WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.520 Okay, hopefully uh you can all hear me at home. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:07.679 Hello, uh scattered few uh in the room with us this morning. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.000 Uh thanks everyone for joining us. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:22.879 Hopefully uh your coffee tastes good and uh your couch is comfortable, and your family is gathered together, uh, or your friends or uh roommates or uh uh the stray enemy. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.359 Um let's uh read together as we continue our move through Genesis. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:28.399 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.159 This is Genesis six, verses nine through twenty-two. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.880 These are the generations of Noah. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.640 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:40.159 Noah walked with God. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.840 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.880 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:55.039 And God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:02.240 And God said to Noah, I have diser I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.280 Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:12.400 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:21.519 This is how you are to make it, the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth five fifty cubits, and its height three thirty cubits. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:26.879 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.000 Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:37.200 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. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.000 Everything that is on the earth shall die. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:51.519 But I will establish establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:59.040 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:12.639 They shall be male and female, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come into you to keep them alive. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.479 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.360 It shall serve as food for you and for them. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.199 Noah did this. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.840 He did all that God commanded him. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:25.280 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.439 Please sit back down on your couch. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:29.919 Father, uh, let's pray together. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.159 Lord, I pray that you would attend this time in a unique way. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:42.800 Lord, as we're all scattered more than we have been on a Sunday morning, uh, at least since we stopped meeting at 4 30 in the afternoon. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:50.000 Father, I pray that you would gather us in spirit, that your spirit would attend your word. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:53.360 Your word is not limited by our distance. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:58.800 And in fact, you've accommodated to us in this wonderful way through technology. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:04.000 And I pray that your word would go out and it would do the work that you've intended for it. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.560 Soften our hearts to hear from you. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:08.800 You are our loving Father. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.759 We praise you for the good things that you have for us. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:13.280 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:14.159 Amen. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:20.319 Okay, so as you can tell, we are uh not meeting in person. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:40.000 This would have been our second time in this space, uh, but instead, as a way of participating in what's happening globally and as a way of trying to love our neighbors throughout the season, we decided to uh uh cancel, in effect, the in-person service and move just to the live stream. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:47.199 Now, uh this means that we are apart and the normal rhythms of our church have been interrupted. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:54.719 But that's not strange right now because the normal rhythms of uh just about all parts of our lives have been interrupted. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:59.039 Uh so many of us are not going into the office for the next couple of weeks. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:08.000 Uh, school is canceled, and so the pressure that's put on working parents has been ramped up in these unique ways as daycares are also closing. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:13.199 Uh, we're in kind of uncharted territory at this point for our city. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.879 And uh as a church, we want to be careful in our response. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.519 We want to respond in a loving way. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:37.120 Uh so we're going we're going to be putting into practice um over the course of the next couple of days a small system that we hope will allow our church community to sort of mobilize our service to one another and to our community. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:39.120 So uh keep an eye out. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.519 What we'll be releasing are two forms. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.480 One form that says, I can help. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:49.759 I'm healthy, I'm not an at-risk person, I'm free to move about the city. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.519 And another form that is I need help in some way. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:56.319 Uh and uh both of those will be released. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:05.439 We're going to take the helpers, the people who fill out the helpers form, we're going to put all of you into the messaging function on our app. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:09.040 Now, this is a function that our app has that we haven't used before. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:19.360 Uh, but basically we'll be uh as a staff and in our limited resources uh triaging the needs for help that we receive from our community. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:27.279 And then we'll be uh sending those to the basically group chat of helpers. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:37.920 And hopefully we're just sending in you know bait into the waters, um, and people are able to rise up and become the hands and feet of service in our communities. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:44.560 So this can look like things uh like, hey, my daycare's closed and I need to get some errands done. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.160 Uh, could you come over? 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.160 I need somebody to come babysit for an hour or two hours. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:57.120 Or um uh I'm an at-risk person and and I feel uncomfortable going out to get my own groceries. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:01.279 Uh, would you go out and brave the grocery stores on my behalf? 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:17.279 Uh, this is uh a small effort that we want to make as a church as our rhythms are interrupted to uh not become people that are just frustrated by that, but to become a group of people that are leaning into that in a way where we can serve one another and love one another. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:18.720 So keep an eye out for that. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.720 It's coming down the line throughout the season. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:34.079 This is uh one of those times where it would be wonderful to see the church particularly rise up in wise, not reckless ways, uh to love our neighbors uh really tangibly. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:48.800 Now, we're continuing our march through the book of Genesis, and we've been in Genesis since the beginning of the year, and uh we laid out the whole year ahead um in terms of the scripture that we'd be preaching through for each Sunday. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:51.279 And by we, I uh I mean me. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.680 And we uh uh we gotta add a laugh track. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:57.920 There we go. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:07.920 So uh we uh uh in laying these out, it may seem like, okay, James, you're just cherry-picking that we're discussing the flood this morning. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:16.319 It seems a little on the nose, but as uh uh uh such as it is, we we are moving through the flood story today. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:27.759 Uh I think if we had moved through this just even two weeks ago, our imaginations would not have been so primed for a global catastrophe. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.399 And yet here it's not difficult for us to imagine something like that. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:42.480 We're a part of something that takes place in this dramatic, huge scale that has interrupted and changed the normal rhythms of each of our lives. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:50.399 Uh some people, of course, are at much greater risk than others, and the danger to some is far greater uh than uh to many others. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:57.519 And the flood all that to say the flood is way worse uh than what we're experiencing now. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:03.040 Um the flood was a far more dramatic, far more terrible event. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:12.639 So we want to be careful that when we're moving through this story, to not think, oh, I'm sympathetic to that situation because of the uh coronavirus. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:22.800 Yet we want to take advantage of this opportunity for our imaginations to be primed, to connect with the Word of God in a way that we previously might not have been able to so well. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:29.759 What we're seeing as we're entering into this story is a pattern that's emerging in Scripture. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:35.679 And it's a pattern, uh, a cycle that will take place throughout Scripture for the rest of our time in it. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:40.720 And so it's important to recognize uh what this pattern is and what this shape is. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:46.720 Last week we saw the world had sunk to this terrible level of sin. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:51.679 Once sin entered the world, uh violence became the norm. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:58.799 And we see this pattern emerge when sin becomes so terrible. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:05.519 The first step in this pattern is God steps in and takes control of the situation. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.120 The beginning of the pattern is God takes things into his own hands. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:22.080 And we saw this last week when God announced that he was committed to eliminating uh people from the earth because of the depths to which sin had corrupted them. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:28.000 God announces this and says, In 120 years, I will eliminate people from the earth. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.360 He is taking the situation into his own hands. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.360 Now the next step in that process is an exodus. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:54.799 God, in uh in taking the situation into his own hands, God grabs his people in a special way, and he moves them from this one position of being involved in a uh a world of terror and violence and brings them into a new type of world. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:14.320 We see this happen most prominently in the Exodus itself, when God takes the Israelites out of their captivity to Egypt and he moves them through the water into a new season of being in direct relationship to God and experiencing his freedom personally into a new phase of creation. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:24.720 We see this when they uh the Israelites will then enter into the promised land, and then they will participate with God's presence in a new way, having been into the promised land. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:29.360 So this exodus process uh is the second phase of this cycle. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:36.559 Then, after the exodus is complete, God establishes a new way of relating to him. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:48.639 So we see this after the Exodus, the people are gathered at Mount Sinai, and God lays out his Ten Commandments, his new order for the way the Israelites are supposed to operate in the world. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:11:01.360 So we see God takes control, there's an exodus, God establishes a new pattern of being, and then fourth, life takes place in this new pattern. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:14.240 So uh to varying degrees of success, we see the Israelites will uh either submit to God's authority or they will deny it, and they will live in their sin and corruption of their own hearts. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:22.639 And then finally, we will see God judge how they lived in that stage of redemptive history. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.320 And uh, spoiler alert, that judgment only goes well one time. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.039 And we haven't exactly seen that time yet. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:32.559 It's off in the future. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:46.559 But God, in that judgment, he will bring his people in another exodus through that judgment into a new and better stage of relating to the Lord. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:54.639 So here we see this pattern establish itself in Scripture for the first time through the story of Noah and the flood. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:06.159 Noah is brought through an exodus, through the waters, and then we'll see a new covenant established with God and a new way of relating to God in creation. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:11.840 The story that will cycle up until it culminates in Jesus. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.480 This morning the story begins with Noah. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:21.120 It says in Genesis 6, 9 through 10 These are the generations of Noah. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:25.120 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:31.440 Noah walked with God, and Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:44.320 This is the story of Noah, the one righteous man in his generation, and how his obedience is what God uses to accomplish the exodus for his people. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:46.480 Let's continue. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:50.159 We're going to look at the Ark, the Covenant, and the Flood. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.080 First, the Ark. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.799 Genesis six, eleven through thirteen. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:59.840 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:09.279 And God saw the corrupt, and God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:17.120 And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:21.759 Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.000 So we see this pattern. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.879 Three times in two verses, we see the word corrupt or corrupted. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:35.759 God is establishing what the situation of the earth is as it has been corrupted by sin. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:44.559 It's this same word that God uses at the end when he says, Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:48.639 The word corrupt and destroy are the same root. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:55.279 They have the same Hebrew that's basis of these two words of corrupt and destroy. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:07.120 And so what God is saying is, because humanity in their sin has destroyed the world as they have, I too will destroy the world. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:15.759 I will complete the destruction that has already taken place, that I've already pronounced, as we've seen sin take place in the world. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:20.799 It's a very symmetrical, very just response that we see God having. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:32.799 Then God lays out and the thing to notice here is that God is not just uh saying these things, God is declaring them to Noah. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:39.759 So there's one person in the world who God is bringing in on the plan of what God has in store. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.399 And he's speaking directly to Noah. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:47.759 He's chosen his righteous instrument through which he will accomplish his salvation amidst this. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.240 And he gives to Noah these orders. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.960 Before he announces that there will be a flood, he tells him to build an ark. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:02.159 He says, Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:09.840 This is how you are to make it the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:15.759 Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.440 Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.960 Okay, so notice that when we picture the ark, we just think boat because we know what's coming. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.360 There's a big flood coming, so we think he basically said to build him a boat. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:33.279 But ark doesn't mean boat. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:35.200 Ark means box. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.639 He basically says, a boat takes you from one place to another. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.720 This arc is just a make this gigantic box. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:47.200 And this box you'll climb into and it will preserve you through the waters. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:59.200 And that word arc will become more important later as the story continues, where this box becomes something much smaller and contains something, the word of God, which is also very precious. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:06.000 But here the ark is meant to contain people, and it's made of this particular type of wood, which is gopher wood. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:08.559 Now, we don't know what that is. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:12.799 It's uh a word that's just sort of been lost through history. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:25.440 But as we notice that in each place that God says to build his temple or to build the Ark of the Covenant, uh He assigns a particular type of wood that it's meant to be built out of. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:34.720 God is very particular in the details of how he desires Noah to bring his people through this destruction. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.639 And the ark is to be covered in pitch. 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:45.840 Now, pitch is a strange word that only comes up uh one other time, and it's with Moses. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:17:00.879 When Moses is placed into a basket to be hidden from uh the Egyptians, uh, he is uh placed in a basket that's covered in pitch, so that's able to be hidden amongst the reeds in the Nile. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:11.599 So, in the same way, this ark acts as that basket to carry God's people through the water towards salvation. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.000 The ark is really big. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:18.400 It's 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:29.920 It's gigantic and it has it has uh a roof around the top, and then it's got about an 18-inch gap window that's supposed to go around just under the whole roof. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.200 It's got a very sleek, kind of cool look, you can imagine. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:42.160 It's uh um kind of a primeval modern type of situation, prim mod, which is a term I would like to coin now. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:49.039 Uh and the uh uh and it's also laid out in three decks. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:55.599 Uh and it this makes sense corresponding to the way that we had seen creation established. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:13.599 In the first three days of creation, we see these uh forms established, which are then inhabited on the second three days of creation, and we see the the sky formed, and then we see the waters formed, then we see the earth formed, and sort of in correspondence with these three decks of the ark. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:20.400 The ark is meant to be this form that preserves his creation through the flood. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:28.400 Now that the now that Noah has been instructed to build the ark, God will inform Noah, here's why. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:38.720 And when he's informing him why he will build the ark, he will describe to him a new covenant, a promise that will take Noah through the flood. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.599 This is Genesis 6, 17 through 18. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.599 God continues and says, For behold, why build the ark? 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:55.200 For listen, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, and which is the breath of life under heaven. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.960 Everything that is on the earth shall die. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:13.440 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:27.759 God finally unveils to Noah that there will be a flood, and his purposes for the flood are complete, that everything on the earth that has breath in their lungs will die. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:45.839 And then we get one of those great interjections of Scripture where God says, but for you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked, but God, being rich in mercy. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:59.119 Everything on the earth will die, but I will make a covenant with you, and I will bring you and your sons and your wives and your wife with you through this flood. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:11.519 This flood will mean the destruction of the whole old way of living, and yet I will bring you through it into a new creation and a new way of living in accord with me, your God. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:16.960 That is what it means to be in covenant with the Lord. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:29.119 It means to be promised his salvation, be in the community that God is bringing through the destruction to a glorious salvation, to be with the Lord. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:34.000 This is the first time that the word covenant is used in Scripture. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.440 And it is used in terms of salvation. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:46.000 To be in covenant means to be in the Lord's, uh in this type of relationship with the Lord, which establishes our salvation. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:56.480 And it's good news, and it's good news for Noah, but it's also good news for all of the line of Noah, of which we are a part of. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:00.160 And it's also good news for even the animals. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:01.920 Continues on. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.759 So we're bringing two of each animal into the ark for obvious reasons. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:30.960 You're gonna need two, it takes two to make a thing go right. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:39.039 And we're going to bring those uh through through the flood so that the world might be preserved. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:45.839 And we see that they're described in the three decks that the Ark has. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:48.880 Look at the different types of creatures that we have. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:57.839 We're bringing of the birds uh according to their kind, of the animals according to their kind, and of the creeping things of the ground according to their kind. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:04.640 You can see the birds, the animals, and The creeping things, they're in accord with the three decks of the Ark. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:12.160 What we have here is the Ark becomes the stand-in for the first three days of creation. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:25.599 It becomes this embryonic form that then gets filled with the second three days of creation, days four through six, where we see the birds created on day four. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.640 Or excuse me, we see the sun and the stars created on day four. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.559 It's really a stand-in for days five and six. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:37.839 And we see the birds created on day five, and then we see the animals and the creeping things on the ground created on day six, along with the humans. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:43.839 And so their flourishing is preserved in the form of the ark. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:50.480 It's creation and its embryonic state in the ark brought through the waters. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:23:01.920 So this section is completed with this statement that becomes a refrain throughout the whole flood story. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.319 It's this in Genesis 6.22. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.599 Noah did this. 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.400 He did all that God commanded him. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:20.880 We see that it's the obedience of Noah, according to the command of God, that work together to mean the salvation of the world. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:31.200 The obedience of the one to the command of God accomplishes the salvation of the world. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:37.680 This becomes the pattern of our rescue that moves through redemptive history. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:44.960 This is the framework that God uses to rescue his people from the terrors of sin. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:55.359 Now, as it goes on, it's described that seven pairs of clean animals are also described to be brought into the ark. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:02.000 These seven pairs of clean animals will be part of a sacrifice on the other side of the flood. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:13.119 And after uh in order to have enough pairs to continue that species going after sacrificing them, it's a good idea to uh bring some spares. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.039 So God recommends that. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.680 Noah honors that command as well. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.799 And so let's look finally at the flood. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:42.960 In Genesis 7, 11 through 12, in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth 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 forty days and forty nights. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:49.839 We're given a very particular time stamp for the flood. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:57.839 It's as if the writer of Genesis is saying, Look, this really happened. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:02.960 There was a moment where this actually took place. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:09.920 And the description is precisely the undoing of creation. 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:21.920 While God had separated the waters above from the waters below, now water bursts forth from the ground and from the heavens. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:29.119 And the earth that was separated from the water becomes covered by these reconvening waters. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:34.720 It's as though God is drawing back in perfect reverse order his creation. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:47.599 But amidst that he preserves on the ark, floating over his wrath, this embryo of a creation that will begin again. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:53.680 His response to sin is complete destruction. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:26:03.759 That is the justice of God, that he responds to sin completely, but amidst that he saves. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:03.119 Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.160 They were blotted out from the earth. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:13.359 Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.279 You know, you consider a catastrophe. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:25.440 This is the greatest in Scripture. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:30.480 The greatest that's happened so far. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:38.640 It's hard for us to imagine or wrap our minds around just the terror of this moment. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:54.799 And then floating on top of it are these few people, by the obedience of just one, who are preserved and brought into a whole new world, a whole new way of being. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.839 Now I want to return briefly to this word pitch. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:09.359 The word pitch, as I said, is uh it's it's the description of the coating that was described to be around the ark, uh, to waterproof it. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:12.559 It's what's described to coat Moses' basket. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:18.240 And this word has the same root as the word atone. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:24.000 And it makes sense because both words probably just mean to cover. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:37.680 And our hope, as we look forward to God's final response to sin, is that Jesus has covered us. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:45.759 That by the blood of Jesus we have been completely protected, completely atoned for. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:29:03.839 That Jesus Himself became the ark that he brought us into, so that he preserves his church through this final judgment to bring about a glorious new heavens and new earth that we might participate in. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:10.720 That there's a final exodus that we are still looking forward to, that Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:25.440 Jesus becomes the door that we enter into, that is sealed by God, so that we are protected by this pitch, so that we don't sink into the wrath of God, which we deserve for our sin. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:31.279 So, what does this story mean exactly for us now? 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:39.599 What does the flood story mean other than just sort of a description of what would be culminated in Jesus? 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:46.400 Well, Peter uses this story in a very particular way at the end of 2 Peter. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:30:04.720 In 2 Peter chapter 3, he uses it as a reminder, and he's speaking particularly to uh people who he says will say, Look, there's going to be lots of people at the end who say, uh, look, Jesus isn't coming back. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:13.920 There's going to be no final judgment of sin, and there's going to be no final new heavens and earth that we're brought through into by his blood. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:15.039 It's not happening. 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:16.400 And how do we know that? 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:27.279 Because since the prophets have spoken and promised these things, everything has gone about pretty much as normal since it has from the beginning of time. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:36.079 Peter speaks to those people, and he says, This He says, This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:42.799 In both of them I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:46.079 All right, so we're being reminded of something. 00:30:46.799 --> 00:31:04.079 That you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this, first of all, listen, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.599 They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:14.559 For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:26.400 Look, ever since uh ever since the the apostles have died, or ever since the the prophets have gone asleep, there's uh everything just continue was continues on. 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:27.599 It's a business as usual. 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:29.359 Things are pretty much normal. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:43.359 And yet you're supposed to be describing a kingdom of heaven that is somehow advancing and recreating the earth as we speak, that's going to power through this final judgment and be preserved by the blood of Jesus at his return. 00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:58.400 Like, look, there's no evidence in the past that points towards the world changing that much for us actually going into this new phase of creation, for us actually seeing a new heavens and a new earth. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.559 But this is what Peter says. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:25.839 For they deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the water and the word of God, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:39.279 He's saying, Look, you forget the world was formed from water, and then at this earlier time, it was flooded again, and God created a whole new way of existing in it. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:41.759 You forget that that really happened. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:57.039 And he says, But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.759 So, what does uh the flood story mean to us now? 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:05.200 What is it, this reminder of, as Peter uses it? 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:20.079 It's this reminder in our hearts that one day judgment will happen, that the past is not always an indicator of what tomorrow will be like. 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:24.799 But one day there will be an actual judgment. 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:29.680 And so, how should we live knowing that? 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:36.000 How should we live knowing that the judgment of the Lord is coming? 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:41.119 We hope in his covenant. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:49.599 We turn our hope only to the promise of the one who can bring us through. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:34:06.000 The one righteous person who was truly righteous, who went through that final judgment day on our behalf and stood in our place so that we might be rescued by him. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:31.199 Jesus takes on the final judgment of God unto himself and receives in his body the wrath of God so that we might be spared and we might be treated like Noah's sons, who weren't the righteous ones, but because of his righteousness were brought through the flood and were saved. 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:45.199 And so we ourselves might be considered sons of God who are brought through the flood of the final judgment because of the grace and mercy that is freely offered to us through the pitch of Jesus. 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:49.199 This is our hope in Christ. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:57.920 Right now, in our in our minds, our hearts might be soft in this unique way. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:07.280 Where are we wouldn't be hardened in such a way as to say the world uh will never really change, things uh won't really be different. 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:14.000 Now look, uh the coronavirus will pass. 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:24.239 We will meet in here again, we will gather as a church again, the economy will recover, but different. 00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:26.880 And we'll be brought through this. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:47.840 And the church has this opportunity to show that in the midst of a chaos like this, we have a hope that transcends to a point that if things were the absolute worst they could be, which is that final judgment of God, our hope in Christ still stands. 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:58.800 And so now, in the midst of chaos like this, when things aren't the worst they could be, but are worse than two weeks ago, our hope still stands. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:06.239 And so, with that in our minds, with that in our hearts, let us seize this time to love one another. 00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:16.639 Let our hearts be softened and let us come to Jesus, trusting in his blood to bring us through the flood that is to come. 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:21.119 All right, with that, I don't know if we have any questions. 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:23.679 Do we have the ability to take those? 00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:25.519 Yeah. 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:29.280 What does the writer mean when he says Noah walked with God? 00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:31.599 And how does that translate for us today? 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:33.840 What a wonderful question. 00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:39.519 So uh that's the second time that this phrase has been used in Genesis so far. 00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:42.719 And uh it was previously used of Enoch. 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:49.679 Uh Enoch is from the line uh not the Enoch from the line of Cain, but the Enoch from the line of Seth. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:57.519 And uh the Enoch from the line of Seth, it just says that he walked with God, and then the Lord, the Lord took him. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:07.119 So Enoch is one of two people in Scripture who doesn't die, uh, but instead is just taken up to be with the Lord. 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:15.119 Um and so uh what does it what does it technically mean in terms of practice, or like what would that look like today? 00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:34.079 Uh well, first let's see that that it's a term that the Bible has used to demonstrate a person's heart who views God as God and then lives with God as though he is God's creature. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:59.599 Now that posture is so important because what tends to happen in our hearts is God becomes this component of our worldview, which allows us to address certain psychological ailments that we have. 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:04.320 I'm feeling anxious, so I can bring in this God concept to address that. 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:12.079 I want to improve myself and I can use this God concept to uh allow for that sort of improvement or whatever. 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:21.920 Uh I'm feeling nervous about something, and so I'm I'm gonna escape into this sort of God concept to bring that in a way into my life that's incorporated. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:34.079 But that's a very different thing than someone who says, I am just a creature whose breath depends on the omnipotence of God sustaining me. 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:55.360 And so I am going to walk with him as though he really is Lord of all, and that my life is worthy of being laid down for him and his glory, and that in laying my life down for his glory, I will find my ultimate flourishing. 00:38:55.519 --> 00:38:56.000 Why? 00:38:56.239 --> 00:38:58.000 Because I am not God. 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:04.559 I am a creature, and I'm a creature designed to glorify him. 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:10.559 And it's in that posture of relating to the Lord that we find our flourishing. 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:16.000 And I think that that's a picture of what it means to walk with God in the way that Noah does. 00:39:18.159 --> 00:39:24.239 With that in our minds, let's just consider. 00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:28.320 This isn't a fantasy story. 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:30.400 This is real. 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:33.920 He really exists, he's really in control. 00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:36.320 Jesus really died. 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:38.400 He really came back from the dead. 00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:44.480 He reigns in heaven now, and in the midst of the chaos that's happening around us, we can trust him. 00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:48.079 So let's do that together. 00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:51.360 Father, we praise you for this time. 00:39:51.760 --> 00:40:00.960 I pray that uh your word might be an encouragement to our hearts that uh as certain as the flood was coming for Noah, we know a judgment is coming. 00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:07.920 But as certain as the Ark preserved Noah and his family, so too does the blood of Christ preserve your church. 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:15.199 Lord, I pray that uh we might come to you and say, Lord, preserve us, help us, bring us through this time. 00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:19.119 Father, I pray that you would you call yourself our healer. 00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:24.719 I pray that you would heal those that are uh uh stricken with this coronavirus. 00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:36.559 I pray that you would heal our city, uh, that you would give wisdom to those that are leading us now, Lord, um, and that you would uh bring a quick recovery uh to draw us out of this. 00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:50.639 Lord, I pray that soon we'll be able to gather again in person uh as a church and in our businesses and at our schools, um, and that when we do so, that it will somehow be sweeter for us having been away. 00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:56.880 Lord, you can accomplish such good things from uh such tragedies. 00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:58.880 Uh we praise you for that. 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:00.960 We lift this up in Jesus' name, amen.