Transcript Slide 1

First Principles
Lesson 12
Lesson Text—Genesis 6:1-3
Genesis 6:1-3
1 And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto
them,
2 That the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair;
and they took them wives of all which
they chose.
Lesson Text—Genesis 6:1-3
3
And 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.
Lesson Text—Genesis 6:4-6
Genesis 6:4-6
4 There were giants in the earth in
those days; and also after that, when
the sons of God came in unto the
daughters of men, and they bare
children to them, the same became
mighty men which were of old, men of
renown.
Lesson Text—Genesis 6:4-6
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had
made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart.
Lesson Text—Genesis 6:7-8
Genesis 6:7-8
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of
the earth; both man, and beast, and
the creeping thing, and the fowls of
the air; for it repenteth me that I have
made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of
the LORD.
Focus Verse—Hebrews 11:7
Hebrews 11:7
By faith Noah, being warned of
God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark
to the saving of his house; by the
which he condemned the world,
and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith.
Focus Thought
Sin brings punishment to the
guilty, and the grace and mercy of
God bring salvation to all who
believe.
Culture Connection
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The Warning of The Rainbow
Perhaps you are thinking, The
warning of the rainbow? I thought the
rainbow was a symbol of promise.
Actually, the rainbow is a symbol of
both promise and warning. It is a
reminder of God’s promise never again
to destroy the world by a flood as in
the days of Noah.
It also should be a warning to those
who have studied the nature of God,
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the history of mankind, and the Bible:
the judgment of God upon mankind’s
wickedness always is certain. God will
judge sin.
In the days leading up to the Great
Flood, God said, “My spirit shall not
always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3).
In every dispensation of time God has
extended an indeterminable measure
of mercy and grace, but after that
period of longsuffering was exhausted,
God also dispensed judgment on
mankind’s sins.
We have witnessed God’s
longsuffering,
mercy,
grace, and
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judgment throughout man’s history,
and the Scriptures also reveal the
same pattern for the end times. For
instance, Peter wrote, “The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise . . . but is
longsuffering . . . not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night; in the
which the heavens shall pass away
with . . . fervent heat” (II Peter 3:9-10).
We are living in the days of God’s
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grace and mercy. May we repent and
serve Him now before the days of His
judgment shall arrive.
Contemplating The Topic
I. Sin—what
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an interesting paradox. It
is a small word in the English
language, yet its results are more
devastating than any other force
known to man. It is inviting yet
condemning. It promises life and
freedom, but brings death and
bondage. While the idea of sin did not
originate with mankind, individuals
certainly took the concept and ran with
it. Mankind quickly left the God of the
Garden for the god of this world.
But
is hope!World
We do not have to
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live a life of sin. We do not have to
carry the heavy weights of iniquity.
Through the blood of the Lamb of God,
we can be cleansed of our
wrongdoings and approach God’s
throne with boldness.
In this lesson, we will examine the
world’s spiritual condition prior to the
Flood. We will look at God’s reaction to
man’s steady decline into apostasy.
Although God was patient and
longsuffering, He had to pronounce
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judgment upon all those who would
not obey His commands and accept
His plan of salvation. His fierce
judgment came in the form of a
worldwide, catastrophic flood. While
some consider the story of the Flood
only a religious myth, we will review
geological evidence to the contrary.
This evidence supports the biblical
account of a quick, terrible disaster,
not the small multiple floods over
millions of years that evolutionists
propose.
We will also consider God’s
wonderful provision of grace through
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faith. These two elements—grace and
faith—form a plan by which God saved
Noah, his family, and ultimately the
human race. We will further apply this
information and see how we also must
prepare our lives for the judgment of
God as Noah prepared. We must have
faith in God’s grace and obey His
commandments. When we do, God will
work on our behalf and save us from
certain judgment.
Searching The Scriptures
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From the moment Adam and Eve
partook of the forbidden fruit in the
Garden, sin ruled in the hearts of
mankind. Adam and Eve disobeyed
God by eating the fruit, and they
denied their responsibility in the act.
Adam blamed his wife, Eve, and Eve
blamed the serpent. This wickedness
and irresponsibility continued until the
days of Noah.
Genesis 6:5 declares, “And God saw
that
the
wickedness
of man was great
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in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually.” Genesis 6:12 in the
Amplified Bible further describes the
world as, “degenerate, debased, and
vicious.” Still, in spite of man’s
wickedness, God extended mercy to
him. God gave all flesh an opportunity
to repent; in the end, though, only
Noah and his family accepted God’s
offer of redemption via the ark.
A.
Patience
and
A. Patience and Longsuffering
Longsuffering of God
of God
Sin’s destructive effects are
powerful and far-reaching. God’s
patience, however, is even more
powerful and even more far-reaching.
Psalm 86:15 states, “But thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion, and
gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous
in mercy and truth.” Strong’s
Concordance indicates that the
Hebrew words translated as
longsuffering literally mean “slow to
anger.”
While
must judge
sin, it is always
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His desire first to extend His grace to
the offending individual. He would
prefer that the person repent of his
disobedience and turn to Him with
contrition so He would not have to
pronounce judgment.
II Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to
usward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to
repentance” (II Peter 3:9).
Luke’s gospel tells the story of Jesus
traveling to a Samaritan village. When
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the town’s inhabitants did not receive
Jesus, James and John wanted to
destroy them. “And when his disciples
James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to
come down from heaven, and consume
them, even as Elias did? But he turned,
and rebuked them, and said, Ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of. For
the Son of man is not come to destroy
men’s lives, but to save them. And they
went to another village”
(Luke 9:54-56).
Too often, individuals are quick to
render judgment without mercy; God,
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on the other hand, seeks to be
longsuffering and forgiving.
Noah’s world was evil, but not so
evil that it was beyond God’s reach of
mercy and forgiveness. God waited
while all mankind had the opportunity
to repent, but only Noah and his family
found favor in God’s eyes. Genesis 7:1
states, “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.”
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God did not see it as a waste of time
to wait for Noah to construct the ark
and gather the animals. For the
people it was a period of God’s grace.
B. Certainty of Judgment
B. Certainty
of
Judgment
Mankind continued to sin, and God
finally reached the point where He
repented He made man. “And it
repented the Lord that he had made
man on the earth, and it grieved him at
his heart. And the Lord said, I will
destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth; both man, and
beast, and the creeping thing, and the
fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that
I have made them” (Genesis 6:6-7).
Sin necessitates God’s judgment.
God is holy and He cannot indefinitely
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bear the disobedience of mankind.
Consequently, in the days of Noah,
God judged mankind through a
worldwide flood. God told Noah in
Genesis 6:17, “And, behold, I, even I,
do bring a flood of waters upon the
earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is
the breath of life, from under heaven;
and every thing that is in the earth
shall die.”
The Bible describes this flood in
Genesis 7:12, stating, “And the rain
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was upon the earth forty days and
forty nights.” This downpour literally
cleansed the world of evil, leaving
only a righteous family and the many
animals that had come aboard the ark.
Some individuals may doubt this
event happened, but there is strong
geological evidence that a massive
flood did occur.
In chapter two of his book Evolution:
When Fact Became Fiction, Ricki
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Pavlu points out that “sedimentary
deposits are of great importance in
studying the Flood because water
formed all sedimentary deposits.” He
further states that rather than many
small floods over millions of years
forming sedimentary layers, a single
catastrophic worldwide flood formed
them.
While conventional science may
balk at this statement, there is hard
evidence that proves the biblical
account of the Flood.
The proof lies in the fossils found in
the sedimentary layers. A plant or
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animal must be rapidly buried to be
fossilized, but fossils have been found
positioned vertically in several
sedimentary layers. This is impossible
by the evolutionists’ claims. These
layers normally take a long time to
form; consequently, it is not possible
for a fossil to form across several of
them. The only way this could happen
is if the layers formed quickly, and the
only way the layers could have formed
quickly was by the Flood.
Additionally, coal deposits point
toward a biblical flood. Organic matter
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undergoing intense compression
creates coal deposits. Evolutionists
claim this pressure occurred slowly
over billions of years. A worldwide
flood, however, explains this
phenomenon. Pavlu explains: “If the
flood waters rose 5,000 to 10,000 feet
above sea level to cover the high
mountains, then the water pressure on
the earth’s surface would have
amounted to . . . two tons per square
inch.
This intense water pressure, along with
the pressure of sediments deposited
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over the organic matter, would have
been sufficient to produce coal and oil
fields as we know them.”
A Way of Escape
II. A Way of Escape
Man had ensnared himself in sin.
Like an animal caught in a trap, he was
doomed to die. God weighed mankind
in the balances and found him wanting.
However, God did not desire that His
beloved creation should perish
completely. Consequently, God
provided a means by which man could
escape death. First, God extended His
grace toward mankind. He reached out
for man since man could not reach out
to Him.
Next, He allowed mankind to respond
in faith to His wonderful gift of grace.
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He gave mankind a choice as to
whether or not they would follow Him.
God then revealed the fullness of His
plan for the salvation of mankind.
God gave clear instructions about
how mankind could escape the
tentacles of sin’s grasp. He did not
frustrate man by telling him to do
something without explanation. Man’s
obedience to God’s redemptive plan
made possible the restoration of his
relationship with God.
It was not enough that Noah believed
I.God.
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in
It was notWorld
enough that he
believed that God would do what He
said He would do. Noah had to obey
God’s plan. This process—God’s
extension of grace, man’s response in
faith, God’s revelation of the salvation
plan, and man’s obedience to that
plan—allows mankind to fulfill his
purpose in creation through
relationship and communion with God.
A. Grace
A. Grace
Genesis 6 reveals the wickedness
of the world during those days.
Genesis 6:8, however, relates a
turning point in the story of Noah.
This verse stands out as a shining
jewel amongst descriptions of a sincentered world. The Bible states, “But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord.” The key word of the verse is
“grace.”
J. R. Ensey’s New Cyclopedic
Theological Dictionary describes grace
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as, “God’s compassion and favor, the
empowerment to perform His will, and
the strength to do what is right in
difficult circumstances.”
God extended His grace to Noah,
and then He empowered Noah to
perform His will by giving him the
blueprints for building the ark. God
also gave Noah strength—physical
strength to build the ark and spiritual
strength to preach to the world’s
inhabitants and not lose sight of his
mission.
ten simpleWorld
words found in verse
I. The
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eight describe the grace that Noah
found, but they also reveal the grace of
God available to us today. God has
called us to salvation and a life of
holiness, and only His grace can
enable us to experience that calling.
Through the grace of God, sin no
longer has control over us.
Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not
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have
you: for ye are not
under the law, but under grace.”
However, grace is not all we need to
experience God’s redemption. Paul
clearly stated in Ephesians 2:8, “For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God.” Mankind also must have faith in
God’s grace and take action based
upon that faith.
B. Faith
B. Faith
The focus of Hebrews 11 is faith.
The chapter begins with the
fundamental definition of faith: “Now
faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen”
(Hebrews 11:1). There is substance to
faith; it is not an empty thought, but a
decision to believe accompanied by
proof of action.
Hebrews
11:7
“By faith Noah, being warned of
God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to
the saving of his house; by the
which he condemned the world,
and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith”
(Hebrews 11:7).
Noah believed that God would do
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what
said He would
do;
consequently, his faith motivated him
to take action. Noah’s faith in God’s
spoken word, coupled with his action
of building the ark, facilitated his
salvation and the salvation of his
family. This relationship between
mental assent and physical action
appears succinctly in James 2:17:
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is
dead, being alone.”
Since the beginning of time, man
has longed to learn about faith. He has
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talked about it. He has studied it. He
has evaluated it. However, many
individuals have incorrectly equated
faith with simply thinking—mental
assent. However, mankind cannot
“think faith.” He must “act faith.”
Genuine faith necessitates action. This
is clear when one examines Hebrews
11. In every case, the subject either
took action or received action through
their faith. Abel offered. Abraham
obeyed. Isaac blessed. Joseph made
mention. Moses forsook.
Others subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, and
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stopped the mouths of lions. Faith
requires action!
Christians often wait to act until
they have mustered the faith necessary
to perform God’s will. What they fail to
understand is that if they would act,
then the faith would follow. Noah
understood this principle. What saved
Noah, his family, and ultimately the
human race was his action, not his
thoughts.
C. Plan and Provision
C.InPlan
and
Provision
His goodness, God provided a
plan by which Noah and his family
could be saved from the impending
flood. In Genesis 6:18, God told Noah,
“But with thee will I establish my
covenant; and thou shalt come into the
ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife,
and thy sons’ wives with thee.” This
act of God’s grace reveals that even
after God pronounced judgment He
was willing to rescue those who
desired to live for Him.
God’s plan of deliverance was an ark: a
massive, floating fortress designed to
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house Noah, his family, the world’s
animals, and supplies.
God told Noah exactly how to build
the ark. It was to be a three-story boat
made of gopher wood. Noah was to
cover the inside and outside with pitch
to waterproof it. It measured
approximately 450 feet long, 75 feet
wide, and 45 feet high, resulting in a
volume of about 1.5 million cubic feet.
It had one window and one door.
God has always made a way for the
righteous
to be saved.
First, He
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established the pattern by saving Noah
and his family with the ark. He later
provided the Law to Moses and the
people of Israel. This Law sanctified
the people in God’s eyes. Both of these
vehicles for salvation simply pointed to
God’s master plan for the redemption
of all mankind: clothing Himself in
flesh, dying for His creation, and living
in the hearts of mankind through the
Holy Ghost.
Just as He did with Noah, God
provides us with the blueprints
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necessary for our salvation. Noah’s
blueprints were spoken words and a
physical boat that housed God’s
creation. The blueprints for our
salvation involve receiving God’s
written Word and embracing the Son of
God, who housed God’s Spirit. When
we obey the Scriptures, God will
inhabit us and save us from our sins.
D. Obedience
D.
Obedience
It is not enough that God provided a
way of escape for Noah; he had to
obey God and follow His plan. Genesis
6:22 says, “Thus did Noah; according
to all that God commanded him, so did
he.” Noah did exactly what God told
him to do. What would have happened
if Noah had decided not to build an
ark? All of mankind would have
perished. Yet Noah obeyed God and
became the instrument by which God
preserved all life on earth.
Individuals often seek to understand
why God has asked them to do
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something a certain way. Perhaps they
think their way is easier or better.
However, it is not our place to seek to
understand why God has required
certain things of us; it is our duty only
to obey. Obedience is essential. I
Samuel 15:22 instructs us, “To obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams.” It matters little
what we say or do for God if it is not
said or done with specific obedience;
without obedience our work is for
naught.
There is no substitute for man’s
explicit obedience to God.
I. Adam
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and Eve disobeyed God and
were expelled from Paradise. Jesus
Christ obeyed, however, and
voluntarily gave Himself on the cross,
thereby opening the way of redemption
to all mankind. Romans 5:19 states,
“For as by one man’s disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made
righteous.” Jesus’ obedience made a
way whereby we may become
righteous through Him.
His
obedience
us to become
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what we could not have become
otherwise. When we obey the plan of
Jesus Christ, we allow God to work
through us and accomplish His
salvation within us.
A Message for Today
III. A Message for Today
The story of Noah and the Flood is
not merely a history lesson. It is a
physical Old Testament example of a
spiritual New Testament principle.
Obviously, Noah’s actions saved his
family from physical death. I Peter 3:20
makes this clear: “When once the
longsuffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight
souls were saved by water.”
However, Noah’s actions did more
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than
himself.
They laid the
foundation for God to establish in type
water baptism as part of the New
Testament plan of salvation, which the
next verse reveals. “The like figure
whereunto even baptism doth also now
save us (not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God,) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter
3:21).
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there is
a strong correlation
between the account of Noah and the
Flood and our present-day situation.
As it was in Noah’s day, we too live in a
wicked world, and we must be ready
for God’s judgment. We must obey
God’s plan of salvation through
repentance, water baptism in Jesus’
name, and reception of the Holy Ghost.
A. Comparison to the End Times
A. Comparison
to
the
End
Times
The elements in the story of the
Flood are applicable to us today. For
instance, we could find applications in
the condition of the world, the
longsuffering of God, the extension of
God’s grace, God’s plan of salvation,
mankind’s acceptance of the salvation
plan, and God’s judgment. Just as the
world’s inhabitants were wrapped up in
their own affairs and oblivious to the
Flood until it was too late, so are many
people of this era selfishly involved
only in their own lives.
The Bible declares in Matthew 24:37I. A
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39,
“But
as the days
of Noe were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of
man be. For as in the days that were
before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark, and knew not until
the flood came, and took them all
away; so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be.”
“The earth also was corrupt before
Genesis
6:11-13
God, and
the earth
was filled with
violence. And God looked upon the
earth, and, behold, it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted his way
upon the earth. And God said unto
Noah, The end of all flesh is come
before me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the
earth” (Genesis 6:11-13).
Genesis 6:11-13 accurately depicts
the conditions of the world today. Wars
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have littered the past one hundred
years. Every decade has seen
bloodshed, struggle, and strife. Sadly,
what many individuals once deemed
wicked and evil now is accepted as
normal. Still, God has been
longsuffering and has extended His
grace to mankind. He has reached for
man in a powerful way, resulting in
great revival. He has been merciful,
pouring out His Spirit to all who will
receive it.
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World salvation to
He
offers
New Testament
mankind through repentance of sins,
water baptism in Jesus’ name for the
remission of sins, and the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Through the new birth we
become part of the church—an ark of
safety from God’s pending judgment
on this world.
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten
thousands of his saints, to execute
Jude
14-16
judgment upon all, and to convince all
that are ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
committed, and of all their hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against him. These are
murmurers, complainers, walking after
their own lusts; and their mouth
speaketh great swelling words, having
men’s persons in admiration because of
advantage”
(Jude 14-16).
I.With
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strong language Jude warned
of the judgment of God to come on this
world. It would be foolish to ignore the
clarion warning of Scripture. God will
judge the world, and we will have only
one opportunity to be ready.
B. Call to Be Ready
B.
Call
to
Be
Ready
We do not know when Jesus Christ
will return for His church, so we must live
for Him faithfully each day. In Matthew
24:42-44 Jesus warned, “Watch
therefore: for ye know not what hour
your Lord doth come. But know this, that
if the goodman of the house had known
in what watch the thief would come, he
would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such
an hour as ye think not the Son of man
cometh.”
Peter warned believers, “But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the
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night; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up. Seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements shall melt with fervent
heat?” (II Peter 3:10-12).
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Jesus Christ is coming again
and it is our responsibility to
answer His call to be ready for
His appearance.
Internalizing The Message
B.
Call
to
Be
Ready
Prior to the Flood, people were
consumed with thoughts of pleasing
themselves. However, God was
longsuffering with the world in that
day, and He gave mankind time to
repent. In the end, though, only Noah
and his family accepted God’s grace
and plan of salvation. God’s plan of
salvation involved an ark large enough
to house Noah’s family and
representatives of all the world’s
animals.
Noah obeyed God and built the ark
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exactly
to God’s specifications,
all the
while preaching to the world’s
inhabitants. When the time came, the
animals entered the ark and Noah
gathered his family aboard.
God brought a terrible flood upon all
the earth, destroying every human and
every air-breathing animal that was not
in the safety of the ark. While some
doubt the historicity of the Flood,
geological evidence strongly supports
the biblical account.
Among this evidence are fossils
formed across multiple sedimentary
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layers and the formation of coal
deposits.
We can rely on this story to teach us
not only about the past, but also about
the future. This account, along with
prophetic verses from Matthew’s
Gospel, warns us of the future
judgment of God. It reveals that our
world will be exceedingly wicked prior
to Jesus’ second coming, but it also
describes God’s wonderful grace and
mercy.
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Further,
the Scriptures
point us to the
New Testament plan of salvation,
which is described succinctly in Acts
2:38: repentance of sins, water baptism
in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and receiving the
Holy Spirit.
Noah obeyed God’s plan and
I.
A
Wicked
World
thereby ensured his salvation from
God’s judgment. In like manner, when
we accept God’s New Testament plan
for redemption and obey it, God
exempts us from His judgment to
come. We will be saved from His wrath
if we remain in the shelter and security
of His ark of safety—the church.