Genesis 7

Good morning leaf River Baptist Church. Good morning those of you that are joining us online as part of our extended spiritual family. Good morning kids of LRBC, right now you get to gather together with your teacher there in the back of the room and go back to your class. I know that you will be blessed as we have such great kids teachers here at LRBC. Listen, if you are interested in learning about kids ministry please feel free to reach out to Beth, or Raina, or Donna. I know they would love to connect with you about kids ministry.

Hey, last week we really started looking at Noah’s Ark. I mean we’ve really been looking at it for a couple of weeks, but last week we got to see the reality of a man who obeyed God and faithfully built an ark, even though he didn’t really understand why. We saw that Noah trusted God above all else. I hope you found that interesting, when we were looking at Noah’s faithfulness. You know we talked about how Noah faithfully built and ark, how Noah trusted God’s covenant, and then how Noah trusted God to gather the animals. You know we talked about Noah trusting God’s faithfulness, but Noah still had to do his part and fulfill his responsibility of gathering the animals that God was sending. Anyway, when we were discussing that last week I made the statement that there are many times that my head goes faster than my body, and that I am grateful for a wife who keeps me alive by saying, “stop!”. I think I used the phrase that, “My head writes checks that my body can’t cash." Now this was all done as I talked about Noah trusting God’s faithfulness. I mentioned that God was able to protect and guide Noah, but it was Noah’s responsibility to trust God. Well, anyway, I want to tell you a little story about myself. Last week I recieved a text message from my lovely daughter, and in this message was a picture of a mechanical bull…We talked back and forth and I mentioned that part of me wanted to go down and ride this bull myself. Her response was, “You should. reminder of the good old days.” Ummmmm.....challenge accepted....Well, what happened next was Beth saying, “Stop!” and me of course not listening to her, I did not do my part, and instead decided that I needed to go ride this bull with or without her approval. I was about to sneak out of the house to go ride this bull when Beth caught me and decided to go with me. Anyway, most of you have now seen the video, and Im not going to show that now, but here is a picture to detail that I did not in fact ride this bull…I mostly slid around this bull. You see, my head wrote a check that my body could not possible cash. Of course the result of my not listening to my wife was a knee that has been hurting ever since that moment.

Why do I tell you this story…well, first because it was sadly hilarious because I actually saw my 18 yr old self doing this and forgetting that I am 42 and over 275 lbs…But, there is another reason that I tell you that story. You see, sometimes God illustrates his word to us so clearly so that we can understand what he is telling us. This story that I just told you actually helps to illustrate that we are responsible for our own actions, and that even if those actions seem insane, we are responsible. In my case, I choose not to listen to the wiser voice that was with me, I choose to trust myself. Well, that did not work out well for me. For Noah however, he chose to listen to the wiser voice that was with him and he chose to actually build the ark that he was led to build. This morning I want us to look at

What happened after Noah built the ark?

You see, Noah built an ark on dry land while he was awaiting a flood. This is the kind of actions that is exemplary for you and me on trusting in what cannot be seen. God was calling on Noah to do something that had never been done before, and let me tell you…God is calling you to do something that has never been done before also. What we are going to see this morning is the result of the faith that Noah had at that time, and hopefully that gives you the courage to live the life that God is calling you to live. You see, Noah was declaring a “judgement is coming”, and for Noah that day has come on gone, however, that day of Noah was a picture of what is to come for you and I. So this morning I want to start with a question for you to be thinking about while we look at this passage. Do I trust God? I just want this question to be floating in your mind as we look at todays passage. So…what happened after Noah built the ark? Well, Noah and his family and the animals…

They entered the ark

As we look at Noah and his family entering the ark we will be able to see that there are two parts of this passage. Let’s take a look at the passage and see what we can learn about God, man, and God’s plan for man this morning. Join me in looking at...

Genesis 7:1–10 (ESV)

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For 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 out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Ok, so I said that this passage is broken into two parts, and so we are going to look at these two parts now. First we have

The Divine Directive (command)

In this we can see once more the character of Noah. God said to Noah, You are righteous before me in this generation. We can see that in Noah and his family’s salvation comes through righteousness. What is really interesting is that Noah’s family is secondary, to Noah. Noah’s family participates in salvation through the righteousness of Noah. You see, this is a picture of the salvation that we participate in through the righteousness of Jesus. What is amazing is that this whole story simply points us to the final redemption through Jesus. When we read about Noah’s Ark we are reading a preview of what is to come.

Now, as Noah is commanded by the Lord to board the Ark with the animals. We are even able to see that God has pre-divided them into their ritual status. You see, Noah and his family will need to continue to to practice the ritual of sacrifice to atone for their sin…which they are and will be guilty of. After the Lord commanded them based on the way to collect and gather these animals, and after the Lord told him that the time of judgement is coming in 7 days, Noah had another choice to make. What we see next is

Noah’s Obedience

I mean vs 5 says it pretty clearly…“Noah did all that the Lord commanded” him. This is a pretty simple response to a command from the Lord. However, we also see that there is a week of waiting between the time that the Lord commanded Noah to board the Ark with the animals, and the day when the rain begins. What is the week for? What is the week about? Did Noah misunderstand God as far as when the rain would start and when they should board the ark? Well, no, we are able to see how God works in this passage. We see that God commanded Noah, and Noah responded, and then God fulfilled his word. Now I do wonder what Noah and his family was experiencing in this week leading up to judgement…I mean, Noah is an old man and he has been calling out to his neighbors and even extended family for many many years. Im sure Noah had a job to do, but do you think he was also trying one last time to get anyone to repent and seek salvation? I believe that is exactly what Noah was doing. Think about it…If you knew exactly the day that Jesus was coming back, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to convince everyone to just believe…Begging people and crying out to the Lord for their salvation. I can just imagine that Noah was not excited about what was about to come…yet even with that burden that he undoubtedly felt…Noah obeyed the Lord.

What about you? I mean, if the Lord has commanded you to do something hard…are you going to obey, or are you going to just hope it doesn’t actually happen? Really think about that…What if Noah would have had the opinion of, “Ill just ignore it and it will go away”? What if Noah thought it was too inconvenient to obey the Lord, especially when it came down to this last week. I ask that question because isn’t that what you and I do frequently? We say its to inconvenient to serve our neighbor because I will have to talk to them, or because I wanted to sleep in, or because Saturday is my only day off…What if Noah had the attitude that many of us in this room or joining us online have this morning? Now, I’m not talking about you, you know that, but maybe your neighbor has that attitude…

I guess really what I am thinking is as I read this story of Noah, I am amazed at his obedience to the Lord and I am frankly confronted with my own lack of obedience at times, and Im pretty sure Im not the only one that would have to admit that. Something big is happening here though becuase this whole section about Noah’s obedience is bookended by the reality of the waters coming onto the Earth…When we see that, we are able to see that after they entered the ark there was a

Flood of Judgement

Ok, Im going to be honest, this next part is really hard to read and really hard ot think about. I honestly struggled with this section emotionally. We are going to try to break it into a couple of sections though as we try to wrap our heads around what is actually happening here. The first thing that we have to see is

When the rain begins...

Let’s go ahead and read this passage and as we read this passage, I want you to pay attention to what is being said and to any repetition of what is being said.

Genesis 7:11–16 (ESV)

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, 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. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

OK, so here we begin to see what judgement looks like. First of all the narrator marks the exact day that this occured. The 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah’s life. That is a very precise detail that is told here. Actually that is important becuase it allows there to be a mark of time when we see the amount of days that there is rain and the amount of days there is a flood. We should also realize that this happened exactly as God had said. In other words, God’s word is trustworthy. You see, back in vs 4 we see that God said he would start the rain in 7 days and that the rain would last for 40 days. That is exactly what happened.

Now, we should be clear about the destruction that is taking place. I mentioned it last week, but in this passage we see that the water came from 2 places. First we see water coming from the sky in rain…ok, that makes sense, we have all seen that. We also see water coming from underground in a way we cannot fully comprehend. I think the best way we could imagine it would be something like volcanoes that were spewing violently all over the earth. The earth was literally breaking apart in a way that has never happened before, and will never happen again.

So what was this day like for those living in Noah’s generation? Well, it was a day like any other day. There was no alarm, no early warning typhoon alarms or tornado sirens. There was nothing of note for those living in that time. Actually this is even something that Jesus talked about when he describes when he will return. He says in Matthew

Matthew 24:37–39 (ESV)

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.

You see there were just living their lives as normal…They were living their best lives…they were living their truths, and then it started to rain…now, we read that there were two sources of water, this is not a picture of water slowly rising and eventually covering the towns. Now, there was violent destruction on the day that Noah and his family were locked into the ark. Those that were walking around would have been suddenly struck with violent earthquakes as the fountains of the deep burst forth.

This is where it starts to get a bit hard for me. The thing is there were men and women, boys and girls that were walking around and minding their own business....but they had ignored God’s business too long and the result was final judgement for those that rejected God. Only Noah and his family did as God commanded and only Noah and his family experienced salvation. This is important as we think about our own experience and how we have either accepted or rejected the Lords commands in our own lives. You see, there is no middle ground…there was no lower decks on the ark. There was only, obedience, or destruction, and that is what we are about to see

When flood rises...

So as we read this next section we will see that the waters rose, and that there was death and destruction, but what I want you to notice is the terminology like waters prevailed, pr waters rose…AS you read this passage with me you will see that the water is the vehicle for God’s judgement in this time. Let’s read

Genesis 7:17–24 (ESV)

The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

The waters increased…the waters prevailed…the waters increased greatly, I want that ato really sink in as to what is happening. We read here that the waters prevailed under the whole heaven…We read that the waters prevailed above the mounts covering them 15 cubits…or 22.5 feet deep. That means that like 3.5of me stacked up above the tpeak of the mountains is where the water was. Why do you suppose that was? Well, becuase there was no escape from the Judgement of God… Even if someone by chance got onto a boat and survived the initial increase of water or fled to the mountains, there was no escape from this flood. There was no dry land for anyone or anything to be able to escape to.

This is what is hard for me. When I read that everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died…my heart truly breaks. My heart breaks for those in Noah’s generation, but my heart also breaks for those in our generation that will experience the same fate unless they turn to the Lord.

Everything and everyone experienced the wrath of the Lord in that time. Now this is an important concept. You see, there are other stories of ancient floods. Many of these stories however suppose a more regional flood. This is a claim of the progressive church movement. They would claim that the flood in Noah’s day was not universal, or worse is simply a myth. The reason for the calming of this story is that they would teach that God’s judgement is not absolute and is not universal. If Noah’s story never happened, then there is no clear example of Gods judgement against mankind.

The story of Noah is more than a history lesson for you and I. The story of Noah is a cautionary tale of either obeying the Lord or rejecting the Lord. The story of Noah shows us a picture of our opportunity for salvation if we only listen to the word of the Lord. Listen carefully becuase Im going to say something controversial here…There is no other religion that exist…There is no other opportunity we can take...There is no other example for us to follow…There is no other name that exist...

Acts 4:12 (ESV)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Those that lived in Noah’s day looked to something else…Those that lived in Noah’s day ignored the truth…What about you?

Those of you here this morning, Those of you listening online…Have you recognized Jesus’ role in your salvation, or are you living like those in Noah’s day? Those of you here this morning....Those of you listening online....Have you responded to the clear teaching of Scripture and obeyed the Lord, however he is leading you…or is it a bad time…are you to busy…do you have to work…Listen, I know we can all come up with excuses all day long about why we cannot do what we know the Lord is leading us to do…Noah could have easily told God he was too old. However, at some point, we must come to the realization that our excuses are simply our disobedience...

If you are here this morning, or if you are joining us online, I want to encourage you as we close this morning. If you are one that would say that you have never recognized Jesus’ role in your salvation and you would like to follow Jesus for salvation and baptism, then please reach out to me and lets talk about what Jesus’ role is in your life. If you are one that would say that you have recognized Jesus’ role, but you have also realized that you have been disobedient then I want to encourage you to repent of that disobedience, and make the choice to obey the Word of the Lord. If you are struggling with that decision then please reach out and let’s talk about what the Lord is leading you to do.

Listen, Im just going to say this…I have said it before. I believe, 100% that God has given us, as a church, everything we need to accomplish what he has called us to do. However, it is your role, and my role, to actually do what we have been called to do . We currently have various areas of ministry that has been left undone…This is both external ministry and internal ministry. So, if you call LRBC your church home, then I would encourage you to make sure you are serving as the Lord has led you to. Remember that our goal as believers is to live a life pleasing to the Lord...

Let’s pray