Judgement and Redemption

Pastor Chris Palmer

Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

Genesis 6:9–22

Matthew 27:45–56

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The account of Noah and the ark is a type of the redemption that comes from from the cross!

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Friday, my wife, my youngest daughter and myself went to Williamstown, KY. We went there to go and tour the Ark Encounter, that was built and opened to the public July 7, 2016. (SHOW FIRST 4 PICTURES)

TALK ABOUT THE LEVEL OF DETAIL AND INSIGHTFUL THOUGHT PUT INTO THE ARK. (Of how it showed a very plausible way that Noah and his family may have carried out this Biblical fact! From the storage of the animals, the feeding and watering methods, the ventilation methods and gathering fresh water, to the storage system and living quarters, etc!)

There are over 270 other similar stories around the globe, from multiple civilizations and cultures, that tell of an almost identical story of a great flood and of a boat with the animals on it!

If this account was a myth or story, do you really think that so many civilizations would have documented its existence?

Now before we ever left to drive up to the exhibit, on Friday, I had a thought that popped into my head early that morning and then as the day went on, the thought just grew!

That thought dealt with the “whys” and “whats” about the great flood and the account of Noah and his family and the ark.

Why did God send the flood?

What did the flood represent?

What did the ark represent?

What did Noah and his family represent?

What did the rainbow represent?

This morning, I would like to briefly talk with you about the subject of the great flood and the ark, as found in Genesis chapters 6-9.

I am not going to teach on the flood and what all happened, but rather, I am going to give you a broad understanding of this factual, Biblical account and then show how it is a “type” of another Biblical and factual account that took place millenniums after the flood!

Is everyone clear on what is meant by the word “type” from the Biblical perspective? Especially, since I and others use this word and its meaning quite often!

TYPE - The word "type" is generally used to denote a resemblance between something present and something future, which is called the "antitype."

OK, so what happened at the time of the great flood in Genesis. (What I mean is, why did the flood take place?)

READ , .

READ

Genesis 6:5–8 NLT

Genesis 6:1–3 NLT

Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

Genesis 6:1–3 ESV

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Genesis 6:1–3 NLT

Genesis 6:5–8 NLT

Genesis 6:5–13 NLT

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!

Genesis 6:5–8 NLT

Genesis 6:14–17 NLT

“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper. “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.

OK, so can everyone see the “why”, that God sent the flood?

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. “

God destroyed the earth and its inhabitants, because everything and everyone on it, had been given over to evil and violence!

In fact, in verse 12, the Bible says, “for everyone on earth was corrupt”, with the exception of a righteous man, called Noah. As the Bible states, “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.”

Noah, as described here as “blameless”, was not “sinless”, but rather, it refers to him as being good quality and moral goodness.

The Bible clearly tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.

So, Noah was not sinless, but he was a man that walked close to God and was thus found morally good in the eyes of God.

So, God sent the flood to destroy the wickedness of mankind, right?

What then does the flood represent?

The flood represents the righteous JUDGEMENT of God!

God found the hearts of all living beings to be corrupt and wicked and against Him and His ways! So God, who is perfect and just and Holy, pronounced judgement upon them!

And many people who read of this account, or other accounts similar to it, will say, “How could a God that is supposed to be loving, do something like this? Just wipe out an entire world, because of their faults!”

Well, there are a few things to this, that need to be mentioned.

First, we are not privy to all of the information that goes with this situation, except that God declared they were ALL wicked, evil and corrupt!

The Bible tells us that we can see only the outward appearances of mankind, but God looks onto the heart of men!

In other words, God sees what really exists inside of you and me!

And also, God tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways, His ways! For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so also are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts!

The Bible also mentions that it “broke the heart of God” as to the condition of mankind! Just 600 years after the garden incident and the level of sickness that the disease of sin had brought about and what it done to God’s creation, BROKE HIS HEART!

This shows us something that we see more and more clearly about Yahweh, as we read further and further into the OT and NT. HE LOVES US and He desires fellowship (intimate fellowship) with us! It was never and still is not, His desire to destroy us!

Listen to what the Bible tells us in ,

2 Peter 3:9 AMP

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

It is here that I will make a VERY IMPORTANT statement about the judgement of God.

God’s judgement is sent upon mankind, not out of ill will, hate or malicious intent towards us, but rather, He sends His judgement upon us in order to bring about repentance from us!

The judgement of God was always given to bring about repentance from the people and thus enable healing and deliverance!

Just as the passage in II Peter that we just read stated, “but that all should turn to repentance.”

Look here, if you or I (apart from the perfect love of God within us, as His true children), despised someone or a group of people, (whom we owed NOTHING to) and their annihilation had absolutely NO repercussions upon us and we answered to NO one about their ultimate demise and destruction; do you honestly think that we would plead with them to repent and turn back to us, if we despised them?!

NO, we may have the shred of goodness within us to say to the people something similar, as to what Paul said in , “You had better eat and drink tonight, for tomorrow you’re gonna die” and then the very next day, we would wipe them off of the face of the earth!

Point being, without perfect love, such as God shows, the only reason that you or I would issue judgement on someone who was wicked and evil towards us, would be for their ultimate destruction; not to bring them to repentance and draw them closer to us, right?!

MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE JUST BITING AT THE BIT TO HIT THE “NUKE” BUTTON AND DESTROY THEM!

God’s word is clear about why He issues judgement, as we find in ,

Amos 4:6–12 NLT

“I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. “I kept the rain from falling when your crops needed it the most. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away. People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. “I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. “I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

It is very clear here, as throughout the Word of God, that His perfect and divine judgement is given, to bring people to repentance and turn completely to Him!

Just like when God sent Jonah to warn the people at Nineveh about their wicked ways, He gave them 40 days to repent and turn to God, or else, God was pronouncing judgement upon them and was going to destroy them.

The people repented and turned to God and He withheld judgement! (Although 40 years later they turned back to their wicked way and the judgement came in full measure!)

In the flood story, here in , God actually gave the people 120 years to repent and turn from their ways! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS to repent!!

Do you think that 120 years is enough time to repent and turn back to God?

Peter mentions, in , “God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people,only eight souls, were saved through water.

God waited patiently for the people. (God could have just supernaturally protected Noah and his family from the flood, like He supernaturally protected Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo, in the fiery furnace) and sent the flood instantly and wiped them all out!

God was giving time for repentance before the judgement came forth!

Look here, my wife and I would not just say to our daughters when they were small, “We are getting ready to take the paddle (THE DORA THE EXPLORER PADDLE, no less) and wear you out, just because we want to impute pain to you!” (Although, looking back, maybe we should have done that a little more often!)

But, no, we would pronounce judgement to our girls for wrong doing, in order that they would turn from their wrong ways (repent) and thus lead them into a life that was blessed with character and health and longevity, due to their understanding of obedience!

God does the same thing with judgement, He uses it to bring people to repentance and to turn wholly to Him, thus saving them!

So, the flood was a “type” of the judgement of God and it was given to bring about repentance for the people. (A source of cleansing and removing the sickness of sin that had spread.)

And that is also part of judgement, it is to correct those whom are already Hi

And according to , the flood is also a “type” for water baptism. In the flood, 8 people were carried, (by their faith) in and out of the waters of God’s judgement and brought to safety.

In baptism, the believer is brought, by faith, in and out of the water, and into salvation, thus having escaped the judgement of God. Not salvation by the washing externally of the water (the act of baptism itself), as Peter mentions, but by the response to God from a clean conscience, which comes from their faith in the death and the resurrection of Jesus!

The faith of the believer, through the grace of God, in the finished works of Yeshua, Himself, is what cleanses a person and truly gives them salvation!

The ark, that carried Noah and his family to safety, is a “type” of redemption and salvation that would come millenniums later; a pure and perfect source of redemption and salvation, for all who would believe!

The ark was a means of redemption, in that it was a covering for those who entered by faith. It was the tool that ransomed Noah and his family from destruction and brought them to safety.

In speaking of the ark as a type for redemption, it helps that we all have the same understanding as to what redemption means, right?

Redemption, large and in part, means to buy back, to ransom to cover.

Well, in , God tells Noah, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

The Hebrew word used here for “pitch”, (which is like tar), is the word, “kō·fěr”, and although is does refer to a substance like asphalt, it also has another primary meaning, which is a “RANSOM, A REDEMPTION PRICE, A COVERING”!

In other words, it is like God was saying, “I am going to put a covering, a ransom about you and keep you for myself and protected from my righteous judgement!

The ark was also a “type” of salvation, in that, they entered into it and it SAVED them it protected them from the death and destruction, that came through the judgement of God, against sin.

Salvation, after all, from the Christian perspective, refers to deliverance from sin and its consequences. And what does the Word of God say that the consequence of sin is?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Noah and his family were delivered from the penalty of death due to sin, through the ark.

And the rainbow that God sent, as a covenant promise to never destroy the world again with a flood, it serves as a “type” for another mark, or seal that God would send in the future.

Just as God gave the rainbow as covenant sign, that is, a seal that He placed in the sky as a reminder of His covenant to us, so He would one day place another seal upon that which He had come into agreement with, through the means of salvation!

And that is about all that I am going to say about the story of Noah and the flood; this shows us God’s love, His redemption and His salvation for those who are truly His. Now we turn our attention to the another story of redemption and salvation; and quite honestly, the reason that many will file into churches all over the world this morning!

Now, we will jump from the first book of the OT, to the first book of the NT and look at the “antitype”, or the FULFILLMENT of the flood narrative. (And in all reality the fulfillment of the whole OT and everything that it was screaming out to us!)

QUESTION: Look, why are we all here this morning? In fact, why do we assemble at all throughout the week and every Sunday?

Yes, HE IS ALIVE!

Just as the ark was a “type” of Noah’s redemption and salvation, so, Jesus the Christ, became the redemption and the source of salvation for everyone, who would ever believe.

Look, the ark, which was fashioned by the hands of sinful men and had only ONE DOOR, one way in for all would enter it for salvation and redemption.

Jesus (who was fashioned by God and was thus born sinless), said that He was the “DOOR”, the ONE WAY in and that all who would enter by Him would be saved! (SHOW ARC PICTURE!)

The ark was a covering for all who would enter (sealed with pitch as a sign of ransom); it was their redemption!

Jesus became the full RANSOM price that was paid for the sins of all mankind and for all times; JESUS BECAME OUR COMPLETE REDEMPTION!

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all”

, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,the forgiveness of sins.

, “and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

Jesus became our salvation, He is the ONLY source of salvation against the JUDGEMENT of God against sin.

tells us, “Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Just as the rainbow was God’s covenant seal to remind us of the promise, so also, when we receive salvation through Jesus, God places His covenant seal on us with His own Holy Spirit, to remind us, to strengthen us, to guide us and to comfort us.

, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”

Look, I’m not going any further, I could spend the next 5 hours, just trying to do the crucifixion and the resurrection some justice and still not begin to cover it with you!

Here are the Cliff Notes that you need from the Bible on Jesus and His role in our REDEMPTION and SALVATION!

When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He did it for you! HE DIED IN YOUR PLACE, because of the penalty for your sin and my sin!

As soon as Jesus cried out, “IT IS FINISHED” on the cross, He was saying that the full payment had been made; there was nothing else that need ever be done again for our REDEMPTION and SALVATION! IT WAS FINISHED!

The cross is where we find salvation. The empty tomb, THE RESURRECTION, is where we find our HOPE for that SALVATION.

, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

JESUS AND HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE GRAVE IS OUR HOPE ; OUR ASSURANCE OF ETERNAL SALVATION. HE IS OUR REDEEMER!

HE IS MY REDEEMER, MY SAVIOR AND I AM SEALED WITH THE MARK OF GOD, TO PROVE IT!

Talk of Billy Graham’s death and the salvation from the dying man. Then tie it in (Louisiana State Penitentiary, “Angola Prison”) and the work of salvation and redemption for those prisoners.