Showing posts with label trust in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trust in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
The Days of Noah Part 6: The Aftermath of the Flood
Genesis 7:24 - 8:1-5
In the previous posts, we looked at the historicity of the flood, it was a real event, Noah was a real person, a man of God. We have looked at Noah's world, a sinful, pleasure-seeking world. We have looked at the ark and the heart of God that provided a way of salvation from judgment and we have looked at the world-wide catastrophic terrible reality of the flood. Today we look at the aftermath.
The Long Long Time. 7:12 "And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." V24 "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." 8:3 "And the waters returned from off the earth continually and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." It was a very long time, 40 days of rain, a further 110 days of the water deepening, and then 150 days as the water receded. It was over a year before Noah and his family got off the ark. It was a long time. During that whole year there was no further word from God. God had not spoken to Noah since he closed the door (of the ark) A year of silence from God. Noah's family must have asked him every day "Is there any word from God? Is it nearly over?" and Noah didn't know because he had no word from God. It was a long time.
Many of the great men in scripture ask the question "has God forgotten me" and perhaps Noah asked the same thing, "has God forgotten me?" And you don't know the answer. But in Genesis 8:1 "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged" God remembered Noah. Remembered means Noah was in the mind of God, God hadn't forgotten Noah, and Noah was a man of faith and in that long time and those long dark days of judgment when there was no apparent communication from God, Noah had only one thing to cling to, the sheer faithfulness of God. The integrity of God. God had been faithful in instructing him thus far. Trust in that.
Friday, October 30, 2015
The Days of Noah Part 4: The Flood
This is the 4th in a series of the series called The days of Noah, this being The Flood. This is one of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard, and it moved me to tears. I know that it will be a blessing to you, and I beseech you to either read the whole of the notes (which are long) or take the time to listen to the sermon at Sermon Audio which is linked below.
As a background, prior to Noah building the ark, God spoke to Noah, who "found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen 6:8) and instructed Noah to build the ark to the LORD's specifications (Gen 6:13-16) and told Noah that he, the LORD would bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, and every living thing that is in the earth would die, but with Noah he would establish his covenant. In Gen 6:3 the LORD said "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." Noah with his wife, his sons, and his son's wives, would be safe on the ark. This is the background, and following are the notes from the sermon:
The Days of Noah - the Flood
Genesis 7:1-24
Between the end of Gen 6 and Gen 7:1 almost 120 years had passed during which Noah continued working and building the ark. And when the ark was finished, God speaks to Noah Gen 7:1-4 "And the LORD said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." God speaks after 120 years and tells Noah to bring his family and the animals and the birds into the ark for the time of judgment had come. 120 years had passed since the first warning, since the preacher of righteousness was instructed by God to begin building the ark. Now God says there are seven days left, the time has come.
Seven more days of grace V4. The door of grace, of salvation on the side of the ark would be open for another seven days. Didn't God give the people in the world of Noah's day every opportunity. He gave them the preacher, he gave them 120 years, and now a further 7 days of grace. The bible tells us that Noah gathers his family into the ark. His wife, his sons and his son's wives. But note that Noah's sons had not been born when God had last spoken to Noah. When God told Noah that the flood was coming 120 years ago, Noah's sons were not born, because it tells us that Noah's sons were born when Noah was 500 years old (Gen 5:32) and the flood came when Noah was 600 (Gen 7:6) but God had told Noah 120 years previous that the flood would come, 20 years before Noah's sons were born. So Noah's sons had grown up when their father was building the ark and preaching righteousness. God had not directly spoken since, Noah's sons had never heard the message direct from God, just from their father the preacher. But when they were 100 years old, they and their wives went into the ark. They believed the preacher, they believed the flood was coming, but the ungodly did not and yet both groups had heard the same message from the same preacher. It saved some and condemned others. Because some people, when they hear the gospel, the gospel saves them. But some people, the gospel hardens.
As a background, prior to Noah building the ark, God spoke to Noah, who "found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen 6:8) and instructed Noah to build the ark to the LORD's specifications (Gen 6:13-16) and told Noah that he, the LORD would bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, and every living thing that is in the earth would die, but with Noah he would establish his covenant. In Gen 6:3 the LORD said "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." Noah with his wife, his sons, and his son's wives, would be safe on the ark. This is the background, and following are the notes from the sermon:
The Days of Noah - the Flood
Genesis 7:1-24
Between the end of Gen 6 and Gen 7:1 almost 120 years had passed during which Noah continued working and building the ark. And when the ark was finished, God speaks to Noah Gen 7:1-4 "And the LORD said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." God speaks after 120 years and tells Noah to bring his family and the animals and the birds into the ark for the time of judgment had come. 120 years had passed since the first warning, since the preacher of righteousness was instructed by God to begin building the ark. Now God says there are seven days left, the time has come.
Seven more days of grace V4. The door of grace, of salvation on the side of the ark would be open for another seven days. Didn't God give the people in the world of Noah's day every opportunity. He gave them the preacher, he gave them 120 years, and now a further 7 days of grace. The bible tells us that Noah gathers his family into the ark. His wife, his sons and his son's wives. But note that Noah's sons had not been born when God had last spoken to Noah. When God told Noah that the flood was coming 120 years ago, Noah's sons were not born, because it tells us that Noah's sons were born when Noah was 500 years old (Gen 5:32) and the flood came when Noah was 600 (Gen 7:6) but God had told Noah 120 years previous that the flood would come, 20 years before Noah's sons were born. So Noah's sons had grown up when their father was building the ark and preaching righteousness. God had not directly spoken since, Noah's sons had never heard the message direct from God, just from their father the preacher. But when they were 100 years old, they and their wives went into the ark. They believed the preacher, they believed the flood was coming, but the ungodly did not and yet both groups had heard the same message from the same preacher. It saved some and condemned others. Because some people, when they hear the gospel, the gospel saves them. But some people, the gospel hardens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)