Noah Part I
Transcript
So if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and flip there. If you don't have a Bible, there should be a blue one nearby. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that. That is our gift to you. In the blue Bibles, it will be page three. My wife and I, we have in movies a guilty pleasure.
We love disaster movies. So like 2012, Day After Tomorrow, classics. We love it. The more over the top, the more ridiculous it can get, we're all about it. There was a movie that came out this year called Geostorm about a satellite system that made the weather turn on the whole globe. And it was amazing.
It was way over the top. It was ridiculous. And we love it. We love movies like that. I feel like we're not alone because America watches them because they keep making them. And I feel like one of the reasons why that we can enjoy those kind of disaster movies is because we are so far removed from the subject matter.
And if we are face-to-face with an actual disaster, we wouldn't be able to enjoy it. We don't appreciate the full kind of horror of the event until we're up close with it. And I feel like that we have done that a little bit with the story of Noah. That we've distanced ourselves from the story. And because of that, we don't want to stare at it. We don't want to wade into it and understand it.
We want to distance ourselves because it's a little bit scary and it deals with the judgment of God. And I think this happens at a very young age. That if you grew up in the church, if you grew up around church, if you had any type of Christian church background, at a young age, you heard this story told as kind of a cute tale with cute pictures. And everyone was kind of happy. Now, I looked at the internet and I found some pictures that I think captured this. I just got three of them.
There's thousands of them for children's ministry. This is the classic Noah selfie. And everyone's happy. Noah's happy. The animals are happy. If this is after the flood, it's severely inappropriate.
But everyone, this is kind of like, this is kind of the pictures you get. Everyone's really happy. I found another one. This one's called Noah's Ark. The white, clean storybook. It has a heavy sense of irony in the title.
That they would make a white, clean storybook to tell the story of Noah. If you didn't get it, it'll come in a second. It's ironic. It's a little bit dark. This third one is classic funny picture you get out of Noah. You got Noah.
He's taking a shower, having a good old time. His wife's doing the laundry. You got some animals that are fishing. There's a nice Titanic moment happening up front. And there are tons, there are tons and tons of pictures that are just like this. That kind of reduce Noah to this cute story.
And that is so far removed from what it actually is. We are uncomfortable with this story. And we have sanitized it. We've sanitized the judgment of it. We've sanitized the horror of it. And that's not the way this story is meant to be read.
It's not a cute story. It is a story that is meant to shock you. It is a story that shows the judgment of God. Now this story today is going to be really heavy. We're in part one of the story and the flood. There's going to be a silver lining of redemption that we'll see at the end.
And it will be more as we focus on next week. But this week is heavy. And as we work through the flood story, there's four things we're going to see. We're going to see the corruption of man, which is how we got to this scene. We're going to see God's sorrow over man's sin. We're going to see that followed by God's response to sin, which is judgment.
And then we're going to see God's promise of redemption kept. So today is going to be heavy. But the more that we weighed into this story, the more that we understand it, the better the redemption is that we have in Jesus. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to dive in. God, thank you so much for your word, even when it is difficult to read, even when it's difficult to understand and absorb. God, I pray that today that we would be present, that if we immediately are opposed to this story, that we would be willing to listen and that you would speak to us.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we are working through Genesis, which means as you work through Genesis, there's going to be these landmines that just pop up. We could avoid them, but that would be avoiding whole sections of the Bible. We're not going to do that. So before we even get to Noah, there's a setup.
And within the setup that gets to Noah, there's a couple landmines. The first one is found in the genealogy in Genesis 5. Genesis 5 is a genealogy, and like most genealogies, this is where your annual Bible reading plans go to die. I mean, they can be really long. They can be kind of boring. But there's actually some good stuff in this genealogy.
And I just want to read the first three verses. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. I just want to get the first three verses to get a feel for what's happening in this genealogy. Start us out in verse 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
Male and female, he created them. And he blessed them and named them man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. Now, if you read that, and then you keep reading, you're going to, if you are naturally skeptical, you're going to raise your hand, and you're going to wonder, wait a second, he had a kid at 130 years old, and then it says that he died at 930 years old, and that Methuselah, another character, died at 969 years old. So if you are naturally skeptical, or you're just inquisitive, you're going to raise your hand, you're going to be like, what is your Bible saying?
Are you serious? The Bible is serious. All right? There's two ways to explain this. Chet hinted at one of them last week. There are some theories that help explain why people live so long early on in the Bible.
The first theory, and Chet hinted at this last week, is that early on in the gene pool, the original design for man was that man would not be corrupted by, that man would live forever, and they were not corrupted by sin. So they were created to live forever, and then slowly, as sin started to wade through the gene pools, it started to corrupt man, slowly, you see lifespans, they start to get to where they are today. Now that's a theory, and there's a couple of them that are like that, but here's the more important way of understanding this. When you come to situations like this in the Bible, time and time again, you're going to wonder what is happening, because we live in a world with a natural worldview.
And you're going to see stuff that happens, it's outside of that natural worldview, it's outside, and it's supernatural. The Bible does this over and over again. Our whole faith hinges on the fact that God became man by way of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died the death on the cross, was dead and buried, and raised from the grave, and then floated into heaven at the ascension. That doesn't happen in everyday life. It's outside of the natural. And over and over again, you're going to see in the Bible that there are situations that go outside the natural, and this is one of them.
That early on, this is God's design. And while it is foreign to us, the Bible speaks truthfully. So if you work through that landmine, then you can actually start to see a little bit of what's happening in this genealogy. I'll just make a few quick points on Genesis 5. Firstly, the fact that in all genealogies, people are named show that God cares about our story. That each of these individuals has a story.
That God values humanity. Even in this genealogy, in the front end, it says, he links it to these people that descended from Adam being made in the image of God. Showing that each of them has value. Each of them has worth. God values humanity. What you see after this as well is that each one of these people died.
And it shows, genealogies show the effect of sin. That death is present. Everyone dies. The third thing that we can see about this genealogy is that this is the line of Seth. This is the line of Seth that God has chosen through Seth to bring the seed of Eve, the rescuer, Jesus, who will come. And through Seth, we get to Noah.
So we're about to start. We're in chapter 6. We're about to start Noah. And then the second landmine shows up in chapter 6 in the first four verses. It says, When man began to multiply on the face of the lamb, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took them as their wives, any they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh.
His days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Now, for thousands of years, believers have looked at this and said, What in the world is going on? Why is this story even here?
It is very hard to understand. There are two prevailing theories, two prevailing interpretations that have come out of this text over the last few thousand years. And it deals with, Who are the sons of God? Who are the sons of God? The first view, and this is the more historic view, is that the sons of God in this passage refer to angels. That angels came down, and laid with the daughters of men, and had children.
Yes. Genesis got weird. Alright, that's the first view. And we see that in the Old Testament, you look in the book of Job, you look at the book of Daniel, that the sons of God is how it refers to angels in those passages. So there's some textual way to that actually being true.
That angels came down, and lay with women, and they had children. The second view, is that this is simply the line of Seth. That the line of Seth, these are different from the line of Cana. They came, and this seems to be, on its face, sexual sin. So something was happening here, that was not good.
And that view kind of avoids the weirdness of what, of the first view. But honestly, there's no need to avoid the weirdness, because of what follows next. Because of who the children that they actually had, were called. They were called the Nephilim. The Nephilim is an English word, that went from Latin to Greek, back to Hebrew. And all it means, is giants.
Very large peoples. So they had these children, and they were giants. They were the mighty men of old. And it gets weirder. So I'm like, I don't think you need to avoid, the view of this being weird, because it already is weird.
And I think that, I lean towards, I don't go hard on this, but I lean towards, the historic view, that this is referring to angels. Angels came down, committed sexual sin with humans, and produced giant people. And that gets, you read that, and you're like, that, okay, what's going on here? Here's the point. Why was this even here, in the first place? This is here to show, that the world has gone off the rails.
This is not the way, it is supposed to be. We just saw, in chapter 4, how the world has been ruined by violence. And now we see sexual sin, is all over the world at this point. This is not the way, it is supposed to be. The world has gone off the rails. Corruption has spread everywhere.
And that is the lead in, to Noah. So we're going to be in verses 5 through 8, of chapter 6, for a little bit. This is kind of a header, that explains the whole story, as a whole. And we're going to work through it, starting in verse 5. The Lord saw the wickedness of man, was great in the earth. And that every intention, of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually.
That every intention, of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually. That's the picture of humanity. It's not just a few bad apples. The whole tree, is rotten down the roots. Every thought and intention, of the heart, is corrupted by evil. And that is why, there's rampant violence, that's why there's rampant, sexual sin.
Now you might think, that's being, is that being overstated? Like every single thought, every intention of the heart, is that hyperbole? And I would say, I don't think so. Think about your own thoughts. How quickly, do good thoughts, get corrupted, and turn to bad? How quickly, in a situation, like maybe you have a friend, or someone in our church family, they get a job promotion, or they get, they level up in a new tax bracket.
And our, our, our Jesus-centered response is, I am so thankful, that God has provided for them. How quickly, does that turn to, but what about me? God, why haven't I moved up? How did I get passed over, for the promotion? How quickly, do we turn, to jealousy? This happens with kids.
You might have, kids, and if you have children, there's always going to be children, that are better at, whether it's grades, your kids might make, good grades, that your friends' kids, will probably make, better grades. Your kid might be good at sports, your kid, their, your friends' kids, are going to be, better at sports. And we get, we go from, celebrating our friends, and their families, and what's going on, to like, moving into a Tanya Harding mode, that we want to take out, other children. Our kid has got to be the best. Our kid's going to advance. Everyone move out of the way.
We do this with lust. You can't just notice, that somebody is beautiful, or somebody is handsome. It quickly goes from that, to I wonder what's underneath. I wonder what it's like, to be with them. We do this with, so many thoughts, that we think are pure. They are actually, there's sin attached to them.
That we are corrupt. And the picture of humanity here, is it is corrupt. It is rotten to the core. And this grieves God. It grieves God. We pick up in verse 6.
It says, And the Lord regretted, that he had made man, on the earth. And it grieved him, to his heart. He regretted, that he made man, and it grieved him. This reminds me, there's a, there's a movie called, American History X. It came out in the late 90's. It was Edward Norton's, big breakout film.
And, and it's about, a guy who grows up, and as, at an early age, he starts getting exposed, to racism, and to prejudice. And, it starts to grow in him, like a cancer. And then eventually, he starts, he gets introduced, to neo-Nazism. He starts to learn more, about that. And the cancer starts to spread. And he starts to, adopt neo-Nazi views.
He eventually gets, a swastika tattoo. And then it goes, so far down the line, that he's a, he's a full, fledged neo-Nazi, that he commits, a hate crime. And in the midst, of his downward spiral, in the midst of this cancer, growing within him, his mother, is watching this happen. And this isn't, the son that she raised. This isn't, who she brought, into this world. And he slowly, starts to get corrupted.
And finally, there's this scene, in the movie, where everything, is unraveling. They had this huge argument. And in the midst, of her grief, she says, I am ashamed, that you came, out of my body. And that is so, picturesque, of what is happening, here in Genesis. That the cancer, of sin has spread. It has corrupted man, so deeply, that God, regrets that he, even made man.
Man who he placed, his image in. That he placed, value and worth, and beauty, and goodness in. Has taken that good gift, and has corrupted it. And corrupted the rest, of creation. That he regrets it. And it also says, that it grieved him, to his heart.
And that might seem, foreign to some of us. Because some of us, grow up with this world view, that God is this, distant deity, in the sky. That he doesn't have emotions, that he isn't really involved, that he doesn't really care. And that is so, far from the view, that we have in the scriptures. That God is intimately involved, that he deeply cares, and he has emotions. And that he is grieved, by our sin.
He is grieved by, the corruption, of humanity. And that grief, is followed up by, a picture of judgment. That follows in verse 7 and 8. So the Lord said, I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the land. Man, and animals, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens. For I am sorry, that I have made them.
But Noah found favor, in the eyes of the Lord. Now for the rest of our time, the rest of this story, these are the two pictures. A picture of judgment, and a picture of redemption. And we'll get more, to the picture of redemption, next week. The rest of our story, mostly sits in, this picture of judgment. Which is something, that our culture, is greatly, they're greatly against.
We naturally, just don't, we don't like, the idea of judgment. In this story, there's two things, that stick out, that our culture, is very much opposed to. The first one, is that, he Judges all of creation. It's not just humanity. He Judges, everything. And that animals, go down with the flood.
That is something, that our culture has, a problem with. But the bigger problem, that our culture has, is that God, that God would judge sinners. That he would bring judgment, on humanity. I'll tackle that first one, fairly quickly. I don't have a lot of time, to spend on it. The reason why, God Judges all of creation, including the animals, is because God has given humanity, dominion over animals.
And that our actions, affect everything. And the same way, that nowadays, corporate greed, can affect, drinking water, and rivers, that has for the last, hundred years, our actions, on this world, affect all of creation, because God has given, that to us. So that when God, is going to wipe clean, the earth, he's going to wipe clean, everything, and start fresh. Everyone gets, the judgment. The second cultural objection, that we have, and this is natural to us, in our culture, is that we don't like, the idea that God Judges, sinners. We don't like the God, we don't like the idea of judgment, period.
And this is mostly, I would say, hear this, it's mostly a western objection, that us as westerners, are the ones who mostly, have a problem with God, being a judge. And I would even argue, and push a little farther, it's mostly white westerners, that have a problem, with judgment. And the reason why, is because we are, largely, shielded from injustice. That we have, as a culture, really experienced, the kind of injustice, that the rest of the world does. Because when the rest of the world, comes across, pictures of judgment, like in, in cultures, where towns, and villages, where there are people that come in, the government doesn't stop them, and they come and take away children, and sell them into slavery, they come and kill people, they read passages like this, they read the judgment of God, not as something, that they don't like, but as a comfort.
Because it is comforting, that God checks sin, that He Judges, those who do evil. So it's a natural objection, that we have, that the rest of the world, just doesn't have, that God Judges sinners. Now I think there's a part of us, that really gets on board with this. I think that, being part of, being made in the image of God, there's a little bit in us, that has an objection, or at least has, that at least supports, God judging sin. I think for mostly, the one sin in our culture, that people are on board with, that should be judged, is murder. Currently there's a case, in Colorado, where it looks like, it's alleged, but it looks like a guy, killed his wife, his pregnant wife, and then also killed, his two daughters.
And as this case, is starting to get momentum, people are getting enraged. There's a part of them, that wants justice. And that comes from, being made in the image of God. That if you actually, don't believe in God, there's not really a grounds, for justice, it's survival of the fittest. But in this, in this, this aspect, that we're made, in the image of God, that has not been, stamped out by our culture, we actually, want justice to happen.
The problem is, is we just limit it to that. We just take murder seriously, we don't take, everything else seriously. We largely don't take, sin as a whole, seriously. But God does. Because sin, corrupts. It corrupts our relationship, with God, it corrupts one another.
Take jealousy, and envy, that I talked about earlier. When you are envious, of your neighbor, what you have done, in those moments, is you have questioned, the goodness of God. God has provided for us, richly, he has given us life. And what you are saying is, what you've given me, is not enough. So much so, that I'm, I'm angered with you, and I am jealous of my neighbor.
And there's hatred towards God, and there's hatred towards neighbor, in that moment. And God does not take that lightly. That corruption spreads, in often really, evil ways. That lust is a big deal. Because what you were doing, when you were lusting, is that you were saying, God, you don't satisfy enough. Union with you, is not enough.
I need someone else. Or maybe you're married, and it's like, the spouse you've given me, she's not enough. He's not enough. I want to unite myself, with someone else. We do this over, and over, and over again. If you actually look at, the sin that is deep within us, and you follow, and trace it out, there is corruption everywhere, against God, and against man.
And God is not indifferent towards that. But in those moments, we have to see that we are, committing cosmic treason, as Chet said last week. We are sinning against, a holy and perfect king. And sin has to be, paid for. And that is where, this picture of judgment comes from. Picks up in verse 11, of chapter 6, says, Now the earth was corrupt, in God's sight.
And the earth was filled, with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh, had corrupted their way, on the earth. And God said to Noah, I am determined, to make an end, of all flesh. For the earth is filled, with violence through them. Let's pause for a second.
I've been thinking, through this. This is an undeveloped thought, so I'm not hanging, a ton of stuff on this. The more I have read Genesis, and the more that I'm studying it, this time around, the more I'm starting to realize, God hates violence. Hates it. And it shows up here, and it shows up throughout, the Old Testament. I don't have anything, to hang that on right now.
I don't have a complete thought, on that. I'm just noticing, that he hates it. And that I'm trying to, I'm trying to, as I'm studying this, and I hope as a church family, we can do the same thing, and looking at this, and seeing the implications of that, and what stirs in us, that we might, what stirs violence in us, what isn't good. I think that's something, that we should wait into. Like I said, not a complete thought, I just want you to feel the weight, of what the text is actually saying. He says, behold, I will destroy them, with the earth.
You skip down to verse 17. He says, for behold, I will bring a flood of waters, upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life, under heaven. Everything, that is on the earth, shall die. So he makes this pronouncement, and then he tells Noah, to build an ark. An ark, is a giant ship. This is going to weather the floods, that are coming.
And the picture of judgment, that is happening here, is a reversal, of what happened at creation. That in Genesis 1, God pulls back the waters, and land appears. And what he is doing is, is he's releasing the waters, and bringing judgment on the earth. And when this comes, he wants Noah to be ready. So Noah builds an ark.
And he gives the rest of chapter 6, some instructions, on how to build this ark, in measurements that we understand. It's about 510 feet long. It's 51 feet tall. It's 84 feet wide. It's going to be three decks. He tells them specifically, make it out of gopher wood.
We don't know what gopher wood is, but it was good enough for the ship. Then he tells them, that Noah and his wife, and his sons, and their wives, their family, can board this ark. And then he has a plan, to preserve animal lines. He says in 619, and every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort, in the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. So he tells them, take one male, one female of every animal, and they're going to, board the ark with you.
In chapter 7, we get some additional instructions, where he's going to give some extra animals, they can use, because they're going to have, some sacrifice that happens, when they get off the ark. But we'll cover that, next week. Then he tells them, to store as much food, as you're going to need, because you're going to be on this, ark for quite a while. They're on the ark, for about a year. And then it's time. Picks up, and chapter 6 ends, with Noah did this, he did all the Lord commanded him, and then we skip to chapter 7, verse 11.
It says, In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of that month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep, burst forth. So all the aquifers, all the water underneath, it burst forth. And the windows of the heavens were opened, and rain fell upon the earth, for forty days, and for forty nights. As the waters underneath, come forth, the waters above, fall. And this is the part of the story, that gets sanitized. This is the part of the story, that we don't want to stare at, that we don't want, we want to ignore.
It is not a happy, and cute picture. It is a picture, of God's judgment, being poured out, on the earth. It is one of the scariest, and saddest moments, of the entire history of the world. It is meant to, it is meant to shock you, at God's wrath being poured out, on the earth. That for forty days, and for forty nights, God drowns the earth, in judgment. And then chapter seven, just ends.
It says, only Noah was left, and those who were with him, on the ark. And the waters prevailed, on the earth, a hundred and fifty days. And it just has, a bleak ending, to part one of the story. It is descriptive, and it is painful. It's a painful picture, of God's judgment. And there's probably, a lot of questions, that are swirling, as you read this.
But I think, there's one question, in particular, that rises to the top. And that is, why Noah? Why was Noah chosen? Why did he, and his family, get to board the ark? The text, answers this, in part, we see it later, answered in full. It says, in chapter six, verse eight, that, but Noah found favor, in the eyes of the Lord.
These are the generations, of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked, with God. And some have looked at this, and they have taken this, to say, well, Noah must have been, the good God. He must have been, the good God. The rest of the world, was evil.
The text says, that he was righteous, that he was blameless. And on its surface, you might get that, but the more, that you dig in this, you see, that's actually not the case. That's not the full picture, of what's happening here. Because Noah was a sinner. Noah, we're going to see that clearly, in the second half of the story, next week. Noah, was a sinner.
Noah, deserved judgment. So why, did Noah get chosen? Why was Noah spared? And the answer that we get, in the Bible, is by grace, through faith. Noah, Noah, was chosen, by grace, through faith. Hebrews 11, 7 says, by faith, this is the New Testament, looking back, by faith, Noah, being warned by God, concerning events, as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark, for the saving, of his household.
Faith, is what set Noah apart. He trusted God, and it was God's grace, in him, and through him, that ultimately, saved him. That ultimately, Noah finds, unmerited favor. He didn't earn this favor. God, shows him favor, that he did not earn. Faith in him, through God, is what saves him.
And this isn't just good news, because it preserves, the seed of Eve, it preserves the line of Jesus, who will come and save the whole world. That is good news. We will talk more about that next week. It is good news for us, right now, because you, and me, everyone in this room, and everyone who's ever lived, we're in the same boat, as Noah. Noah, we deserve God's wrath. We deserve the flood.
But because of Jesus, we get the ark. Jesus became our ark. And the idea that we deserve wrath, that's for some of you, that's going to be frustrating. You might ask the question, why do we deserve wrath? And it's because we have the same picture of humanity, that is true for them, and their time for us. When it says that the Lord saw, that the wickedness of man, was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually, that is us.
That did not stop at Noah. That continues through. We see this next week, as we'll cover it in chapter 8. After they get off the ark, this is what God says. He says, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart, is evil from his youth. That post-flood, this is still true.
We are still corrupted. You see that in the Psalms, when David picks up on this, he says, for there is no truth in their mouth, their inmost self is destruction, their throat is an open grave, they flatter with their tongue. We see this in the New Testament, when Jesus is teaching, on the Sermon on the Mount, when he says, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander, over and over and over again. We see throughout the whole Bible, that because of Adam and Eve, because they sinned against God, they brought corruption into this world, and we inherit that corruption.
We inherit that nature. It is what we do. It is the reason why, when football started yesterday, that we can't just enjoy the good gift of football, that it has given us. No, we have to actually elevate it to an idol, and worship it. It's the reason why, we can't be happy for others, we get to be, we move into being quickly envious. It's the reason why, that when you get slighted, you want to retaliate immediately, whether it's on Facebook, or it's with your fist, because we are naturally children of violence.
We inherit this sinful nature. It is what we do. We inherit corruption, and that costs two things. We see that it costs God grief, that God grieves over our corruption, and that's not just a Noah's time thing, that's even for the people of God, that somehow, mysteriously, God can look at us, those of us who are in Christ, and see the perfect record of Jesus. We don't have to earn His favor. He can look at us and see Christ, and at the same time, He can look at the church, and in Ephesians 4 say, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
That our sin, emotionally, affects God, still. It costs God grief. Ultimately, it costs judgment. Our sin, costs judgment. Somebody has to foot the bill. And the good news, of Jesus, is that the finished work, of Jesus on the cross, means that we, we get, through faith in Christ, that undeserved favor.
That we, deserve, I want you to feel this, we deserve the flood. That's what we, that's what we deserve, because of our sin, we deserve the flood, of God's wrath, poured out on us. But Jesus, goes to the cross, and He has the full cup, of God's wrath, poured out on Him. And, through His death, and conquering death, through the resurrection, we, get life. We get the ark. That's what 1st Peter, he plays on this picture, and relating to baptism, in 1st Peter 3.
He talks about baptism, and comparing it back to Noah. That because of what Jesus, has done for us, in conquering death, we pass through the ark, safely from death, into life. In about a month, we're going to celebrate baptisms. This is going to be a picture, of people who are dead in sin, and are alive in Christ. And the picture is, is that we were spared, we get the ark, we get Jesus, and we get life with Him. So as we sit in this story, I know it's uncomfortable.
And as we discuss this in groups, I know it's not, this is going to be challenging. But if you are in Christ, you get this picture. You deserve judgment, you get mercy. We deserve wrath, we get the ark. Band's going to come up. I don't want us, to just walk away from this, I want us to sit in it.
And I want you to hear this, that if you, if you are not a Christian, meaning that you have, maybe you've been around church, maybe you've been connected, maybe you've been coming, but you have not given your life, completely over to God. It is Jesus plus the world, it is Jesus plus something else. If that is you, I want you to hear this story. It's uncomfortable, but it's real. He's not going to destroy the earth, with water again, but wrath is coming. And we need to feel that.
And the good news of the gospel, is that we had, the God of the universe, who took on flesh, who came to take that wrath for us. And our plea for you, as a church, is that you would choose the ark. And that you would, have your life hidden in Christ. That you would believe in him, that you would lay down your life. And that you would get to experience, the goodness of the gospel, in Jesus. That is our hope.
If you are a Christian, I want this story to sober us. I want us to feel the weight, of the judgment, because I want us to feel, the weight of our own sin. Because I feel like, some of us get into a mode, of not taking our own sin, seriously. We don't think it's that big of a deal. And the reality is, that sin is a very big deal. But also, so is grace.
So is his mercy, that we get to lean into. And that's what we celebrate, with the Lord's Supper. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread, and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, that was broken for you. He took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. And he said, this is my blood shed for you.
He said, as often as you eat, and drink this, you proclaim my death, until I return. So Christian, in this moment, I want you, as the music is playing, just to sit for a moment. I want you to reflect, on the seriousness of our sin.
