Sermon Nuggets, Mon April 16 Gen 7 Destruction by Flood
Verses Genesis 7
When God Asks the Impossible
Some of you
may have heard the following story of Noah:
“The Lord
spoke to Noah and said: "In six months I'm going to make it rain until the
whole earth is covered with water and all the evil people are destroyed. But I
want to save a people, and two of every kind of living thing on the planet. I
am ordering you to build Me an Ark." And in a flash of lightning he
delivered the specifications for an Ark..
"OK,"
said Noah, trembling in fear and fumbling with the blueprints."Six months,
and it starts to rain," thundered the Lord. "You'd better have my Ark
completed, or learn how to swim for a very long time."
Six months
passed. The skies began to cloud up and rain began to fall. The Lord saw that
Noah was sitting in his front yard, weeping.. And there was no Ark..
"Noah,"
shouted the Lord, "where is my Ark?
“Lord, please forgive me!" begged Noah. "I did my best. But
there were big problems. First I had to get a building permit for the Ark
construction project, and your plans didn't meet code. So I had to hire an
engineer to redraw the plans. Then I got into a big fight over whether or not
the Ark needed a fire sprinkler system.
Then, my
neighbors objected, claiming I was violating zoning by building the Ark in my
front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission. Then
I had a big problem getting enough wood for the Ark because there was a ban on
cutting trees in order to save the Spotted Owl. I had to convince Fish and
Wildlife people that I needed the wood to save the owls. But they wouldn't let
me catch any owls. So no owls.
Then
the carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a
settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up
a saw or a hammer. Then when I started gathering up animals, I got sued by an
animal rights group. Just when I got the suit dismissed, the EPA notified me
that I couldn't complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact
statement on your proposed flood. Let me tell you, they didn't take kindly to
the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of a Supreme Being.
Then the Army Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed new flood plain.
So, I sent them a globe. They weren't amused.
Now I'm trying
to resolve a complaint from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over
how many minorities I'm supposed to hire. And on top of all that the IRS seized
all my assets claiming I'm trying to avoid paying taxes by leaving the country.
I really don't think I can finish for at least another five years," Noah
wailed.
The sky began
to clear. The sun began to shine. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked
up and smiled. "You mean you're not going to destroy the earth?" Noah
asked, hopefully.. "No," said the Lord sadly, "The Government
already has."
Many people refuse to take the biblical account of the flood as
literal history, preferring to regard it as some kind of mythology which
conveys to us certain important truths about ourselves and about the world.
They point to the survival of various flood stories in different traditions in
the East, and tell us that the account in Genesis 7 is one of these
mythologies. However, the New Testament is under no illusion about the
truthfulness and the trustworthiness of the Genesis account. Jesus tells us
that no word of the scripture can be broken, and Peter, in 2 Peter 3, takes the
account of the flood as the foundation for his emphasis upon the doctrine of
the second coming, and the need for us to be prepared for final judgement,
which, he argues, will come as surely and as certainly as this particular judgment
came at this particular time.
Taking on the
momentous task of saving the world, Noah is asked to do the impossible. The
story of the flood is not so much a record of Noah’s job as it is God’s work in
saving the world.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues April 17
Verses- Genesis 7:1-10 “The
LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I
have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take
with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and
one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and
also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various
kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from
now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will
wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 And Noah did all that the LORD
commanded him.
6 Noah
was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And
Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape
the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and
unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male
and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.10 And
after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth
We Recognize God Gives Provision
Noah is called righteous again in contrast to nearly
everyone else in the world. His righteousness led him to obey God so also God
would single him and his family out for salvation because the Lord had found
him righteous.
Ki Gulbranson has
been teaching our SS class on Mathew 6:33 :Seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” The prime job description for mankind is seeking
God’s kingdom. We saw that means submit yourself to the King of King and Lord
of Lords, and seek to do what is right. That is not possible without the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is to live like Jesus and reflect the
character of God in our world.
So God provides
for Noah his grace and Noah responds in faith and in righteousness, doing the
right things. Noah did exactly as God had commanded him to do because Noah had faith in what God was going to do,
even though he didn’t have the slightest clue how God was going to pull this
off. Someone said, “Faith is responding to God’s word without regard to outside
circumstances or feelings.” So God was
going to give to Noah exactly what he needed. God gives his provisions.
It made no
difference that Noah was 600 years old. He built the ark and got the food. He
gathered his family. Notice v. 8 “Pairs of clean and unclean animals of birds
and all of creatures that move along the ground, male and female came to Noah
and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.”
There were some things Noah could do and some things Noah
could not do. God saw to it there was wood, but Noah had to cut it down gather
it and follow God’s blueprints. Noah knew what he was to get with the animals,
but unlike popular stories he didn’t spend his time roaming about the land
looking for these beasts and furry things, God brought them to him. It says, “They
came to Noah and entered the ark.” There is no stubborn donkey, or
uncooperative hog refusing to go where Noah wanted him to go, God saw they were
cooperative and provided the animals for Noah to carry out his own job.
Some have suggested this may have involved the origin of animal
migratory instincts or, at least, an intensification of it. We also know that
most animals possess the ability to sense danger and to move to a place of
safety. Perhaps this instinct started with a couple of animals of each kind
here. And seven pairs of other kind of animals.
This raises
another popular question, How many animals needed to be on the ark and isn’t it
really a myth to think they all could be accommodated with only 8 people taking
care of them for such a long time?
John Woodmorappe in his well documented book, Noah's Ark: A
Feasibility Study”, demonstrates that as few as 2,000 animals may have been
required on the ark. He continues his study by showing that the ark could
easily accommodate 16,000 animals.
But, let's also be realistic. It is very doubtful that if you are
going to have animals on for year that you will pick full grown giraffes and
elephants, and hippos. But these were probably newborns, small babies to begin
with, needing less food and water.
Woodmorappe noted that assuming the average animal to be about the
size of a sheep and using a railroad car for comparison, we note that the
average double-deck stock car can accommodate 240 sheep. Thus, three trains
hauling 69 cars each would have ample space to carry the 50,000 animals,
filling only 37% of the ark. This would leave an additional 361 cars or enough
to make 5 trains of 72 cars each to carry all of the food and baggage plus
Noah's family of eight people. The Ark had plenty of space.
God does not put us into situations and ask us to do something
without giving us the resources needed to do his will. That is a given. Now
those resources are not always put into our laps, but sometimes they are. We
are to be faithful by doing the right thing and God will take care of the rest.
We need patience, and that is hard especially in our society, but God will
provide.
He provided for Noah the plans, the workers, the time he needed,
the animals and provided for him salvation from the storm that was brewing.
What is God calling you to do? Can you believe he will provide the
resources, the time, the strength, the wisdom, the lessons, you need to carry
out his plan? Obedience is our part, God’s provision for carrying out his will
is His part.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds April 18
Verses Gen 7: 11 In
the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second
month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the
floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain
fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On
that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife
and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They
had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according
to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its
kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15Pairs
of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered
the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and
female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him
in.
17 For
forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they
lifted the ark high above the earth. 18The waters rose
and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the
water.
We Recognize God Gives Protection
God’s word is pretty specific here
also giving us a date and time of the rain. Time is kept often by generations
of people, just like it is today. The generations after Jesus is how we
calculate our years. In the days of the Kings they used to keep time by the
calendars based on the years of the reign of so and so. Hence, months, dates
and years are mans’ calendar in relationship to peoples lives.
On this day recorded in history
the rains fell 40 days and 40 nights. And all his sons, three of them were
saved with their wives, and all the animals wild and tame, of the ground and of
the air. Every kind that needed breath had either seven pairs if they were
clean animals and two if they were unclean animals.
We always hear the story that they
went in two by two. I like the artist portrayal of the ark downstairs donated
by the Frietags it gives a marvelous thought of reality, not marching like a
band, but throughout some scattered. It is fun to look for the mate in each of
these pictures. Verse 2 tells us there were seven pairs of clean animals and
one pair of the rest. Perhaps these clean animals were needed for sacrifice and
that is also a provision of God.
But this is a story of judgment
tempered with grace, for Noah and his family were preserved alive by God. In
the midst of darkness there is light, and in the midst of hopelessness, despair
and threatening, there is the power of God displayed in the rescuing of Noah.
Alan Cambell a Presbyterian
minister reminds us of three things that God did for Noah: God took him in.
The time came when the ark was ready; Noah had built it according to God's
design and provision. It was Noah's ark, but ultimately it was God's ark, and
God's provision alone was what gave salvation to Noah, his wife, his sons and
his daughters-in-law. God said to him "Come into the ark" (7:1). This
was a word of grace indeed. When the flood of judgement was to fall, a place of
safety was provided. God protected his creation. Rather than starting over in
creation he sought to redeem mankind and animals by special protection in the
midst of the flood.
And the Gospel today is the same.
In a world ripe for God's judgement and under God's threatening; in a world of
sin, hopelessness and despair, God says - "Come into the ark". He
tells us that there is a place of safety for us all. The predominant Gospel
word is "Come" - it is on the lips of the Saviour again and again.
There is no salvation without it. The Gospel invitation reverses sin's curse
and sin's despair. When Adam and Eve sinned, God sent them out. Now he takes
Noah in. Sin drives us away from God; the Gospel calls us to God. The message
of grace is the message of a free, unfettered offer of pardon to lost sinners.
God says to us "Come into the ark".
Cambell also noted, God not only called Noah in; we read
in verse 16 - "God shut him in". God closed the door, and made the
ship finally watertight. For Noah, there was no condemnation any more. So it is
with the rescue ship of the Gospel. There is finality about God's salvation in
Christ that gives to sinners a complete and ultimate guarantee of salvation and
of hope. There is no more condemnation for those who are shut in and closed in
with Jesus Christ. To be sure, there may be difficulties in the way, trials to
meet with, problems to overcome. But God has shut the door behind his people,
"and no man opens it" (Revelation 3:7). With the key of David - with
all the promises of God's eternal covenant of grace - God opens a door of hope
for his people, and closes them in with Christ, where they are safe for all
time.
The third
thing is God kept him in. As the world drowned into a lost eternity, "Only
Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive" (7:23).
Outside there was chaos, judgment and death. Inside there was the presence of
the living God, preserving life and keeping them through divine power. The
Gospel not only promises us salvation; it promises that we will be kept by the
power of God. It promises that the God who took us in, and who shut us in, will
keep us in the hollow of his hand, where none can perish. To be in Christ is to
be safe forever.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs April 19
Verses- Gen 7: 17 For forty days the
flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark
high above the earth. 18The waters rose and increased
greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They
rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens
were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the
mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every
living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all
the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything
on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.23 Every
living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the
creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.
Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a
hundred and fifty days.
We Recognize God Gives Punishment.
God’s plan was to wipe out all
living beings on the face of the earth. He was so fed up with sin and evil all
the time in the hearts and lives of people.
Some
people wonder if the flood was global or only covered the area where Noah lived.
The Bible says it covered mountains to the depth of more than 20 feet. Would
not a flood covering the highest mountains of the Middle East not affect the
rest of the world?
The Bible confirms that man had multiplied
upon the face of the earth. Violence and corruption filled the earth Man could not have existed only in the
Mesopotamian region - a region too small to support such a large population,
especially considering the natural dispersion affect of a violent society.
Likewise if only
those animals in a specific geographic location died, it would seem unnecessary
for God to protect pairs in the ark for the express purpose of preventing their
extinction. Surely there would be representatives of their kinds in other
areas. If, on the other hand, there were some unique kinds of animals in the
local flood's path, then it would seem more logical for God to send
representative pairs out of the area, rather than to the ark, as He did. The
Bible is clear that all the air-breathing, land animals perished during the
flood, except those preserved with Noah - from which all modern animals are
descended.
Peter delivered a clear global
warning, confirming that God created the earth, devastated it by the flood, and
will one day destroy it again by fire (2 Peter 3:5-7). Peter certainly did not
mean that just a local area on earth would be burned. Just as the flood was
global, so will be the final judgment.
There are also
many evidences of fossils and geological discoveries showing this world wide
catastrophe. Even the glacier ages made be some explanations of large bodies of
water that after the atmospheric changes froze and we still have the effects of
what is called the ice ages. The differing theories of the time can be
accounted for the adjustments of temperatures and the location of oceans where
only 1/7 of the earth now is not water.
Although we
rejoice in the provisions of God and the protection of God I can’t get away
from the awfulness of the punishment of God. We see the horrible consequences
of sin. When God offers freely salvation and people are so caught up in sin
that they turn against God and do not respond to his grace the effects of sin
are devastating. So many people say “How could I have been so blind?” I never
realized that sin hurt so much. People
can be warned continually of the dangers of illicit sex but when AIDS or STD
hits kids think only of the pleasure of the moment not the option that sex can
kill. God’s plan is still best. When violence takes our land and children are
being tried as adults popping off someone you don’t like is as easy a video
game annihilation, no problems, no guilt.
How many people can be warned of drunk driving, yet 1000s
are killed every year do to the influence of the damage of alcohol. Only now
are some listening the dangers of gambling after notable affluent people have
lost family house, jobs and even their freedoms when borrowing a little money
for little time to pay off debts soon enslaves people to addictive habits. The
lists go on, but dear people there comes a time when we have lived our lives
for ourselves and rejected God’s offer of grace when there is punishment and
many are hurt by it.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri April 20 –
Verses- Gen 7
We Recognize God’s Patience.
Last week we talked about grace. You cannot do what is right
without accepting the gift of God first. That gift was offered to Noah and it
is offered to you. Noah preached God’s coming judgment and importance of
responding to God’s gift for 120 years. No one responded. I admit when no one
responds to God’s salvation after I preach for a few months I get awfully
discouraged. If I don’t see some people come to Christ I want to quit the
pastorate and get someone else in here that can do the job. But I realize that
salvation by my efforts is not salvation. Only if God’s spirit chooses to use
words or lives do people get converted. And he uses many (including you) to
plant, water, weed and harvest.
So I look at Noah and think here is a guy who
was in God’s will and had God’s Spirit and still everyone hardened their hearts
to God’s message. He never led anyone to the Lord unless it was his own family.
God says it is going to rain. It
really doesn’t make any difference that the people have never experienced rain
before; it is enough for God to provide the rain. They may have scoffed at the
idea of a flood. They could give great scientific arguments that say, “It has
never happened before so we can logically conclude it will not happen.” That is
a sound scientific theory. “All our observation has shown rain does not happen,
so Noah you are wrong in living your life putting a boat together.”
I wonder what
it was like for Noah and his family aboard the ship after God shut them in. He
had no way to open the door when neighbors were crying to be saved, but it was
too late. Can you see them calling from outside the Ark, "Let us
in!"? As the waters rose the number of people outside the Ark rose as
well. I wonder if Noah and his family could hear the whimpers slowly dying out
as one by one the last people died.
Imagine how eerie it would have
been to know that you were the only ones left on the earth. Everyone neighbors,
enemies, friends, co-workers, all destroyed. The world as you knew it was gone.
What would the future be like?
This is no movie. This was real
life. These were the horrible consequences of sin. This is one of the things we
must learn from this record. We need to see and feel the horrible consequences
of sin in the record of Noah. Why? Because day after day you and I trifle with
sin. We rationalize it, we excuse it, we seek to make it seem noble. And as we
do, we lose sight of the horrible nature of rebellion against God and the
subsequent judgment.
Matt 24:
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it
will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in
the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and
they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them
all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
How long has it been since the
witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? In America people scorn the
gospel. Throughout the world believers in the Word of God are marginalized and
persecuted. Look at the patience of God!
If you are have not accepted Jesus
as you savior and don’t know for sure you are saved I have good news for you.
This door is open right now. Rev.3:20. There are two ways this door can be
closed by God- by death or by the rapture at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Are you prepared?
Don’t miss the way in which God
chose to save the world. By making a provision, by giving protection, but God
also gives punishment and the warning of the flood is a prophecy of something
worse. For when the door of the ark was closed it was not opened again. Now is
the day of salvation. Now is your day of witness and prayer for your friends
and neighbors. God always warns of judgment and gives time for people to
repent. Judgment is always against sin and he always follows through on his
judgments and punishments for those who do not turn to God.
Only because of God’s patience
that He hasn’t sent more floods. He promised the next destruction will be by
fire.
“… him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37b
Pastor Dale
