God's Grace for Times of Crisis

Big Idea:

God’s grace saves people in crisis.

Intro:

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We’ve started a new sermon series title, “The Big Story Book.” It’s a series focused on 3 main things:

To share foundational Bible stories. Sometimes we know them as children’s Sunday school stories. But they are more than that. They are stories of purpose that reveal God’s plan to save the world.

To show how both the OT & NT are connected by one “Big Story.” They both reveal God’s plan of salvation.

To reveal Jesus as God’s plan of salvation. Each week, we will show Jesus as the most important Person in the Bible.

We got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s jump in!

Body:

Last week, we talked about Adam & Eve (the first humans God created). How God created them for a perfect world of love, but they rebelled against God. And by their disobedience, sin and death entered ruined everything.

This week, we jump about 1,000 years forward. And things have only gotten worse.

Genesis 6:5–7 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.”

3 important things I want us to consider, before we move on, to help us have an appropriate perspective on our first story. Because it’s definitely a story that is open to wrongful accusation when misinterpreted...

This story requires we trust God by faith. Hearing God’s plan to destroy everything likely causes discomfort and confusion. Questions worthy of discussion. But in the end, we need to remember that God is God. What I mean is He is holy. He is perfect in decision and action. When God decides to flood the Earth in judgment, we need to understand it was a perfect decision.

This story requires we be honest about the condition of man. When it says, “EVERYTHING they thought or imagined was CONSISTENTLY and TOTALLY evil,” we must believe it was an accurate description of the world. Actually, it was probably worse than anything we could imagine!

This story requires we understand it TRULY “Broke God’s heart.” God is love. And we are His special creation made in His image. But in His Sovereignty, God was left with no other option.He didn’t enjoy this. God never enjoys judging His beloved creation. Ezekiel 18:23 says, “Do you think I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” The flood broke God’s heart!

With these 3 things under consideration, let’s move into our first story… which is: Noah and the ark!

You’ve probably heard this story before (at least some version of it). Maybe you had a Noah’s Ark toy. Seen an inaccurate movie from a few years ago. Or… maybe you’ve never heard this story at all (which is becoming more common). Regardless, the story of Noah and the ark takes place when the world was completely wicked. And God decides to flood the earth in judgment. But then…

Genesis 6:8 NKJV

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

It goes onto say...

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation...”

In an evil world, one man caught God’s attention. He wasn’t a perfect man by any means. In fact, the word “grace” means “God’s UNDERSERVED favor.” Noah had issues. At the same time, he was DIFFERENT. So, what was it about him that made him righteous and blameless - made him DIFFERENT? Well, it goes onto say...

“Noah walked with God.”

… But what does that mean? Let’s keep reading and see...

Genesis 6:13–14 NLT

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! “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.

God then gives dimensions on how big the large boat or “ark” should be. So how big was it?

Well, it was this big! [Show picture]

If you didn’t know, there is a replica at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. But if you can’t tell how big that is, here’s another example [Show picture].

The ark was a HUGE project! And Noah didn’t have any help. He built it himself. Yikes! Additionally, God says...

Genesis 6:18–19 NLT

But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.

So, not only did he have to build a wooden Titanic by hand, by himself, but he also had to be an Ancient Ace Ventura. He was to somehow magically gather two of each animal (male and female) to put on the ark. I would’ve been like, “How exactly am I supposed to get the lions, tigers, or bears [oh my!] to peacefully come with me?”

But check out two more things:

After Noah ACTUALLY BUILDS the ark, God says, “…in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot from the face of the ground.” (7:4). You’re like, “So what.” Here’s the thing: Most bible teachers believe up to this point, it had never rained before. The pre-flood world was watered from below (through the ground), not above by rain. Noah would’ve been like, “Wait, what’s rain?”

Furthermore, verse 6 says, “Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.” What’s significant is chapter 5 tell us Noah was 500 when God told him to build the ark! It took Noah 100 years to build the ark. Not only that, but Noah waited on God for 100 years!!! And think about it... he was likely mocked by his neighbors for a century. “Noah, what are you doing?!? You’re still building that thing? It’s been 87 years. What a dummy!”

Why do I mention these things? Because it shows us what “walking with God” looks like. It reveals what was different about Noah. Why he found grace in God’s eyes. Because all throughout this story, after crazy statements, we find the following statement repeated...

“And Noah DID all that God commanded him.”

We see it in 6:22, 7:5, and 7:16. What does it look like to walk with God? What made Noah righteous and blameless? He believed God by faith.

Walking with God is..

Believing God even when we don’t understand. Even if it seems impossible (like building an ark). Even if we’ve never seen anything like it (like Noah never seeing rain).

It’s believing God even if we have to wait a long time (like 100 years). Even when our faith makes us look foolish.

It’s a belief resulting in obedience. It’s actually DOING what God commands us to do.

That’s what made Noah special. That’s what it looks like to “walk with God.” And it makes me think, am I (are we) willing to walk with God like this?

Because like Noah...

Sometimes we have to walk with God alone. We might be the only person in our family, school, or job that follows God. Will we still be faithful to Him?

Sometimes we must be patient a long time. God has His own timing and rarely does it fit into our schedule. Will we wait on Him?

Sometimes we have to do the impossible by faith. Like ark-impossible. Let me give you a strange example that came to mind. Janelle and I are fully aware that we hold an uncommon perspective on Glastonbury. We look at this town and are absolutely in love. We never want to live anywhere else. However, most people we meet can’t wait to get out of New England. They hear how we want to stay forever and think, “That sounds impossible to me. I can’t stand it here!” But let me suggest an impossibility to consider by faith.

Our church leadership team has often prayed, “Lord send laborers for the harvest.” Bring people to Glastonbury to help us! And He has.

We’ve also tried to be faithful to equip people in our church to be sent out. Our mission statement has 3 words: Know, Grow, Go. With “Go” referring to sending people out to preach the gospel. We believe God wants us to raise up people in this church to send out into the world.

But consider this too… We also need people to STAY. We need people willing to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Jesus by staying HERE! People willing to stay in Glastonbury for the sake of the mission, even if it seems impossible. Like living here any longer seems impossible! Yet God may say, “My grace is sufficient for you. I can give you the strength to do it. I’m calling you to STAY. If you will, you’ll find grace in My eyes.”

It’s things like this that made Noah special. It’s what people who “walk with God” do.

Well… once Noah and His family got on the ark, the earth starts to flood just as God says. The ground bursts open and it begins to rain for 40 days. It says...

Genesis 7:18–19 NLT

As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth,

To show how crazy this is, look at this picture. The highest mountain on earth is Mt. Everest. It’s 29,000 feet above sea level. See the little tiny building on the left - that’s the Empire State Building! Imagine the water rising higher than Everest!!!

Noah, his family, and two of each animal stayed on the ark for the next 377 days. And when the water level finally dropped and the land dried, they got off the ark and it says, “Noah built an altar to the LORD and… offered [sacrifices]. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man...’” (vv. 20-21).

…don’t skip how meaningful this was for God. God’s heart was broken. But, He decided to give grace to one man, Noah, and his family. And after the flood-crisis, Noah worships. He does what man was originally created to do. He chooses to love God. And this blessed God’s heart. It validates that God’s judgment was perfect. Then, God gives a sign for all to remember His promise of grace, love, and to never again flood the earth…

Genesis 9:12–15 NLT

Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.

So to summarize:

The world was completely evil and God judged the world by a flood.

Yet, one man, Noah, found grace in God’s eyes. To save Noah’s family, God asked them to build an ark.

When the flood came, it destroyed everything. But those on the ark were saved. Afterwards, God promised He would never do it again. And the sign of this promise is the rainbow.

And that’s a great and fun Bible story! But what’s the point of this story? Is it just biblical history or is there more?

Well, let me share with a NT story that shares qualities with this OT story. It’s the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

For example, one shared quality is both stories involve a crisis. God flooding the world is a pretty serious crisis! In Philip’s story, we find the following crisis:

Acts 8:1 NLT

Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

In this story, Christians were being beaten, thrown in jail, chased away, and killed. Like the flood waves swept over the world in Noah’s day, a “great wave of persecution” swept over the church in Philip’s day. Philip was a Christian who had to leave Jerusalem to survive this crisis.

But guess what? Philip was a man who walked with God too. Before the persecution-crisis, he was known as full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Additionally, when he forced to leave Jerusalem, it says...

Acts 8:5 ESV

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

…which was also like Noah because 2 Pet 2:5 says “Noah was a preacher of righteousness.” He also believed and obeyed God like Noah. Verse 26 says...

Acts 8:26–30 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Two things:

God told him, “Go to a deserted place.” That’s it. No other details. But Philip walked with God. Philip believed God. So, he went.

Then, out of no where comes this royal chariot, and God’s like, “Go talk to that dude.” And Philip does! Actually, it says, “he ran to him!”

Like Noah, Philip’s mentality was, “Whatever you want me to do God, I’ll do it! I don’t care if I understand, if it’s impossible, or if it takes a long time.”

And like Noah’s story, Philip’s story is full of grace. Philip asks the Ethiopian, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” And he’s like, “I can’t even read!?!” No, but he says...

Acts 8:31 ESV

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

And here’s where it gets crazy...

Acts 8:32–34 ESV

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”

Now, I don’t know how much of the scroll of Isaiah he had (or if he had the entire thing), but if you flip to Isaiah in the Bible, you’ll notice there are 66 LONG chapters. And yet, the Ethiopian JUST HAPPENS to be reading Isa 53 (the chapter that talks about about Jesus), as a Jesus follower walks by? That’s not coincidence. That’s God’s grace. But there’s more grace in this passage...

This Ethiopian needed grace. At some point in his life, he was introduced to the God of Israel. And he believed the LORD was the One True God. The problem was, he wasn’t Jewish. The covenant-promises of Israel weren’t directed to him. That’s okay… he could become what they call a “god-fearer.” A non-Jewish convert. And that’s likely what he did since it says he was coming from Jerusalem to worship.

But there’s another problem… he was also a Eunuch. And according to Jewish Law, Eunuchs weren’t allowed to enter God’s assembly. So, while this man wanted to walk with God, he wasn’t allowed to. His recent trip to Jerusalem probably reminded him of this harsh reality.

And on the ride home, as he’s reading the Scriptures, looking for hope and answers, before he got to Isa 53, he probably read Isaiah 52, where it says...

Isaiah 52:7 ESV

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

And then reads...

Isaiah 52:10 ESV

The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

And though...

“Wait… will the good news coming apply to me too? It says salvation to all people. Am I included in “all?”

And that’s when he reads in chapter 53 about this Servant who will brings God’s salvation. But who is the prophet talking about? And it’s at that moment when Philip - who was known as a preacher of good news - is directed by God’s grace, to a person who needed God’s grace!

And Philip answers the Ethiopian’s question...

Acts 8:35 ESV

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

He tells the Ethiopian, “The One who will save all of us is Jesus! All you need to do is put your faith in Him and you will be saved. No matter what you’ve done or where you’re from. Everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.”

And this important message is the point of Noah’s ark too. God saves people by grace when they trust in Him. Noah’s ark pointed to Jesus’s Cross and Resurrection.

The apostle Peter said...

1 Peter 3:18–21 NLT

Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God saves people in crisis by grace.

Response:

As we close, let me ask you… What’s your current crisis?

Is a crisis threatening your life?

Is the crisis that you’re losing hope?

Is the crisis that your sin is destroying your world, you can’t stop it on your own, and you need someone to save you?

Whatever you’re going through, know God’s grace is available to you. Jesus can save you TODAY. But you must choose to respond to it. And there’s two ways to respond to God’s grace:

Respond like those in Noah’s days - who said, “Noah, you’re a fool. We’re not getting on your boat. We’re not trusting your God!”

Or, respond like the Ethiopian, who when offered grace, by faith in Jesus, said with joy, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized [right now!]”

How will you respond to God’s grace this morning? Let me help you. Choose Jesus. Choose life. Repent. Turn from your sins and put your faith in Jesus.

Let’s pray...

Father, I know that our sin is great. It’s so great that it’s worthy of flood-like judgments. But Your word says, “Where sin abounds, Your grace super-abounds.” Your grace is greater. And we see that in Your Son Jesus. The greatest gift of grace you gave us. The grace that offers us salvation. Lord, help us to choose your grace over sin. And help us to walk with you like Noah and Philip did. To believe you. To obey you. To be faithful to You! In Jesus name, amen.

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