Brower, Jonathan: Genesis Bible Study Tape 8 Genesis 5

That the book of Genesis, uh, stops in human history and talks about, and, and that's the subject of Noah. We're going to be with Noah probably the next two or three times together. Very big subject, very important subject to look at, and probably one that really is misunderstood in the day and age that we live in. Let's just read a few verses from chapter five. In chapter five, it says, starting at verse twenty nine, or verse Genesis twenty eight, that Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years and begat a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and our toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord God hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred and 5 and begat sons and daughters. In all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy seven years, and he died, and Noah was five hundred years old. And Noah begat Sham, Ham, and Japheth. Now, just as we said when we looked at creation, we don't want to look at the beginning of the book of Genesis and get bogged down in the details trying to explain creation. Uh, I don't believe that God intended for us to understand all the details of what he did in, in those days of the six days of creation, but it is important to know and to understand that there are certain principles there that are very important, and we looked at those. If you want further looks at those, you even have a ministry close by here in Greensboro that's excellent called six day creation dot com. Have you ever heard of it? Anyway, there's a man here who was a, a, he was a, uh, I see that hand, put it down. I've heard, I've heard He's creation. He's he he the man was a an atheist. He was an evangelical atheist. He actually is a professor. He was out preaching, um, evolution and atheism, and he sat down one day and started reading through the scriptures, and he became a Christian, and now he believes in a literal six-day creation. And, uh, he's out, he dialogues, he he does national programs. It, once again, it's sixdaycreation dot com. It's a website, you go on there and you can click. It's a it's a great website. You can get, he lists materials there, he lists, he puts audio there, you can listen to it, he has questions there. Uh, for instance, people asking questions, uh, concerning why must it be six literal days? Why must there be twenty four hour periods? Why can't there be that long gap in between, uh, which would, would then allow evolution and creation to go hand in hand, and they're very important things to really get a grasp on. So anyway, you can look at those if you want. But we've been looking at Adam, and then we looked at Cain, and now we're going to look at Noah. And the reason I say Noah's going to take us some time is because, number one, Noah takes up a lot of scripture. Even Ezekiel, if you can believe that, in chapter fourteen names him, uh, with Job and, uh, who is it, Jonah? No, not Jonah. Daniel. Daniel, excuse me. My mind went, why would he name him with Jonah? I don't understand that. But anyway, he does, he names him there. And then you go to Hebrews and you go to other portions of the Lord's ministry, a- and you'll find this, you'll find that, that, uh, Noah's mentioned over and over again. Uh, I traveled for over the past twenty years on and off with an older man. He's an evangelist, and you could wake him up at any time of the night, he'd preach on Noah. He had all the dimensions, he had all the words, he had, matter of fact, in chapter five, he uh, he could preach a whole sermon on the names and their meanings of their names in chapter five in the Hebrew. And all those names in chapter five and those generations do have, uh, specific meanings in the Hebrew, and they, and it does spell out a great message. But what happens is this, we always hear and portray the study of Noah as one of the gospel and how to be saved. Now, we need to be very careful when we do that, because if we do that, what we're saying is this, that it is possible to teach from the life of Noah that you can be saved by what you do because Noah prepared the ark, and therefore, in preparing the ark, he saved his family and himself. When in essence, you find that Noah was actually a believer before he got in the ark, and it's going to be important for us to see that. And so what we want to do, and I'm not saying you can't look at his life and and use it, it's a very applicable to that. You can use it, but we want to look at the intent, and the Spirit of God, I believe his intent, and when he goes and he says, now let's look at Adam, and then he flips over and he says, now let's look at Cain, and then when he gets to chapter five, he says, well, the here, these are the lineages. Actually, in chapter four, he gives the ungodly lineages, doesn't he? He talks about the, uh, the the descendants of, uh, Cain and and those descendants of Cain, and then he starts flipping over in chapter five and he says, now this man begat this man, begat this man, begat this man, begat this man. Then all of a sudden he says, now let's stop. We're going to look at Noah, because Noah is very important. Right at the very beginning of the word of God, God wants us to know something, and it's in the life of Noah. Now, the first thing we need to do is this, we need to realize what is his name? What does his name mean? When we name our children Noah, as some people do, what does the name Noah mean in the Hebrew. N-O-A-H. I- it's translated in four letters also. Rest. Rest. Rest. Down in, look at chapter five again, it says in verse twenty nine, and he called his name literally rest, saying, the same shall comfort us, rest, concerning the work of our hands, our work and the toil of our hands because of the curse of the ground. Now, Noah is going to be a picture. That verse tells us the very intent of the Spirit of God in stopping and saying, we're going to look at Noah. He's going to teach us two things, how to have rest from the toil of life and how to enjoy resurrection life that gets us over the curse. We live in a cursed earth. We live in a on on on terra firma, yes, but it's it's cursed. There are results of the fall. Back in Genesis chapter three, we saw that God said, because of what's happened, the earth will do this, and the earth won't do that. There's limitations, there's weeds, there's... I mean, even when Cain, when Cain did his thing and rebelled, God said to Cain, even worse now, now everything you do with the earth is concerned. It's just been going downhill and downhill and downhill. And that's one of the things that we need to realize. Noah is going to be a picture to us how a person living in this cursed earth can overcome the curse of this earth and the toil of that curse. That's why his name is Rest. He's going to be a picture, brethren, of how we enter into the rest of God. Now, it's very important to understand that, because if we don't understand that, we're going to miss the very intent for his life. And so we're, we, we just need to stop and really look at his life. What we want to do, first of all, is we want to, we want to fly over this real quick, and we want to answer some questions, raise some questions, do some little background work, and then what we're going to do is come back probably the next time together, or maybe even tonight if we go that far, and we want to, we want to look at the events of his life, because the events of the li- his life and everything that happens to him or he is doing, as it begins and ends, that teaches us a principle. That when it talks about building the ark, that's a principle. And when it talks about the fact that he sends out a dove and a raven, and only the dove comes back, then he sends out a dove and it comes back with a, with an olive twig in its mouth or whatever. And then he sends him out a third time, and it goes away. That teaches us spiritual principle. And then the very fact that he gets off, and when he goes out, God hangs his bow in the clouds. That's going to be a principle on how we overcome the curse of this earth. And then we find the very last thing is that he falls into sin. And we're going to find out that although we can overcome the curse of the, the world and, and the earth and the toil of it, that God very objectively lets you know that even though you can, you're going to have times in your walk with him that you're going to fail and come short. And I like the honesty of the word of God. God, this word is very honest, and that's why people who aren't Christians have a problem with it. Because if I wrote the Bible, I would have written it without any blemishes, without anything wrong, anything that man did, I would have just done it that way. But yet in every one of these biblical men and women that are recorded in the Bible, God records them warts and all. In other words, what you see is there's only one persec- perfect human being who ever lived, and that's Jesus Christ when he lived on this earth. And that gives us great comfort and gives us great hope. Now, when we open up in chapter six, it looks as if Satan wins another great victory, and we need to stop for just a moment and talk about this principle. There are times in our walk with the Lord that it appears as though the enemy is winning. It's already happened. We've already learned about it in Genesis. Remember what happened in Genesis chapter one and two? God came to Adam and Eve, and that God said, now I'm going to put this tree in the middle, and you're not going to touch and eat of this tree, but of all the other trees you can freely eat. That means, just think about it, they could eat ninety nine percent of the other, everything that's in the garden, and it says this, you could freely eat. In other words, you could pig out. You didn't have to worry about your weight, just go, just eat and have, eat to your heart's content. And God said this, but the day that you eat of the tree that's in the midst, you're going to have a problem. You're going to die. Now, the Genesis three, we saw this, that the devil comes along and he says, you won't surely die. God knows that the day you eat of that, you're going to be like him, and he's a jealous God. He doesn't really care about your well-being. He does wisdom, doesn't really love you in his wisdom. And you know what? He has selfish motives. And what we find is this, that they took of it, first her and then him, and when they ate it, they looked, they thought, wow, we didn't die physically. And it looked at that moment, and it looks at that po- moment when you read through that, hey, the devil's won. It- God isn't doing what he said until you examine the Hebrew and you, and you realize this, that it's in plurals, the day you eat, dying, thou shalt die. In other words, there's a spiritual death that happened right away. We know that because they hid from God, and there was alienation and separation. And then there was physical death that would take place over a time period. But there are times in your walk with the Lord that it looks just like, you know, God's lost and the devil's won, and, you know, God's a liar and the devil's true. And the reason I say that is because when you open up in Genesis chapter six, you'll find this, that it came to pass, verse one, when man began to multiply on the face of the earth, and the daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and bare children to them, that the same were mighty men of old, men of renown, renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his thought was continually, the thought was evil continually, and it grieved or repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. Now, it looks like he's won there for... You have to realize when we read this, we didn't read chapters four and five to lead into it. But here's basically what happens, if you'll mind, I'll go back to it. In the garden, you have one family. In the garden, as far as recorded, you have Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Abel's killed by Cain, and then Seth is born, and then we have the genealogies. But before we have that, God cast Cain out, and he says to them, you're getting out of here. You're not going to have any part of this. He left the presence of God, the protection of God, the purposes of God, uh, the provision of God, and he said before everyone else, this is more than I can bear. This is too great for me. And he left. And as he left, in his rebellious, sinful heart, he just made this plan. We're going to go somewhere and set up our own society. In chapter four, we saw this. He said, we'll go out and make cities, and in those cities we develop this culture, and we develop all kinds of the ologies, you know, the i- i- in industry, and he, and and and they named the cities after his children, and then he started to flourish, and you have the generations on Cain's side, and they're ungodly men. You read that chapter and you'll find this. They were proud men, they were polygamists, uh, they killed people and wrote songs about it. They were self-centered. They were, in essence, rebellious and shaking their hand against God, and that's Cain's lineage. But then all of a sudden, the end of chapter four, you'll find that, uh, Eve bears another son to replace Abel, and now this son is a godly son. Men start to call upon the name of the Lord, and what we find in chapter five is this godly lineage now. We find men who walked with God and who are translated. We find men who preached as they lived their life. We find, we find exactly what Genesis three fifteen says, that there'll be a seed of the serpent and a seed of the woman who is the mother of all living, who is Eve, and she's a m- the mother of those who are faithful. Her, she, she said, she confessed her sin, and she repented, and, and God said, okay, now we're going to go on. And what you find is this, at that moment, those two sides were cleanly drawn. It's as if everybody had uniforms on. In other words, we knew who was on whose team. So you could just, uh oh, there's a blue jersey over there, stay away from them, they don't have the white jerseys on. And everybody knew everybody, and it was just straight. Now, we come to chapter six, and what we find is this, great dialogues, and I'm not an expert on this about the Nephilim, and who were they? Were they angels that came down, and were they... The point is this, Satan's tool is always mixture. And Satan will always use in his mixture things that appeal to the flesh and to the senses, not what is spiritually a priority. So it says this, that he saw that the daughters of men were fair. Ooh, is that strange? Go for the looks, go for the eye. Doesn't it remind you, and it should remind you, what we're going to see when we see Jacob's life? And Jacob starts to run from Esau, and he sees two sisters. One, it says, was a vavum vavum in Hebrew, literally. She was well favored, it says. I mean, physically means she, whoa, she's, she was there. And it says the other one was weak-eyed. In other words, she had big glasses. She looked like Urkel said, can I do that? You know, that's what it literally means in the Hebrew. And so it says this, he liked the one that was vavum vavum. But God was saying through the deception, take the other one. Why? Because she was fruitful. The vavum vavum couldn't bear children. And there's a spiritual principle there. You as a Christian go after the things that appeal to the fle- the flesh and the senses. They might be vavum vavum, but in the long run, you'll never have any fruit in the spiritual realm. That's true. But if you go after the things, and they might not appeal to the flesh, but if they're what God says are spiritual, then you go after those, and you keep them separate. Now, we even saw in the days of creation that God was separating. Remember on the second day, he separated the things, what? Above from the things below. God wants separation. But here comes the devil, and what he does is he says this, we'll mix. So it's as if he took two sets of cards and just shuffled them. And now, now all of the human society in chapter six is just totally, just totally, uh, mixed together. And so what we find is this, it looks like the devil won. Really does. I mean, it just looks, when you look at that and you read a verse like verse five, when it says that God saw the wickedness of man on the earth and that every imagination and thought of his heart was evil continually. That is a tr- tr- terrible verse. In other words, there wasn't one thought that was directed towards anything pure or holy. It was all selfish, it was all the flesh, it was all me, myself, and I, and leave me alone. And it sounds, doesn't it, just like, what is God doing? Is God asleep up there? Now we need to make, and that's why we need a bird's eye view and a look at what, you know, from chapter five twenty eight to nine twenty nine, because we need to realize that's a book in itself. The life of Noah is a book in itself. And there's some things here we need to clear up. The first one we find is this. Look at chapter six, verses six, seven, and twelve. It repented the Lord that he made man, and it grieved him. And the Lord said, I will destroy man. Verse twelve, and God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, and all fel- flesh corrupted his way upon the, his earth, upon the earth. Now, the first thing we need to realize, if you were to look at Numbers twenty three nineteen, you don't have to, but you'll find verses like there and other places where it talks about the fact that God is not a man that he should repent. The word for us repent, it comes in many different forms in the Greek and many different forms in the Hebrew. It literally means to think differently. It means to turn one hundred and eighty degrees in your thought process. And what God says is this, that he's not a man that he has to at times go, uh-oh, where am I going? You know, I'll do that. Matter of fact, I think that happened yesterday when we were driving somewhere. We were driving somewhere to go eat, and I went past the restaurant to another place, and when I got there, I just looked at Betty and said, I forgot where I was going. I was going back there, and I saw this, decided to come here, but I don't want to eat here. And we turned around, went somewhere. That's never what God does. God didn't look down and say, man, what did I make Jerry for? I made a big mistake. He doesn't look down and say, what did I, what did I create, Beth? If I would have known what Beth was going to do all this time. See, it's equal, equal rights. We, we get that. Everyone else is ducking. Nobody else wants to. But, you know, there are times when we think that, you know, God is shocked by s- God, you know, when it says that God is not a man that he should repent or change his mind, it means this, that God never is shocked. God knows everything before it happens, and God has a plan. So the first thing we need to clarify is this. What does he mean in, in chapter six there when it says it repented him? You need to realize, uh, that, that there, that God is a spirit, and it says that no man can see God, and that's why God manifested himself in different ways and the his glory in different ways, pillars and clouds and faces shining and his hinder parts passing by and, and becoming a man. Why, why the Son of God became a man so you could see God in the flesh and you could see. But God, in order to convey to us who are very physical, very speaks in terms that are physical. He uses animal terms about himself. In Psalm ninety one, it talks about, uh, under the shadow of his wing. His wing? So God's Pegasus up there, and he's just a big horse with wings, just, and people have these weird ideas when, when in essence, that's not what he's talking about. So God uses, how do they say, anthropomorphic terms? In other words, terms that of that deal that we can deal with. He applies them to himself so that we can relate and he can relate to us. When it, when it talks about repenting here, uh, and I looked it up, it is the word in, in the Hebrew that means grieved and pierced. It is a strong term of emotion. It means his heart was just ripped. The opposite, and it the same word in the Hebrew can be translated in a positive way, is is the word comforted. In he- when we looked, when we read in chapter five about Noah, verse twenty nine, it says, we'll call his name Noah, saying this same shall comfort. That word comfort there is the same word for for for repented or grieved in the other verse. Same exact word. God is just trying to tell us the positive side of the strong emotion is that God can step in and give you a positive boost to comfort you. At the same time, it can have a negative side where you get a positive burst of emotion or negative ver- verse, burst of emotion that can pierce you through. So what God isn't saying, Go- God, 108 times that phrase appears, and it doesn't mean that God had a change of mind and said, what did I, what did I make man for? Listen, God, God chose... If somebody was to come to you tonight, or maybe you're here and you're not a Christian, and maybe you don't believe the Bible's the word of God, and maybe you have this question. Somebody comes to you and says, if God knew man was going to sin, why did God still make man? What, what do you say? You say, go find the elders and ask them? What do you say? I mean, the only, you know the, the, you know the perfect answer is Joseph. Joseph said this to his brethren. Don't be grieved in your own heart, but realize this, the only way I could be here today to be a blessing to you is the way that God chose me and the path God gave me to walk. Now watch, God deci- God wanted to bring many sons to glory. God decreed a decree one day that he would bring many people into his presence who would be in the image of God the Son. And the only way and the best way he could do it was the way of redemption. He would reveal... when somebody comes to me and say, why? I say this, because it's the best way that God could reveal himself to stupid people like us. It's the best way. And so what you'll find is this, when it comes to these terms like grieved, realize this, it, when you read the word here, repent, it doesn't mean that God had a change of mind and thought, oh man, these human beings, they're doing things I never planned on before, I wish I'd never made them. That's not what it means. God is trying to re- make you realize this. In Second Corinthians chapter one, he ca- he's called the God of all comfort. He's the father of all mercies, tender heart feelings, it means. We have this idea that God's sitting up there on the throne. He has no idea of what emotions we go through down here. That is wrong. Who gave you your emotions? Who created you with your emotions? You need to realize something. When it says that God in the heavens laughs, he laughs. I've heard people say God never laughs, neither should Christians. You walk around with the joy of the Lord, and people start su- suspecting something. What's wrong with them? What do they do? They can't, a man said one time, that girl can't be really repentant, she's smiling. What, what is that? Maybe, maybe we need to repent and start smiling. That's maybe what we should do. Listen, God is the Father, he's the author, the issuer of emotions. Now, ours are tainted by sin. Ours work at the wrong time and do things when they shouldn't do things, they deceive us, but God's never. It says that God is grieved here in chapter six. He's trying to convey this thought that when he looked down and saw how this mixture had taken place and the effect worldwide that it had, that he couldn't find anyone good, it grieved his heart. And that would re- that grieving of his heart was because he now knows and knew that the part that he wouldn't like to do is the d- the judgment that has to come on the face of the earth. Do you know that God takes no pu- pleasure in punishing the wicked? We do. A man, I was going to travel one time with this evangelist, I told you about, his brother was at the house. His brother's with the Lord now, but his brother was at the house, and he'd had a stroke, but he was the kind of guy, when we were leaving in the car, he'd stand at the front door and go, go get those sinners, go get those sinners, you know. Well, you know, smite them good, you know. God, God, God doesn't take any pleasure in punishing the wicked. And matter of fact, he doesn't take any pleasure in disciplining his children. The prophet Isaiah called it God's strange work. In other words, it wasn't common, it wasn't something that God's nature enjoys. It's like something he does because he has to, but he does. It's like when your parents used to say, this is going to hurt me more than you, and you're like, yeah, right. But with God, it's true. It grieves him. He looks down and he realized now there's going to be a universal flood. And by the way, that's just something we need to establish right at the start too. It was a universal flood. There are people that say, well, no, it was only in the Mediterranean. But you know, the proof is, if you look at eight twenty one and nine eleven, in eight twenty one it says, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground for anymore for my, for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite anymore every, every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, this will happen. Every living thing like I've just done. In chapter nine verse eleven, I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more from the waters of the flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. God is saying it was a flood, it was a terrible flood. Um, it the it the in chapter seven, verse eleven, it says, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, and in the second month, and the and day of the mon- seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. It says that Noah entered into the ark. I mean, this was a terrible, terrible, uh, flood. In seven twenty, it says fifteen cubits upward or over the, the top of the mountains, it was covered by fifteen cubits. Now, do you how much, do you know how much fifteen cubits is? It's roughly twenty-something something feet, twenty feet, twenty-two feet. Think about it. From the, from the top of the highest mountain, Mount Everest, let's say, there was another twenty feet of water over it. And that is, and, and that is, this has been the argument between evolutionists and creationists over the years. Evolutionists believe that the canyons that you see around you and the riverbeds that you see around you were made over m- uh, myriads of years and small amount of water, where the Bible says it was made in a short time by a large amount of water. And that's where the debate has been, but it it it prevailed for, imagine this, according to verse twenty four of chapter seven, five months, one hundred and fifty days it remained. Think about that. Churning and swirling, and and I mean, just think about it. It was a terrible, terrible, um, disaster. It was judgment on the face of the earth. Now, remember again, this is judgment against, um, the mixture that Satan had brought about. Now, let's just say one thing too about Noah, just so you understand this. There was nothing intrinsic in Noah that Noah deserved to go through and be preserved and not be judged. I hope you understand that. When you read in chapter six that the thoughts of a human heart and imaginations, and then it says in verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and that the generations of Noah were a ju- he was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with the Lord. You need to notice the the order of those verses. It does not say Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, walking with God, so that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord in an evil and wicked generation. Do you understand what I'm saying? If it did, then Noah, by his own lifestyle and his works, would have deserved to be in the ark. He would have never found grace. The fact that it says God gave, uh, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord reminds us that Noah, listen, was part of verse five when God saw everyone but Noah, when God saw the imaginations of everyone but Noah, when God saw the thoughts of everyone but Noah, or does it say... What does it say? Come on now. We're gonna have ice cream, so let's just perk it up. Everybody. Now watch. Here's a wicked generation, but God, because of his grace, maintains a remnant through it. God looks down, he find- Noah finds grace in the eyes of Allah. Grace is this, God's, uh, merits, God's blessings, even when we don't deserve it. That's it's, but it's also, it also comes with a high price because it it's been said God's riches at Christ's expense, GRACE. In other words, every grace that God gives us or gives has given man at any point in human history has been because he knew his son would come and pay to provide for that way that the grace could be freely given. In other words, God's holiness had to be, be answered. God's justice had to be met. But my point is this, is that if it wasn't for the grace of God in Noah's life, he would have ended up the same way. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm not saying that Noah wasn't just in his genera- I'm saying his generations were just and that he was a just man, because verse nine follows verse eight when it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now we need to realize that. That's why Paul said, there but I, but by the grace of God go what? I. I. He knew, I know too, and you better know too, because one of the greatest downfalls that we can have, it develops a, a, a, a, a holier than thou attitude, is when we think that because of something we're doing, we deserve what we're getting before the Lord. Listen, a man stood up one time, and I, I do this all the time. I'll go to a Christian camp, like we were just at Camp Hope for a discipleship camp, and there was a, a staff of elderly people there that I have been harassing for the last three years, and they've been harassing me too. They're from Horton Haven Camp, and they come and volunteer. First year they found out I liked oatmeal, so this year, the third year, every meal I got oatmeal. That was my meal. Every meal. Everyone ate regular stuff. I got mo- oatmeal, and I mean a big bowl of it. But you know what? I ate it, I went on, and I left camp. Probably left them a little startling. But I'd go through the line, and they'd say to me, would you like everything? And I say, I like everything I have coming to me. And I was waiting for somebody to say something to me, but they didn't. I heard a man on TV one time say, look, forget all this pie in the sky stuff, just let God give me what I deserve now. But you know, we as Christians think that. The attitude that says, Lord, why me? Is this how you treat your servant? Lord, why me? Don't you know I'm obeying the word? Lord, why me? Why me? See, what we're saying is, Lord, I deserve something. We need to be very careful. I mean, this word grace is an important word for us to get under our belt. We, we don't deserve anything, and if we have anything, it's by God's grace. Now, that's not to say that God didn't extend his grace to everybody. He does, doesn't he? It's just that people won't respond to it. Noah did. God worked with Noah. We, we know that Noah responded how to God's word? By faith. By faith. And that's how grace is realized, isn't it? What does Peter say? God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the what? Humble. Humble. Humble people come to the word, and when the word says, you know, you're a sinner, what what is it saying? You're needy. You need forgiveness. You need redemption. You need righteousness. You need help. People who are, are, are, are humble say yes, and we accept it. Others say, no, I don't need it, I can do it on my own. And God says, okay, fine. He resists it. Now, we also know that Noah responded by faith, and therefore God in grace could, could make him so that he was a just man and his generations were righteous, because if you look at Hebrews chapter eleven, it gives us the flip side of the coin. In Hebrews chapter eleven, we know everybody in Hebrews chapter eleven that's listed there by name is listed there because of one reason, right? It says, by faith. And we know, verse seven, it says, by faith Noah, being warned of th- of God of things not seen yet, as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he rebuked, condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. We know that Noah was a man who, when God spoke to him, he said yes. That's what faith does. Faith simply says yes. God says it. Yes, I believe it. Yes, it's simple as that. That's what faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Now notice what it says in that verse. That verse has been so one- I remember a few years ago when I looked at that verse and, and God just revealed that to me. I mean, it's different when you read something, you understand it, and you read it, and God makes it real to you. What really is w- spoke to me was this. The order in which the word comes, the teaching comes, the emotions come. We're so afraid of emotions. I mean, I've been, I've been saved in assemblies now since I was saved, thirty years. And I'll tell you this, one of the things that I find is this, we're very, very, uh, afraid of the emotions, because over the years there have been groups who deify emotion. In other words, if you're not emotional, that's it. And so there are some men that you can tell them something funny, they'll start to cry. And if you can't cry, you're not spiritual. And so the other side of the pendulum goes to, well, well, we're just never going to respond emotionally. So somebody preaches the word of God, God speaks to them, and they just sit, well, kind of like you're doing. Good, see, no, that's not true now. You rebuked me because you showed some emotion. You showed some emotion. Now notice the order. It says this, Noah, being warned by God. What that means what? God had a Bible study with him. God said, Noah, sit down, I want to tell you something. The word of God was first. Always, the word of God is the initiator, the motivator, the energizer. It has to come first. It says, being warned of things not yet seen as of yet. Noah acted in fa- faith. No, it says he was afraid. There was fear. Fear. He had an emotion. He said, I- I've got to do something. And so he starts to do something. He prepares an ark. Now watch. Faith always produces an action. It always produces a result. Faith always motive. You can't say that's what all James is about when it says, you know, I have faith, but nothing has ever produced in your life. Notice what happens. God spoke, he believed it, his emotions responded, and then he, his will got into action and said, I'm going to do something about it. Notice the order again. I want you to get it right. The word came, he was enlightened, the emotion came, then his will had to come. Now here's the dangers. I get up here tonight, I went to a, I went to a retreat one time with a coach that, that I coached track with years ago in high s- in uh, George Washington back in ninety and ninety one, and I got kind of deceived into it. I was told it was one thing, but yet it was a different thing. I was told it was a fellowship of Christian Athletes convention, when actually it was his denomination's convention for youth, and he, that way he could get all the guys on the track team and through FCA to come, and anyway, we went. We were there for two days, and for two days, two days, we sang and clapped and sang and clapped and heard personal testimony, sang and clapped, sang and clapped, I mean, for hours. And it wasn't until the very last twenty minutes of the second day that the word came. The emotions were all first. The emotions got people stirred up. The emotions were just flying around there. And I remember people that were standing there going forward before the word ever been preached, because emotionally from the singing, they were excited and want to join in and have a part and go forward, go to the altar. I thought, that's dangerous. It says the word came, they had an emotional response to the teaching of the word through faith, and then his will ha- he had to d- that's the other danger. Man, people hear the word of God, the spirit of God opens their eyes, they have an emotional response, and then they don't exp- they don't do anything. They grieve the spirit of God. Do you realize that's what James calls satanic faith? James calls that satanic faith. We say, no, there's only one kind of faith, saving faith. No, there isn't. There's no faith, there's dead faith, and there's saving faith. In the bu- in the book of James, it says this: For even the devil himself believes in God with fear and trembling. That's the first two parts of the puzzle, isn't it? Then it stops. Don't do anything. He won't do anything with it. His will, he will not bow his will to it. You see, and that's the key. That's what makes the word of God. When I was twenty three, I heard the gospel, I came under conviction, I sweated bullets for, for two weeks until I finally bowed my head in my will and said, yes, Lord, I'm done. I- I'm not fighting anymore. And it's that way, it's got to always be that order. And when it's that order, then the word of God and grace can, can be showered, and grace will be received, and, and you'll find yourself like Paul saying, you know, that I- I'm humble, and, and that's exactly. Now, notice what I'm saying. There's an evil generation. God's word comes to that evil generation. Noah says, I believe. I'm moved. I'm going to do something. Noah believes God. He's he right there, boom. He's the Lord's. Right there, God deals with him. He walks with God. He builds an ark. His life is righteous. It affects his generation. God has a remnant in that wicked and evil generation. But my point is this, if it weren't for the grace of God, Noah would be on the other side too, wouldn't he? Hello. Yeah. Sure he would. Sure he would. So would you. So get excited once in a while, smile, and thank the Lord for where you are. That's the whole point. Okay. So what spiritual lesson do we have in the flood in the context? Let's hit that again before it gets too. There's universal judgment on the curse of the world, and God wants to show us how through that wicked generation, how through that evil world, the toil of our hands, the t- the curse of the earth, that a person can get through that and live a sanctified life. I believe this. I believe that Noah is an Old Testament picture of what Paul brings in detail in the New Testament. I believe he's a picture of sanctification. I think we're going to see that. How does a person, such as we are, yeah, you know, it's one thing to be a Christian, to be saved, but it's another thing to be changed into the image of Christ. Salvation is called justification. You're justified. Then sanctification is the fact that you're being changed daily, moment by moment, into the image of the Lord. And then glorification is one day you will be there one hundred percent. In other words, you there will be. Now you're justified by faith, you are sanctified by faith, and guess what you're going to be glorified by? Yeah, yeah. You know, we have some people that t- they take the teaching about, you know, be prepared because when the Lord comes back, if you're not on a rooftop, your one's going to be taken, the other's going to be left behind, so you better be ready to when the Lord, listen, when the Lord shouts, you're going to go. You're going to go by the grace of God because God's going to do the work. When he, when he comes back and says it's time for my bride to come, we're going to go. Now, I'm not saying that so you don't have to be looking. I, but I realize this, my glorification, for me to be in glory, isn't because I'm going to be in the right place at the right time. Uh, more than likely, some of us won't, and I might be one of you where I'll be doing some or be somewhere where I shouldn't be, but listen, it's the grace of God. And the point is this, how then does he do it? How does he sanctify Noah through this? Number one, part of the part sanctification process is that he brings judgment on the world, that you see in the world that there is part, there is judgment. But then you find, you find this, he does it by putting Noah... in the ark, for one thing. Being in the ark is a picture of what? What great truth? Who is the ark? Uh, what is the ark? Picture of the Lord Jesus. Now watch. What great truth do you have that you cling to every moment? In Christ. In Christ. Christ is in you, and you're in Christ. Union, it's called. So what you're going to find is this. How do we lig- vi- live victorious to the end of the age is this. Number one, you realize you've died and you've risen in Christ. You realize you live by the, by the, by the grace of God. You are heirs of God. And we'll see as some of the principles that we go through, that there are certain truths that God will teach you. Now, in the few minutes we have remaining, I just want to stop for a moment and get you to turn to Revelation chapter two. If there is a truth that I take for granted, and I would say most people in my place, such as you are sitting here tonight. If you're here tonight and you're visiting, I hope you don't s- take from what I am saying tonight from these human lips any kind of spiritual arrogance or any kind of pride from one group over another or from myself to another. But I have been really blessed, and many of you have been too, to be saved and brought where you are, to be taught the things you've been taught. I have been so blessed. I meet people, uh, who are Christians, and I truly believe they're Christians, and yet when I speak to them and I talk to them about things like the Ark, they don't even know who the Ark is. I talk to people about, uh, I talked to a girl whose father was a preacher in town, and she was taken in immorality, and she was a high school student, and I went to talk to her, and I said, you, you know about Bathsheba and David. She said, no, who are they? I mean, we take for granted, all I hear is complaints from people sometimes. We don't get enough. I tell you what, we've got more than we're living up to, and that's, that's, that's the rebuke. Let me, let me just show you something. Revelation chapter one. This is the full and final revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the last book in your Bible. This is where God wants to take you from Genesis, the beginnings, to. He wants to take you from beginnings, that rudimentary, elementary ABCs of being a Christian, from, as it says in Hebrews, the baptisms and principles of Christ, to the full and final revelation of Christ. That's his whole goal, for you to be conformed to the image of Christ. And in that, John writes about this great image, uh, not image, the great vision that he sees, um, of the Lord Jesus. Look at, um... Verse five. And from Jesus, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loves us and washes us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kingdom of priests, unto our God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion. Behold, he comes in the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so come, I am the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lord which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. And I, John, who also am your brother and companion in the tribulation, in the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the testimony of the, of God and for Jesus Christ. And I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great trumpet, or a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, in Ephesus, in Smyrna, in Pergamos, and, and s- and unto Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake unto me, and as I turned, I saw seven golden landel- candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one at like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps of the golden girdle. And his head and his hairs were white like wool and white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet were like unto the fire- fine brass as they burned in a furnace, and his voice was as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun that shineth in his, in his. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and there, there, and then he laid his right hand upon me, saying, fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of death and he- of hell and death. Now, that is a tremendous experience for anybody to see, believe me. When he says he fell down on his feet as dead, and then to see this risen Christ with his hair as white and his eyes aflame and his feet as burnished brass, and I mean, just, uh, just imagine what it was like and, and all the questions that were going through his mind. What does that mean, and what does this mean, and what is that, and what, what are these things, and, and what is the girdle, and what's with the feet, and what's with the hair, and what's with the eyes, and, and what's with the sharp sword out of your mouth, and, I mean, just think of all the questions. And yet, when it says, when it comes to the explanation, what does the Lord Jesus say, now I want you to remember out of everything you've just seen? Look at verse nineteen. Write the things which you've seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. And then in verse twenty is the Lord's explanation of what he wants them to remember out of the vision. Now watch. The mystery of the seven stars, which, no, no, Lord, I want to know about the hair. No, no, no, be quiet. The mystery of the seven stars. No, but Lord, what about the eyes? What about this? Lord, be quiet. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden s- golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks that you saw are the seven churches. Now, the Spirit of God makes no mistakes, and neither does the risen Lord. He says to John, John, take your eyes off the white hair, take your eyes off the r- the the flaming eyes, take your eyes off everything you just saw, the sword and everything else. If you're going to know anything, I want to explain one thing to you, and it's this. Those seven candlesticks are the church, and you've seen me walking in the midst of them. And you've seen me holding in my right hand those same messengers of the seven churches. Now watch. Christ in the midst of the state candlesticks is Christ in you. The messengers in his hand is us in Christ. Oh, listen, the Lord says, look, whatever you do, don't miss this great truth because it's going to get you through. This is what I want you to remember, John. You're in union with me, and I'm in union with you. You're in me, and I'm in you. And the moment you forget that as a Christian, you're going to go off base. So guess what happens in chapter two and three with the seven churches? Every one of them has forgotten that truth. So he goes to each one of those seven churches, and I believe, and here's where I can differ from other people, I believe that every one of those seven churches have a censure. Some people believe that two don't. But listen, he says to Smyrna, stop being afraid. That's a censure. I mean, that's, you've got to be careful. Now, what he's saying is this, every one of you churches have gotten into a spiritual condition that needs a correction because you've taken your eyes off of me, put them back on me, and realize that I'm in you and you're in me. And I'll tell you this, every time we as a Christian take our eyes off that truth, we're going to go wrong somewhere down the road, either doctrinally or morally in our conduct or somewhere. That truth, we're going to forget it. Now watch. I'm in Christ is sanctification. The day I believed and the day you believed and trusted in Christ, guess what happened? The Spirit of God, I should say the Lord Jesus baptized you in the Spirit, put you into the Spirit, and listen, that placed you into Christ. That happened. Now you're in Christ. So everything that was Christ was, is, and will be is yours. Everything. His life, his death, his resurrection, and where he is now, it's all yours. That's right, that's called substitution. So that when God the Father sees me now, listen, he doesn't see me, he sees the Lord Jesus. I'm in. But it's one thing to be forgiven and to be justified, but it's another thing to be sanctified in living the same life. So he then puts inside of us his life, that is Christ in us, so that now that life can live, so that we can not only be forgiven and all the negatives taken away, but now the positive righteousness that pleases the Father can be available through us too. And that's the wonderful truth we've got to remember. And that truth links us together. He's saying to these seven churches, you need to re- you've all taken your eyes off of this truth. You are what you are because of me. What you ever will be will be because of the Lord Jesus. That's why I say when I'm me, I'm speaking for the Lord. And so put your eyes back on me. So in the opening of every one of those seven books, he says, now say unto this church, I am. Ephesus, what did that, we'll just look how it works out. At Ephesus in chapter two, verse one, what does he say to them? He says, to Ephesus, write this, I am he that holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks in the midst. You know what he's saying to Ephesus? Now watch, this is so wonderful. Ephesus, listen, you've forgotten this truth. I'm the one you're in, and you're the one I'm in. So what- what's their censure? Although you have all this activity, guess what you've forgotten? Me. I mean, even Smyrna, the church that was suffering and had so many positive things. Look at what he says to him, verse eight. Say to the church at Smyrna, I am the first and the last which was dead and now is alive. Why? Because listen, Smyrna, the only- listen, the worst thing that can happen to you when you suffer is you're dead. But listen, you're in me, and I'm in you, and guess what? I've already dead, died, and I'm alive. I mean, wh- that's the remedy. And so the every remedy for every one of the seven churches is get your eyes back on the Lord and realize the truth of union. You're in Christ, and Christ is in you. And in this world we live in, in this rat race, and in this fast pace that we live in, it takes our mind off that truth, and we forget that truth. And when we do, we become s- spiritually sidetracked somewhere down the line. I mean, it's terrible. I mean, just think about it. You have within you the power, the ability to please God in every area of your life, just like the Lord Jesus did, because the very life of Christ is available to you. Hm. It's condemning, isn't it? Now, so did Noah. But guess what? Noah's going to fail because God is real. He knoweth our frame that we're but of the dust, and he wants us to realize that although Noah was a great man, listen, so, and so will you if you allow grace to affect your life and you live under the truth that you're in Christ and Christ in you, that they're going to be, there's going to be times when you take your eyes off, and God knows that you're going to fail. It's not a perfect existence. But boy, listen, we've got to get back to this basic truth. Listen, this truth of revelation and union in New Testament is al- already back in the very first chap- in the very sixth chapter of the first book of the Bible, about being in the ark. And we sing it all the time. I'm in the ark, hallelujah, I'm in the ark, just, you know, I mean, and we don't even realize what we're saying. We don't even reali- realize the depth of that truth. That is a wonderful truth, but it's only the start. Now let's just make it practical as we close. We've got two minutes. Noah means rest, and if we're going to rest, that truth, you have to rest in that truth. I can't tell you how many believers, and you might be one of them, there might be somebody here tonight or somebody that hears this tape, that just flogs yourself to death over something, and you're not enjoying the rest of God, and you just won't forgive yourself. Well, you need to look back onto this truth. You're not accepted because of who you are and what you've ever done. You're in Christ. You're accepted because the Father sees you in Christ. And listen, there are some Christians that aren't enjoying the rest of God because w- we're not, we feel inept, and we're not actually obeying and doing things God wants because we've taken our eyes off the fact that, that Christ is in us. That now all things have passed away. That bit about the raven and the birds and the li- you know what that truth is? I'm trying to, I'm getting ahead of myself, but that's okay. Listen, the raven was a picture of the old. Ravens were unclean. Ravens were a sign of death and the old things. Listen, it never came back after the judgment. Behold, all things are gone. What? Dead. And then listen, the dove comes back with a new little branch. Behold, all things are new. That's a wonderful truth. You know, the hardest person to forgive is yourself. Man, there's so many Christians I know flogging themselves over things the Lord Jesus already forgiven them for. It's time to to buckle up and get going on and look at the truth. Listen, I'm in Christ, and Christ is in me, and I'm not going to be, I'm not going to go under the judgment of God, and I can live a sanctified life. That's all the way back in Genesis chapter six. God's trying to tell people that. You're in the ark, enjoy it. I wonder if Noah enjoyed himself in the ark. What do you think? I tell you, I've been in boats before, and I've been out in storms in the boats, but there never was a storm like that when the heavens opened and came down, and the earth opened, and the water came up from the inside, and that thing must have bobbed around. But I don't know. I bet you God gave him a, just a peace. Really. He had to have, because, listen, he built the ark. He was trusting God. Listen, it, Paul was writing to Thessalonians, he said this, the God of peace grants you peace in all things. Think about that verse. You know what he's saying? The God who is peace grants you peace in all things. You know what he's saying? Where does your peace come from? God giving himself to you. The God who is peace grants you peace. You're in Christ, and Christ is in you. Let's pray.