Noah

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Genesis chapter 6

We are continuing a new sermon series called “Genesis” and we will be going through six key accounts in the book of Genesis

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and is the first book of the Pentateuch

(Greek word is - pentateuchos, “five volume [book]”),

These 5 books are often referred to as “the law”

Includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy

The majority of scholars agree that they were written by Moses

Genesis is a narritive, and more than that it is the foundation to which the rest of scripture rests

Two weeks ago we started in Genesis chapter 1&2 and read the narrative of God creating the world

And found in it that God’s intent, God’s design, and God’s will, are all good

Because of this everything he had created was good

We talked about God making man in his image and likeness - God gave dominion to man

God wanted to be in relationship with man and to bless man

In order for mans will to be in line with God’s will, In order for man to continuously submit to God,

He was to be obedient to God’s good and loving command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

Last week we talked about Satan and the different ways that he decieved Adam and Eve

Ultimately - Because Adam didnt step up and because Eve had subtle changes to what God had said,

The tree, the fruit, the promise of wisdom became desireable

And they gave into the temptation to try to have self- fulfillment

Shame instantly came upon them

In God’s punishments, he also gave hope

He promised that through the offspring of Eve, there would be one whose heel would be bruised

But the offspring would strike the head

And we know that that offspring would be Jesus

Jesus born fully God and fully man, born of the virgin mary

Concieved by the Holy Spirit

And therefore, Jesus, although man, was God and was not born in spiritual darkness

Every offspring, every person born after Adam and Eve are born into spiritual darkness which is why we need Jesus to make us alive

1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

As God sends out Adam and Eve from the garden, he sends them out with hope

He sends them out with clothing because God is the one who will takes away shame

And if we were to read chapter 4 we would read what happens with the immediate offspring of Adam and Eve

And we find that there is murder, Cain kills his brother Abel

Cain is driven away and Adam and Eve have another son named Seth and through Seth came many generations

And in Genesis chapter 5, we find a geneology that starts with Adam and then Seth, and then leads to Noah

And from Adam to Noah, over 1,000 years passes

Over 10 centuries

Over 100 decades

And it brings us to Chapter 6 where we find the narritive of the increased corruption on earth

And here is the thing, right now in 2023 there are many who say that the world is the worst that it has ever been in regards to corruption/evil

Many people say that the end has to be coming

And I look around, I admit that a lot of bad things are happening - just turn on the news and you will be able to see all the bad

And I admit that I believe abortion is the worst thing that is happening right now and I do not want to diminish the severity of it

But I do have trouble with the idea that we are at its worse

I havent lived very long but reading history:

1933-1945 was the Holocaust - 12 years and over 6 million Jews were murdered

1939-1945 Specifically was WW 2

In 1865 there was something called the Jim Crow Laws which started the segregation

From 1861-1865 America had the civil war - Americans killing Americans

Now these three time periods are less than 2 centuries ago

However, if given a choice to live in any of these time periods - I’m choosing 2023

And I am also going to pick 2023 over the time of Noah

If you are able, I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s Word - Genesis 6

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 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. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 And of 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. 20 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 in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 6:1–22.

This is the word of our Lord, you may now be seated

Wickedness

Most scholars agree that at this point the lineage of seth was intermarrying the lineage of Cain

The Sons of God referring to Seths line and daughters of man referrs to Cains line

This intermarrying is leading to a dilution of godliness

Rather than the Line of Seth influencing the line of Cain, The line of Cain is influencing the line of Seth

The men, like Adam did, are not stepping up to lead the family towards God

The womens desire to be contrary to her husbands became prevelant

And this leads up to God saying that his Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh

Last month we read John 15 where Jesus is calling on people to abide with him

To be one with him, to seek him, live with him, trust him

And here we have the exact opposite, man is not seeking to abide with God

And God knows where this is leading

And so God expresses that his days shall be 120 years

This means that man has 120 years to repent and to turn to him

And during this 120 year period, rather than there being repentance we read further

5 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.

This shows that the depravity of man was so great, there was no intention in man to please God or be in relationship to him

The thoughts of his heart were continuously evil

We are church re-planting and its hard but there is 0 church planting being done at this time

And this leads God to correct to what is good

Remember that God is good, his intent is good, his design is good, and when man intends for evil, when he does evil

God will find a way to make it good again

And at this point things are so bad that the text states that

the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.”

This can be a hard text to read into but before we do, we have to submit a few things

First, we must submit that God does not learn

Nothing surprises God or catches him off-guard

He doesn’t do something, look into the future and think oh my I made a mistake

God is all knowing and all sovereign and so everything he does is according to his infinite knowledge and wisdom

Second, we must submit that God does not change

Malachi 3:6 ““For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Third, we need to submit that God does not change his mind

Numbers 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.””

This can sound like a contradiction because our text says “And the Lord regretted”,

Only this isnt a contradicion

The Lord regretted - is to say that he is repenting, This is the KJV version

and he is not repenting because he has made a mistake

Rather, now he is going to destroy the very thing he had created

His grief at the current cirumstance is bringing him to an action that will destroy what he has previously done

I submit to you that God’s attitude and action to bless or to punish is always appropriate to the situation

We see the same thing when the people of Israel called out for a King

And even against the prophet Samuels warning they were adament for a King

And so God gave the people King Saul

And Saul was suppossed to follow God but he didn’t.

1 Samuel 15:11 ““I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.”

God is now saying that his punishment for Saul is to take the throne away from him when it was God who put him on the throne in the first place

God’s regret is not that he has messed up, his regret is repentance that he has to alter or change what he has previously done

Is this not what we do when we repent?

When we repent, we turn from our evil and wicked deeds, our ways, and we change our actions to that of God’s

We change our actions as we strive to live in a new way

We ask for forgiveness from God, and although we deserve God’s punishment - A God who would be just in punishing,

He forgives and extends grace to his people

At this moment in time, there was no repentance from the people on earth

And because there was no repentance, a punishment had to be made

It was a punishment that would wipe out what God had created

Noah

But here is God’s grace

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

Noah was righteous not because he was a better person than everyone else

You’ll find right after the flood, Noah actually got drunk

But even in his sinful human state, he was striving to obey God

Noah was righteous because he walked with God

Noah also believed God

Noah had faith in God

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

And Noahs faith extended to his family

Noah taught his sons and family to follow God

And this is why his faith was so great.....

They were living in a time where rain was not known

Where flooding was not known

God announced his judgement on the earth to Noah and Noah may have had questions but he didnt question God

God was promising Noah safety for himself and for his family

Noah at this point could believe God or reject God

And in verse 22 it says he did all that God commanded him.

This is God’s grace - that he reveals salvation to his people

That his people need to only believe and walk with him

God gives us all the insturction we need

He gave specific insturction to Noah

Salvation

And God showed his grace to Noah by revealing his judgement and then he tells Noah how he can be saved

And God was very specific about building this huge ark

It was massive and answers in genesis estimates that it took anywhere between 20-40 years to build

20-40 years of work and faith

Even when it was hard, even when Noah was made fun of, even when there was no sign of rain

Noah kept his faith and believed God

He was trusting God that his ark would save him and his family

That his hard work would not be for nothing

And when the time came, All the animals and Noah and his family gathered in the ark

God shut the door

God sealed their safety and brought judgement

Through the storm, winds, floods, all inside of the ark were safe

And when the time came, they were on dry land and came out and worshiped God

Application

In our lifetime, I submit to you that most of us have less than 120 years to repent

To believe God and to walk with him

In a time where we do still see so much violence and corruption

God has revealed a punishment to us

For those of you joining us in our New Day Bible reading, this past week we read Matthew chapter 24

Matthew 24:36-39 ““But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 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.”

This specifically relates to the second coming of Jesus and Jesus is teaching on it

And as we often reference, we can interpret this different ways depending on your belief of the endtimes

But what is abundantly clear is that 1. Jesus will be coming back and 2. There will be a judgement

This true story of Noah is a blueprint, a parallel, a foreshadow

We walk this earth and we can either repent and obey God or we can reject him because we want to do things our way

Romans 2:6-11 “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

When we die there will be a judgement, when Jesus comes back there will be a judgement and it will all depend on wether you believed God or not

Just as God told Noah to build the ark, God gives us his word to read

Just as God gave specific insturction to Noah, so God gives specific instruction to believe in Jesus alone for salvation

God is the one who closed the door and sealed safety for Noah,

God is the one who seals us to him through his son Jesus

Romans 3:21-25 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”

Our ark, our saving grace from his judgement is Jesus

And just as Noah built the ark day by day 20-40 years

So are we to work on our relationship with Jesus day by day until the day of judgement

We need to start our day with God, never miss church, and share Jesus every week!

Our vision this year: To pursue healthy growth through unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heartedness, humility; and will seek and pursue peace within the church and the world

Yes, I will be bringing up our vision because in order for it to happen, we must be proactive and put in the work

And when it gets hard, when we start to question if its really going to rain or not, we can rely on God and his promises

Remember, God does not change, he does not mess up, God is good and his promises are good

Look at how he is faithful to man

Just as he had insturcted Adam and Eve to fill the earth in subdue it, he also continued this through to Noah after the flood

Genesis 9:1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

God is faithful, his word is sure, and if we would just walk with him and obey him, if we would just put our faith in Jesus

Then it doesnt matter how wicked this world becomes, we know, we can rest, that we are saved

But that does not absolve us from our call to make disciples and to evangelize

Just as Noah taught his family to believe and worship God, so are we to do the same

We are to bring others into the family of God, to be used by God to bring them to safety in Jesus

And so we find that God didn’t just save Noah, he saved Noah and his family, and remnants of all living creatures

All through scripture and all through humanity, there has always been a remnant of believers

God is faithful to his people, God is faithful to his church

God established a covenant with Noah and he has established a covenant with us

And when God establishes covenants they usually come with a sign

His rainbow is a promise that he will never flood the earth with water again

Gods covenant with us, the New Covenant is found in the Lords Supper

We partake in communion because when we commune together, it is a promise that Jesus’ death is sure

That his love for the church, his bride, is sufficent for salvation

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says this about the Lord’s Supper:

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

And so we always end communion with 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Church - We proclaim, we believe, we trust

And upon our death or second coming of Jesus, when we land, we will rejoice and worship our God

Do you believe?

Announcements:

Not too late to sign up for Community Group and Connect Class - Please fill out Sign Up Sheet out in the foyer and Pastor John will follow up with you

New Day Mens Retreat - Men from all three locations will join together February 24-26 @ Trinity Pines

Sign up online, it is $150 please please please do not let that deter you, let us know if the money aspect is an issue and we will take care of that for you

Resolved Student Choir will come join us and sing on March 12th

We will also have a block party on March 12th @ 4pm - There will be games, snacks, prizes, and more

New Day Womens Retreat - Women from all three locations will join together March 31st - April 2nd @ Camp Tejas

Sign up online, it is $150 please please please do not let that deter you, let us know if the money aspect is an issue and we will take care of that for you

New Day Reading Plan - Mon-Fri - Matthew 26 - Mark 2.

Please stand and recieve the benediction before we leave -

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Thank you, you are now dismissed