Genesis 7:14-24

[0:00] In the selfsame day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark. They and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, and every bird of every sort.

[0:23] And they went in unto Noah, into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.

[0:40] And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth, and the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth.

[0:50] And the ark went upon the face of the waters, and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered.

[1:01] Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered, and all flesh died, that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, and every man.

[1:16] All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things and the fowls of the heaven.

[1:32] And they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

[1:46] Lord, we just thank you for this account that you've put before us, Lord. Your judgment, your judgment upon a sinful world, that you've told man that they would have a hundred and twenty years to turn their world around, to turn their lives around.

[2:00] And Lord, of that, only Noah, and then the few with him of his household. And so, Lord, we should not be surprised, as we live in these end times, Lord, that you told us they would be as the days of Noah.

[2:12] We should not be surprised when there's just a few, a few, Lord, who are hungering after the word, a few who are responding in faith, and a few who are entering in. Lord, help us to be faithful where you've placed us, to be like Noah, a preacher of righteousness, to show the way into your mercy.

[2:29] We pray that you would open your word to us now, and in Jesus' name, amen. So, Noah, he has gone on to the boat, or he's going on to it.

[2:40] As we said, our theme is judgment and mercy. Psalms 29.10 tells us that the Lord sits upon the flood. Yea, the Lord sits king forever.

[2:52] That's kind of a picture of what's going on here. As the flood comes, the Lord sits upon the flood. It's not going to overwhelm him. He's the king. He's an authority at this point, and at all points, but he's the authority here.

[3:04] Man thinks they're the authority. Man has mocked Noah, but the Lord is the authority. So, as the authority, and as one who is just, God is righteous. His character, God is love.

[3:16] God is justice. God is righteousness. God is mercy. God is truth. These are the things that God is. That means wherever God is not, those are not. That's why the world's love can't be love, because it's devoid of God.

[3:28] And only God is love. So, they can have a copy of it, and they can call it something else, but it's not actually love. So, the world's justice, the world's truth, the world's judgment.

[3:40] But God must judge sin. His nature and character demand that sin be remedied, and justice will be done. Judgment against sin will be carried out. And yet, in the midst of judgment, God remembers mercy.

[3:54] James 2.13 says, mercy triumphs over judgment. What's that mean? Well, we're going to see God's mercy in the picture of the ark. As judgment comes, the ark is lifted up.

[4:06] It's triumphing over judgment. It's superseding judgment, but exists only because of judgment. Mercy exists only because of judgment.

[4:16] There can be no mercy without judgment. God's mercy always intervenes in God's judgment. Since God is just, or justice, and since God is mercy, the two cannot exist without the other.

[4:30] But God's mercy comes only after his justice is satisfied. Now, what does that quote mean? So, if you are guilty of a crime, and you go before the judge, and they say, hey, you're guilty.

[4:42] Justice must be carried out. Let's say you stole something from your neighbor and went and used it. You stole $1,000, and you spent it. You went in, and justice, you have committed an injustice against your neighbor.

[4:54] Justice says, well, you, there's a judgment that needs to be carried out against you. Let's say the judge says, I'm going to show you mercy. I'm going to let you off. Go your way. Is that mercy?

[5:05] No. No. That's injustice. Because that neighbor still had a wrong done against him, and all that judge did was confirm the injustice done to that neighbor.

[5:17] There's no judgment. There's no justice there. Let's say the judge says, all right, well, the maximum sentence you could get is, you know, a year in jail.

[5:28] But I'm going to show you mercy and give you four years community service. Is justice carried out? It is. It is. But in a merciful way. Now, that's the way that we can apply it in our world, in the human level.

[5:43] Or someone else comes and fulfills that justice on your behalf. That's what we have in Christ, right? But there can be no mercy if there's not justice, because mercy exists only when there's judgment.

[5:56] So there has to be a judgment. There has to be a judgment against sin for God to show us mercy. And so in the picture here with Noah getting on the ark, God's judgment is that the world is wicked.

[6:09] We saw that. The thoughts and intents of their heart were evil continually all the time. And so God's going to bring judgment. But his judgment then made a way for his mercy. What was the point of the ark?

[6:20] I mean, the world probably thought it was a pretty dumb thing anyway. But if there really was no judgment coming, what's the point of Noah spending decades of his life building this big ark? What are you building that for, Noah? Well, God's merciful.

[6:31] From what? I don't know. But because of God's judgment, then God's mercy could make a way. And we see that in our walk.

[6:43] Isaiah 30, 18 says, Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you. Therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment.

[6:56] Blessed are all they that wait for him. And there we see the judgment and mercy tied together in that scripture. God is a God of judgment. But his desire is in that judgment to make a way for mercy. So once judgment has been passed, there are only two options.

[7:11] Wrath or mercy. That's it. Once God passes judgment. So he's judged the world and said, I have seen you as wicked in my eyes. The world will be judged.

[7:21] Mankind will be judged. Now, how do you want to enter through that judgment? You can enter through in wrath, or you can enter through in God's mercy. But God's judgment is going to be carried out. That's where we find ourselves here with our buddy Noah about to get onto the ark here.

[7:38] And so if we start in verse 13. And the selfsame day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark.

[7:51] They and every beast after his kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind and every fowl after his kind and every bird of every sort.

[8:03] And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, where it is the breath of life. They that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him.

[8:15] And the Lord shut him in. There's one doorway, only one way for Noah to come in. Would Noah obey? All of creation right now is hanging on Noah walking through an entrance.

[8:28] All of creation hangs on this doorway, this entrance. Would Noah obey? Would he walk in? God's mercy was there in the presence of the ark. Noah had to decide in faith, am I going to walk in?

[8:40] It doesn't do any good for Noah to have been a preacher of righteousness, for God to tell him, hey, you found grace in my eyes. If he will not enter in to the ark, into mercy.

[8:54] And all of creation, as we know, still hangs upon an entrance, the entrance into life. And that's what we preach to this world, that there's one way, and it's Jesus, but you can enter in.

[9:05] And that God's mercy only came about after his judgment, the cross. Sin needed to be judged. In John 10, 9, Jesus said, I am the door.

[9:16] By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. There's only one way. And just as Noah had to enter in, so do we.

[9:27] Now, you think, well, one door, one way. Why didn't God make more than one ark? Because in my mind, I think, they didn't have plane travel. They didn't have train travel. They have camel travel.

[9:38] You know, it's going to take a little while. So one ark, well, there's a couple things there. The world must have been joined. It couldn't have been these great seas in between, because then it wouldn't make much sense for God to build the ark on Australia, and nobody can get to it, right?

[9:56] God doesn't do that. He makes a way for his mercy. And what if God had built 1,000? What if he had 10,000 arks? What is the material point with the ark?

[10:08] You have to enter in. And mankind still would not have entered in. And we can think the same way with Jesus. We can think, well, one way, you know, Lord, you could have done more, couldn't you?

[10:19] No, he couldn't have done more. Because like we talked about before, remember, we're created in God's image. And what is that? That means we have the moral ability to choose. We have morality. We have choice.

[10:30] You remove that choice. We're no longer created in God's image. That's what sets us apart from the animals. So God can do everything up to pushing us through the door. He won't do that.

[10:40] Because then he will take away our ability and he will take away our essence of creation. That we are like God. That we've been created in his image. Because we can choose.

[10:51] We have to choose to enter in. And so Noah enters into the ark. And if you look in verse 16, it's very interesting the way it's worded.

[11:06] And they went in, and they that went in, speaking of the animals, they went two by two, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him. Wait, what do you mean as God commanded them?

[11:19] As God commanded the animals? What do you mean as God commanded him? And the Lord shut him in. So here we see creation existing for what purpose? To fulfill the commands of God.

[11:30] We know from the beginning, when God created Adam and Eve, what did he say? He said, hey, have dominion over them. Over the fish of the sea, of the birds of the air. And we talked about how when the world was created on day six, before man came into being, it was perfect, in a sense.

[11:45] Perfect as many of the environmentalists of today would think is perfect. But we said, but without man, what's the point? What's the point of a world that's just functioning with creation, but no man?

[11:58] And so here you see creation existing to fulfill the commands of God. And you also see that Noah's obedience only, his calling and obedience and his calling, that calling was only fulfilled once he obeyed and was in the ark.

[12:16] Noah's calling only fulfilled itself once he was in the ark. He couldn't do that outside the ark. Once he was in there, it says they went in male and female as God commanded him and the Lord shut him in.

[12:29] So you don't have this idea of Noah out there with his sons driving the animals in. Come on, come on. You know, the elephants and all of that. We picture like the circus, like, whoa. I think it's more Noah standing there with his family going, with his jaw hanging open, just watching these animals come in.

[12:47] And, you know, Shem, take the monkeys down to the M level. You know, Japheth, take those guys, you know. Now, God is doing this because Noah obeyed, Noah entered in.

[13:00] And with the word, we often worry about what it will cost us to obey. But if we ever stop to think what it would cost if we don't obey. And here we have this picture with Noah.

[13:10] Imagine if he didn't go in the ark. Well, we wouldn't be here. Now, God would make a way. God will always make a way for his mercy. But for Noah and his family, you know, that would have been it.

[13:25] It's kind of like when Mordecai says to Esther, he says, hey, look, if you don't do this, God will bring deliverance to his people another way. But you and your family will perish. So the opportunity when God gives us to walk and to step into his mercy is not just for us.

[13:40] I mean, this all of creation is being blessed by this man's obedience to step in through this doorway. And so Noah walked in that.

[13:54] I said last week we'd look briefly at the clean animals. This is the first time the word clean is used. If we back up a little in in the beginning of the chapter in verse two. And of every clean beast, you shall take thee by sevens, male and female and a beast that are not clean.

[14:09] I'm not sure what this word clean being used here. If it is if it was used at this time by God to Noah, I think so. Or if Moses, who's writing the Pentateuch and kind of writing all this out, is implying putting on the label clean.

[14:26] Why do I say that? Because it's not sermon. It's not clean in the way that like the law says something is clean, that you can eat it because it's clean. You can't eat it because it's unclean.

[14:37] That doesn't come in until Exodus and Leviticus, until the law. So there's no law here. So clean can mean either ceremonially, physically or morally clean.

[14:50] So I don't think this is morally and physically we're talking about. I think this is more ceremonially clean. That these are the clean animals that they would use for sacrifice.

[15:01] So at this point in time, it almost seems like, you know, from Noah's perspective, he's like, OK, seven pairs of animals. All right. We need these for sacrifice and all of that.

[15:12] I don't think they were eating them at this point just because of the way he tells him to bring food for himself and for the animals. That's the way it's worded there. The end of chapter six, verse 21.

[15:23] Take that one to the all food that is eaten that thou shall gather it to thee. It shall be for food for thee and for them. That's a linkage. That's not like saying, well, they have their food, the cat food, and you got the human food.

[15:35] It's like gather all food that creation eats of the green herb. So I don't think this is saying it's clean to eat. I think it's more ceremonial.

[15:46] But when God allows this to happen, right, God would not let his purposes for creation fail. Because we looked at what the animals were created for, that man would have dominion over them, that he was to rule over them.

[16:01] So at this point, you think Satan must be thinking, God's going to kill everybody for me? This is so easy. Mankind's wiped out except these people and they're in a boat?

[16:12] Boys, we're going to sink the boat, right? This is going to be a cinch. And all of creation is going to get wiped out? God's purposes will fail? Fantastic.

[16:23] You picture him sitting back and watching the animals walk onto the ark. He doesn't know the rest of the story, right? You're thinking, what in the world is going on here? It's going to be like some big barbecue or something? We're going to set the whole thing on fire?

[16:35] And Satan is a liar from the beginning. So he doesn't believe his own minions. He's not going to believe the Lord. He thinks there's something else going on. So that's why we look at Scripture and go, how come Satan's so dumb when he knows what his end is?

[16:50] I don't get it. He doesn't believe it. He doesn't believe the word. He's a liar from the beginning and he only speaks lies. So he thinks there's something else going on. He thinks he can kind of maneuver in a way to thwart what God is doing.

[17:05] But God, he's using these animals, these clean animals. Little did Noah know that one day what these animals would represent.

[17:16] One day they would be part of the Levitical system. One day they'd be part of the law. Not only that, he has no idea in chapter 8 he's going to get off the boat and God's going to go, these are food for you now.

[17:28] What? That's why I brought so many of these? And so we see this principle that God's present work in our lives is part of his preparation for our future provision. That God is doing now in my life work that is preparing for my future provision.

[17:44] I can only see what he's doing now. Like, oh, that makes perfect sense, Lord. I need seven pairs of clean animals because they're going to be used for sacrifice. I get it. I get it. Then he gets off the ark.

[17:55] And yes, he has a sacrifice. And the Lord says, those are also going to be for food for you. He didn't see that coming. He had no idea what God was doing in the present to prepare for his future provision.

[18:08] One other interesting thing. There's seven pairs of all birds. And they're not all clean. It says the clean animals and then the birds. So I just did a little digging on this on my own just to find out why birds.

[18:21] I found this in this study. And it said, not only can flying creatures spread out faster and reach remote places such as islands, many birds also eat seeds and disperse them through their waste.

[18:32] One study concluded that seeds that pass through a bird's digestive system have a 370% better survival rate than those that do not. So if you want your garden to grow, get a bird, feed him some seeds, sift it out.

[18:48] There you go. And if you remember there, God said, Oh, fowls of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

[19:00] So referencing the animals to keep seed alive. And that God had a plan for these birds as well. It was his way he was going to replant the earth. It was going to sow it. Romans 8, 28.

[19:11] I don't know what that says. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them we're called according to his purpose. And so God is working now things that we don't have any idea how they're going to spiral together to work together in our future.

[19:25] And if we want, we could probably each sit for hours afterwards and talk about the way God has weaved together things in our lives. The fact we're all in a room here together. And then as we talk about, oh, what brought you here?

[19:37] And what brought you here? And then, you know, it's like, whoa, that's amazing. That we would be here. If you had asked me in 2012, 2012, 13, 14, that we'd be down in North Carolina.

[19:53] I was like, I don't think so. That's not happening. Why would I go to North Carolina? What do they got there? They got poisonous snakes, cockroaches, which I hate, and humidity.

[20:05] You know? I mean, there's no snow. Okay, I'll take that. And then we moved down here. And if you had said, well, eventually you'll plant a church. And, you know, I think some of us, if I had, you know, said that to you guys a couple of years ago, hey, guys, you want to go plant a church?

[20:21] You'd be like, no. Church where that's great. But the Lord, he was providing at that time for things that we don't have even a clue of. And there's many times we look forward into our future.

[20:32] We know something's coming. Think, oh, how am I going to navigate that? How am I going to get through that? And God's like, well, don't worry about it. I'm providing now the seeds that will at that time sprout into something in your future that will provide for you then.

[20:50] And so that which God calls clean is used to worship God and to bring life to his people. Right? The sacrificial animal has to be clean.

[21:01] But eventually we're going to find out that God's people have to, they're only allowed to eat that which is clean. And so God uses the things that are clean in our life when he says, hey, come out from among them. Touch not the unclean thing.

[21:13] Be holy as I am holy. It's like, well, okay, I can see how that brings you glory, Lord, that I don't watch that type of movie, that I don't talk that way, that I don't be involved in that.

[21:26] But other people seem to be having fun with that. He's like, no, no, no, no. This is also to bring you life. Because that might look like something desirable, but it's not. Matthew 5, 8 says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

[21:44] God desires cleanliness in our life. He desires for us to be pure. And then here where we see in verse 15, and they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

[21:58] And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in, male and female, after their kind. The order that God put into the creation at the beginning will never change, no matter how much it's corrupted.

[22:13] That God will always have his remnant. That when God does start to work, it's never going to stop. It's never going to change. No matter how much it's corrupted, no matter how much humanity is corrupted, God's order that he put in the beginning of creation is never going to change.

[22:26] Like he said, seed time and harvest, the seasons will continue. That's the promise he links to Israel. He says, hey, if seed time and harvest fails, if the seasons fail, then Israel, my people before me, will fail.

[22:40] I don't understand the replacement theology, because the Bible so clearly says what God thinks of Israel. And then you have people who go, well, God's done with Israel. Well, when God's done with seed time and harvest and the cycle of the seasons, and no, God's word's not going to fail.

[22:56] And so what God puts in the beginning, it continues and continues to be fulfilled. And then we see here, who's bringing the animals? I actually answered my own question a little bit when we were talking about the Lord bringing in the harvest.

[23:13] Does he want us to go out? What's our part? Just to pray. And here we see, what did Noah do? Noah just kind of built the ark. God brought the animals. Noah just did his part, and God brought them.

[23:25] I would have been awake at night. I would have probably woke up at 3 or 4 in the morning, like I do now, and think about, how am I going to get this done and this and this? I've been thinking, how are we going to get the animals? Thinking about, well, Japheth had a really good plan on how we could round some of them up.

[23:40] Maybe, you know, just thinking through this process of how this is going to work. And, you know, nobody has seen that one animal in these parts for years.

[23:51] Oh, how are we going to find them? He just leaves it to the Lord. He just continues to build and build and build. I was thinking about what would it be like on the ark?

[24:02] What would it feel like to be on the ark? We think of it a little bit. Well, a lot of times what you see, you see the pictures, the cut sheets, kind of like the split view.

[24:14] It's like a slice down the middle of the ark, and it's like supposedly all these levels and decks, and it shows the animals. There's a problem with that. They didn't have LED lights. They didn't have battery backup. It would have been dark.

[24:24] And what was it coated with on the inside and the outside? Pitch. You know how flammable that stuff is? That's pretty flammable. I don't think they had torches going everywhere.

[24:38] Man, the other thing I was thinking, because we've been doing a lot of painting with this house, imagine coating the whole inside and outside of the ark with pitch. That must have been like a five-year process. Oh, they must have had subcontractors.

[24:50] No way. Or God gave them, like, joints of steel. But it's pitch. So it's probably pretty dark in there. And 150 days, they will be in the ark for 150 days.

[25:05] You know, I picture it something more like this. That doesn't look like the most fun voyage, you know, the most fun ocean cruise. There's nothing around but water.

[25:15] The ark sloshing and moving and whatever. And you're just inside this thing. Whatever light comes in from the sun, that's all you got. Whatever God has done to hibernate the animals or put them in a suspended state.

[25:30] Otherwise, there is up to 12 tons of manure to deal with daily. Potentially. So, whatever God had done with these animals to allow them to be there.

[25:41] It just makes me think of where Jesus, he says, hey, come and abide in me. Because we saw Noah go on the ark. Next week, Noah gets off the ark. Right now, he's just on the ark. He's just, what's he going to do?

[25:52] He's kind of sitting there with his family in the dark. They got a little lamp carefully going. I'm sure they had their rounds. They would check on the animals, whatever they needed to do. But a lot of time just to be there.

[26:03] 150 days. But who is there with them? The Lord. Because he said, come thou into the ark. He was with them. What a sweet time of fellowship that must have been for Noah.

[26:17] And then he went through a door. Right? And it says the Lord shut him in. That word, therefore, shut him in, literally means to be covered him round about.

[26:28] We've looked at some other scripture where the Hebrew puts a word in front of a noun and then the word behind it. And kind of like encompasses him. That's what's happening here. The Lord shut him in is closed, about closed.

[26:43] And so it's saying all about him is enclosed. And so the way you could say he's shut in is because that's the sense. He's completely now enclosed by the thing God has placed him in. The ark.

[26:54] But he's covered him round about. And it's the Lord who's done this. This was not, it was not for Noah to decide when judgment came. It was for the Lord to decide. The Lord decided. It was appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment.

[27:08] And so God closes this door. And it's over. It's over for mankind. I don't think they were beating on the ark. Let me in. Let me in. You know, I don't think anyone's anywhere near it.

[27:20] When the floods came, I don't think anyone was thinking, oh, we got to quick get over there. It's so catastrophic. You were trying just to probably run to high ground with your children or whatever.

[27:33] But I hope there are people who repented at that time and turned to the Lord. And that wording, we see the same idea. Again, Jesus tells us in a parable with the seven virgins with their lamp that were burning and then those that weren't.

[27:49] The bridegroom comes in Matthew 25. It tells us that those who had no lamp or those who had no oil in their lamp, they went out to buy. And while they were out to buy, the bridegroom came.

[28:00] And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, truly, I say unto you, I know you not.

[28:14] And so there came an opportunity when the door was closed and there was no one else who was going to enter in. The same way we see with God's judgment and his mercy.

[28:27] Once that door is closed, there's no way in. And for those inside the ark, God's judgment became God's deliverance. For those outside the ark, those inside and outside the ark, both experienced God's judgment equally.

[28:42] Both had 150 days that they were completely surrounded by water. But one of them, that judgment allowed for God's mercy and deliverance.

[28:54] So God's judgment on the world delivered Noah. It says it lifted him up. God's judgment for Noah brought him closer to the heavens. God's judgment for Noah was a place of rest.

[29:07] And that's the option that we have in Christ. That as he takes judgment on himself, opens a way for mercy, his judgment becomes our deliverance.

[29:18] But to accept God's mercy, we must first accept God's judgment. Noah had to accept God's judgment or he never would have entered into God's mercy. God's judgment, the world will be overflowed by water.

[29:32] Noah says, I don't believe it. Is Noah going to enter into mercy? No way. He's going, blah, blah, blah, blah, scuba diving with the rest of humanity. But because he accepted God's judgment, he could enter into God's mercy.

[29:46] And it's the same with us. God's judgment made a way for God's mercy. And all pass through judgment. It only remains to be determined where they will be in relation to the ark.

[29:59] So we look here in verse 17. And the flood was 40 days upon the earth and the waters increased and bear up the ark. And it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth.

[30:16] The principle there that God always constrains before he delivers all through scripture. He narrows down before he delivers the Red Sea, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. God always will constrain before he brings deliverance.

[30:29] And so it seems like it gets worse and worse. And the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth. And all the high hills that were under the whole earth, under the whole heaven, I'm sorry, were covered.

[30:44] There's enough water right now on this planet that if you leveled out the planet, you didn't have these high mountains. And more if you didn't have these deep ocean basins and ravines.

[30:56] It would cover the entire earth like by two to three miles of water. But because we have these extremely deep ocean basins that can hold the water, there's land mass.

[31:06] But there is enough water right now to completely cover the face of the earth. If you kind of equalize some of the heights and the depths, it would cover it. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered.

[31:23] And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beasts and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. And every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life and all that was in the dry land, they died.

[31:40] And there we see that all flesh died that moved upon the earth. That is those that have breath, as we talked about before. Breath, not like the spirit of life that God breathed into Adam, but it's those things that breathe.

[31:57] Later on in verse 23, when you see that every living substance was destroyed. God does not consider plant life alive because he then qualifies for us what that was. His living substance was that which was upon the face of the ground, man, cattle, creeping things and follow the heavens.

[32:14] They were destroyed. Plant life, obviously, survived because of seeds through the flood and and then regerminated. But God does not consider a living thing.

[32:26] He does not consider plants living the same way he does animals. And then with man, man alone at the end here of verse 22, all in whose nostrils is the breath of life.

[32:37] That is the spirit of the breath of life. It's always joined with the spirit. They died. Death was all encompassing. But judgment does not last a moment longer than it needs to, does it?

[32:49] All flesh had to die. Well, 150 days, the water is upon the face of the earth. It wasn't three years. God didn't go, we're going to punish this world so bad for three years.

[33:00] Just water. No, God's judgment never lasts longer than it needs to. Jesus was on the cross for three hours, not three years, not three months. He was not on there any longer than he needed to be.

[33:12] God's judgment never lasts longer than it needs to because God is merciful. Psalm 57 1 says, Be merciful unto me, O God.

[33:24] Be merciful unto me. For my soul trusts in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. And there sits Noah in the ark waiting for these calamities to be overpassed.

[33:39] And so God's judgment always, always makes a way for his mercy. Because God is justice and God is merciful. You cannot have mercy without justice.

[33:50] And you cannot have justice without mercy. Now, Jesus said to us in Matthew 7, Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.

[34:02] And with what measure you meet, you shall be measured to you again. So he's telling us we're not to judge. Not in the way God judges. Why? Now, man's judgment lacks a perfect understanding of what's being judged.

[34:15] And I think the main reason we're not to judge, because man's judgment lacks mercy. We're not merciful by nature. So when we judge, we don't have mercy within it.

[34:25] We're not looking, in a sense, for an out in our judgment. We're looking for the maximum penalty. Water covering the earth for 150 days. Let's just double that to make sure. 300 days.

[34:37] That's kind of our judgment. God's judgment always has mercy within it. Always. Man's judgment does not. And we lacked a perfect understanding of what we're judging. We would not have judged the world in this way.

[34:49] No way. Someone would have sat down and thought, Well, let's just flood the whole thing, make a little boat, put some animals on it, and some people, and that'll repopulate the whole earth. That's not how we would have done that. And so when Jesus tells us not to judge, he says, Don't judge.

[35:04] Because how you judge, that's the way you will be judged. And you won't judge with mercy. You'll judge too harshly. And so we let God judge. And that's why we're so surprised with how he judges.

[35:16] Because he comes and we expect him to judge us in a way that's in keeping with our sins and our failures and our flesh. And he comes with mercy and grace. And it's like, Wow.

[35:27] Wow, Lord. Thank you for your mercy. Now go judge that guy. That's kind of how we do it. Lord, that person was mean to me. Go judge him. And then as we move through here, verse 23, And every living substance was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, the creeping things, and the fall of the heaven.

[35:49] And they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained alive. And they that were with him in the ark. Remember the wording there that said, And the ark went upon the face of the waters.

[36:05] And the waters revealed greatly upon the earth. Well, the ark was no longer on the earth. It was lifted up above the earth. And all those on the earth, they will perish. All of the earth and its earth people will perish.

[36:19] But those who enter into the ark of God's mercy, who come by way of his judgment, you must be, what? To be born again. Human, alive, and a sinner.

[36:30] Jesus said to the Pharisees, he says, I've not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. And they're like, Oh, are we unclean also? He says, Now that you, because you say you are clean, you are unclean.

[36:43] Because you, you think you don't need me, and I'm the only way. And so we come to mercy by way of judgment. And then here it says, at the end of verse 23, And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

[36:59] Noah only remained alive? Romans 5, 15, and verse 17 says, For if through the offense of one, many be dead, through Adam's offense, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many.

[37:22] For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

[37:37] Christ alone lives. We don't, apart from him. We don't have life, apart from him. It's still one. It's still one. The ark was a blessing to all, because of the presence of the one.

[37:52] God emphasizes over and over, through these last two chapters, Noah, your presence. Noah, you are righteous. And Noah only remained alive. Noah went into the ark, the animals came in unto him, as God commanded him.

[38:05] Just this one. Noah only. And what does his name mean? Comfort. The one who was comfort, who meant comfort, the one who would give rest. He was a blessing to all.

[38:19] And the waters prevailed upon the earth, 150 days. So for us, in Jesus, in our ark, in the ark of Christ, God would not let his purpose for creation fail.

[38:32] Just like those animals. God said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not going to so corrupt this, that my purposes fail. I have a remnant. Well, in Christ, the purpose for us, his creation, won't fail.

[38:43] God has a purpose for us. God's present work is part of his preparation for future provision. In Jesus, the work on the cross, that he did presently, totally provided for future provision.

[38:56] And it's what he's doing now. As we enter into Christ, we can trust that the work he's doing now, is to equip and prepare and to provide for the future. In Christ, our ark, God covers his people entirely roundabout, completely hedged in.

[39:12] None that the father have given me will I lose. God's judgment becomes God's mercy. Noah had to accept God's judgment. And so do we. We must accept the judgment that we are sinners and that God's payment for sin was in Jesus.

[39:30] And that his judgment in Christ, on Christ, allowed for us to enter into mercy. That's a hard thing for people to accept. Whether there's one ark or a million arks, they still have to accept that.

[39:41] Jesus has been presented the world over. We who accept God's judgment, enter into God's mercy. The future fate of all those in whom is the breath of the spirit of life of all men and women, hangs upon an entrance.

[39:56] Our future state hangs upon, do we enter through the door into Christ? Amen. And lastly, all may receive God's blessing because of the presence of the one.

[40:07] We all may receive God's blessing. And so this picture of God's judgment, so I put judgment and mercy, not mercy and judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment, but judgment must come first.

[40:19] There must be judgment to be mercy. Just as there must be life to be death, there must be light to be darkness. C.S. Lewis said, I would not have known the line was crooked if I did not know what a straight line was.

[40:32] And so since we all have the witness of the spirit of God, we all know the straight line, we can tell they're crooked. And so that God gives judgment. And as we accept his judgment, we enter into mercy.

[40:44] And so Noah's sitting on the ark with Mrs. Noah, with the boys and their wives. They're all kind of chilling. What did Noah have to do to remain on the ark? He entered in.

[40:55] He entered into Christ. He entered into rest. Well, he had to do nothing. Simply abide. Just sit there. Just be there. God did the rest.

[41:06] God carried him through judgment. You know, there was no steering apparatus on the ark. There's no paddles. No motors. God alone carried him through.

[41:16] And Noah just had to abide. And as we talked about last week, the word of God and our response to it in faith leads to the will of God in our life.

[41:29] The will of God is always obeying God. Well, obedience always leads to abiding. We see that in Noah. By faith, Noah entered the ark. By faith, he believed God's word.

[41:41] He walked in God's will. He obeyed God. And the end result is, Noah's just abiding in God's mercy. There's nothing Noah can do, but just sit there. Wait this thing out.

[41:52] Just abide in God's presence. John 15, Jesus says, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.

[42:06] No more can you except you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. The simple, profound words of Jesus. So simple, yet so profound.

[42:18] I'm the vine. You're the branches. You don't need to say anything else. That like just explodes in your mind. This picture of what the implications of that are. He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.

[42:32] For without me, you can do nothing. How much of this could Noah have done without the Lord? He wouldn't have made that deadline. The day Noah entered the ark, the floods came. You know how many problems he must have had along the way that messed up what he thought it was going to work out, his schedule.

[42:48] And the Lord, the day. Why? Because he walked by faith. We can't mess this up. Thank you, Lord. If we walk by faith, we can't mess it up. Right? I don't know how to plant a church.

[42:59] I don't know how to be a pastor. I love Jesus. And I love his word. And he does the rest. Right? Philippians 2.13, It's God that works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[43:12] Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And then Psalm 52 or 57 verse 2, it tells us that God performs all things for me.

[43:24] Just abide in the ark. What do you have to do to stay in it? Nothing. Just stay there. Don't get up. Don't leave. Don't take your axe and chop through the door. Don't go out the little window and dive out.

[43:35] Just stay there and be there. And the Lord will do the rest. Father, thank you so much. Such a beautiful picture, Lord. The simple story that we tell to our children.

[43:47] We decorate our nursery walls with Noah's ark, with the cute animals. But Lord, the reality was, it was your judgment on the world. And it was harsh.

[43:58] It was hard. And it killed off all of humanity. But not one soul had to die, Lord. Not one of them had to go through judgment in wrath.

[44:10] All must pass through judgment. But Lord, thank you that we can pass through, through the ark of the blood of Jesus. That there's been a way made for me to abide.

[44:20] I don't have to do anything. Just to sit there. Thank you, Lord. Pray that you would settle our hearts now. And Lord, that we would not think of ourselves in any way unworthy. Lord, of course we're unworthy.

[44:31] That's the point. We are under judgment. We are sinners. But there's a place to come, and a door that's open, to enter into God's mercy. In Jesus' name, amen.

[44:42] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.