth the hour or the day but the Lord himself. Why not enter the ark? Why not be assured that you are in Christ, repent of your sins. Recognize that you've grieved God. Confess your sins, repent and turn to the Savior.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for Jesus. He is our ark.

He is the door to knowing you and being right with you. He's the one that took your wrath and judgment upon himself that we might receive receive your acceptance and eternal life. I pray for that person that's here today under my hearing. You've never admitted that you're a sinner. You've never confessed your sins and recognized how you've grieved God.

Would you do it right now and say, lord, forgive me, a sinner. Have mercy on me, a sinner, and recognize your salvation. Praying Lord, I believe that Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for me and that he was raised from the grave and that he lives today. Come, forgive me of my sins. Make me a child of God.

I want to follow you all the days of my life. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing the Lord will save you, others are here today and maybe you're a young person and maybe your faith has been challenged by something you've read on the Internet or something in the school classroom. I'm just praying for you right now. Lord, help undergird our minds so that we have a biblical worldview that can stand against the arrows of lies and false teaching in this world and help us not to be like ravens who feed upon this of the world, but to be like the dove who always returns to the Ark which is Jesus, for it's in his name we pray. Amen.

The Lord Jesus died on the cross for me and that he was raised from the grave and then lives today. Come forgive me of my sins. Make me a child of God. I want to follow you all the days of my life. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing the Lord will save you, others are here today.

Maybe you're a young person, maybe your faith is has been challenged by something you've read on the Internet or something in the school classroom. I'm just praying for you right now. Lord, help undergird our minds so that we have a biblical worldview that can stand against the arrows of lies and false teaching in this world and help us not to be like ravens who feed upon the world, but to be like the dove who always returns to the Ark which is Jesus, for it's in his name we pray.