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Voddie Baucham - The Flood · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm continually amazed as we commit ourselves to
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Speaker 1: reading systematically through the Scriptures. I'm continually amazed as we
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Speaker 1: see God putting things together, as our systematic reading and
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Speaker 1: our systematic preaching sort of overlap from time to time.
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Speaker 1: We just happen to be in Exodus right now, and
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Speaker 1: we just happen to be in Revelation right now. And
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Speaker 1: we just happen to be talking about the justice of
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Speaker 1: God as we read through Exodus. And we see the
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Speaker 1: justice and judgment of God in the law. And then
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Speaker 1: we just happen to be in Revelation right now talking
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Speaker 1: about the wrath of God being poured out. And oh,
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Speaker 1: by the way, we have arrived today at Genesis chapter 7. Amen?
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Speaker 1: Where we see the wrath of God poured out. And
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Speaker 1: I want you to understand something. Never in the history
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Speaker 1: of the world before Genesis 7 or after Genesis 7
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Speaker 1: has anyone ever seen anything like the event we're about
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Speaker 1: to read about today. Grasp that for one moment, if
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Speaker 1: you would. Never before the days of Noah and the
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Speaker 1: flood Had anyone seen anything of this magnitude ever, ever,
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Speaker 1: or even imagined anything of this magnitude? Never. And never
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Speaker 1: since Genesis 7 have we seen anything of this magnitude.
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Speaker 1: And I am afraid that it's quite possible that for
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Speaker 1: most of us, we don't think about this event appropriately.
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Speaker 1: Because most of us think about Noah and the ark
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Speaker 1: in terms of a nice little ditty that our children sing. Noah, Noah,
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Speaker 1: who built the ark? Noah, Noah, brother Noah built the ark.
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Speaker 1: It's wonderful. Nice little wonderful ditty. This is the deadliest
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Speaker 1: event in the history of mankind. It was ugly. There
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Speaker 1: was nothing pretty about what happened Genesis chapter 7 nothing
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Speaker 1: we think about Noah and we think about the little
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Speaker 1: children's toys with the ark and the animals inside that's
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Speaker 1: the image that we have now I'm not saying that
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Speaker 1: the little song that children sing is bad I'm not
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Speaker 1: saying that the little toys that children play with are
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Speaker 1: bad that's not my point my point is if that
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Speaker 1: is the only point of reference that we have for
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Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 7 we miss the mark The ark was
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Speaker 1: no more beautiful than the cross. And if you find
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Speaker 1: the cross beautiful, it's only because you find the work
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Speaker 1: that was accomplished on the cross beautiful. I guarantee you
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Speaker 1: the suffering and the shame that took place on that
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Speaker 1: day was on Calvary's cross was not pretty. It was
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Speaker 1: not aesthetically pleasing. The ark was not a luxury liner
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Speaker 1: that was beautiful to look at. It was an earlier
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Speaker 1: piece of wood meant for the deliverance of God's elect.
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Speaker 1: That was just a foreshadowing of a later piece of
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Speaker 1: wood that would be for the deliverance of God's elect.
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Speaker 1: And both of those Deliverances took place at the price
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Speaker 1: of carnage and death and suffering and shame. Both of them.
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Speaker 1: So as we look at Genesis chapter 7, understand that.
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Speaker 1: Because I know as we read through Revelation and you
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Speaker 1: read about the wrath of God, and as we read
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Speaker 1: through Exodus and we read about this righteousness of God,
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Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable sometimes. You know? We read through Exodus sometimes
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Speaker 1: and you just kind of go, that's just not very worshipful. Amen.
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Speaker 1: We're worshiping God and it feels all good and then
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Speaker 1: we read Exodus and stoning people and stuff. That just
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Speaker 1: doesn't You know what? The God who lands on you
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Speaker 1: when we sing, for every sin on him was laid,
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Speaker 1: here in the death of Christ I live, is the
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Speaker 1: same God who lands on you and makes you uncomfortable
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Speaker 1: when you read, take them outside the city gates and
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Speaker 1: stone them. It's the same God. And here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: Without the take them outside the city gates and stone them,
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Speaker 1: You have no concept and no appreciation for every sin
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Speaker 1: on him was laid. Do you follow that? For every
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Speaker 1: sin on him was laid here in the death of
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Speaker 1: Christ I live. That does not make sense unless you
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Speaker 1: have an inkling of what sin is supposed to cost.
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Speaker 1: Only then, only then do you understand redemption. Only then
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Speaker 1: do you comprehend deliverance. That's what we see in Genesis
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Speaker 1: chapter 7. And so with that in mind, join me
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Speaker 1: as we read here. And I want us to look
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Speaker 1: at three movements here in Genesis chapter 7. This first
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Speaker 1: movement is what I like to call the righteousness and
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Speaker 1: its rewards movement. And then the second movement is sin
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Speaker 1: and its persistence. And the third movement is God and
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Speaker 1: his wrath. That's what we see here as we read
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Speaker 1: through Genesis chapter 7. And let's look at these and
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Speaker 1: read these in turn. First, righteousness and its rewards. Look
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Speaker 1: at verse 1 of chapter 7. Then the Lord said
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Speaker 1: to Noah, go into the ark, you and all your household.
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Speaker 1: For I have seen that you are righteous before me
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Speaker 1: in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all
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Speaker 1: clean animals. Not necessarily seven pairs there. Some translations render
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Speaker 1: it just seven of each. In the Hebrew, it's sort
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Speaker 1: of difficult. Seven sevens. But anyway, it's either seven, three pairs,
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Speaker 1: and then one more. Or it's seven pair. We'll talk
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Speaker 1: about the significance of that here in a moment. The
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Speaker 1: male and his mate. And the pair of the animals
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Speaker 1: that are not clean, the male and his mate. and
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Speaker 1: seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male
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Speaker 1: and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face
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Speaker 1: of all the earth. For in seven days I will
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Speaker 1: send rain on the earth, 40 days and 40 nights,
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Speaker 1: and every living thing that I have made I will
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Speaker 1: blot out from the face of the ground. Please just
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Speaker 1: don't let that roll over you like water off a
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Speaker 1: duck's back. Listen to that again. And every living thing
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Speaker 1: that I have made I will blot out from the
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Speaker 1: face of the ground. And Noah did all that the
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Speaker 1: Lord had commanded him. Righteousness and its reward. Noah is righteous.
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Speaker 1: And what is the evidence of that righteousness? Noah did
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Speaker 1: what God commanded. That's what we see. A hundred years
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Speaker 1: in building this ark. Noah did what God commanded. For
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Speaker 1: a hundred years, he was obedient. And then we get
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Speaker 1: down to the last week. God says, seven days, it's
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Speaker 1: all over. And Noah follows through. And Noah and his
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Speaker 1: wife and his sons and their wives gather these animals
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Speaker 1: that God has brought to them. And they began to
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Speaker 1: get onto this ark, which was probably a seven-day undertaking.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine? And they go and they get on
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Speaker 1: this ark in obedience to God. But here's something that
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Speaker 1: I want you to grasp for a moment. Because oftentimes
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Speaker 1: we think about righteousness and the rewards of righteousness something
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Speaker 1: like this. God says for me to do something and
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Speaker 1: I do it and God gives me good stuff. That's
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Speaker 1: how we think about righteousness and its rewards. And so
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Speaker 1: if God tells me to do something and I do
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Speaker 1: it to a greater degree than you do, then I'm
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Speaker 1: going to get a greater reward than you get. Now,
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Speaker 1: I define that reward as stuff that pleases me. Okay?
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Speaker 1: Can't say amen. You ought to say ouch. All right?
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Speaker 1: I'm just telling on myself right now. I know none
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Speaker 1: of you have ever experienced any of this before in
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Speaker 1: your life. But for me, for the most part, what
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Speaker 1: I have to wrestle with is this tendency to see
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Speaker 1: the reward of righteousness as me getting an abundance of
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Speaker 1: the things that I like. So I like X. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: X is the most important blessing in the world. And
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Speaker 1: I am blessed only when or only because I have X.
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Speaker 1: And if you have less of X, you just must
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Speaker 1: not be as righteous as me. There's a flip side
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Speaker 1: to it as well. And here's the flip side. The
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Speaker 1: flip side is the person who comes to the pastor
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Speaker 1: or the disciple or whoever in their life or the
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Speaker 1: parent in their life or whatever, and this person says
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Speaker 1: something like this, I just don't get it. Well, what
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Speaker 1: do you mean? I've been praying. I've been giving. I've
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Speaker 1: been doing all the right things. And God has not
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Speaker 1: given me what I've been expecting. And I look around
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Speaker 1: me and there are all these other people and they
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Speaker 1: seem to have what I want in abundance. It's just
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Speaker 1: not fair. It's not right. I'm being obedient. That's the
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Speaker 1: way we think about righteousness, folks. It's just not fair.
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Speaker 1: It's just not right. I have more righteousness, but they
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Speaker 1: have more money. It's not fair. It's not right. I
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Speaker 1: have more righteousness, but they have more health. It's not fair.
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Speaker 1: It's not right. Folks, there's a whole movement that calls
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Speaker 1: itself a Christian movement that is based on this very concept.
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Speaker 1: The health and wealth and prosperity gospel. The blessing of
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Speaker 1: God is about wealth and health and prosperity in your life.
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Speaker 1: So if you are righteous, you will be more wealthy.
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Speaker 1: If you are righteous, you will be healthy. And if
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Speaker 1: there's a lack of health or a lack of wealth
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Speaker 1: or a lack of prosperity in your life, then it
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Speaker 1: must be because of a lack of righteousness. Well, here's
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Speaker 1: what's interesting. Noah's righteous. He's declared righteous in the text.
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Speaker 1: And so you would think righteousness has its rewards. Well,
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Speaker 1: what would have been considered the reward in this day? Well,
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Speaker 1: a couple of things. You know, one thing we look
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Speaker 1: at is maybe his righteousness would have been rewarded with wealth.
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Speaker 1: And there's no doubt that Noah was wealthy. And you go, well,
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Speaker 1: wait a minute now. Text doesn't necessarily say that Noah
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Speaker 1: was wealthy. Okay, here's what I want you to do.
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Speaker 1: I want you to go build a boat the size
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Speaker 1: of the ark with the money you got right now. Yeah, yeah,
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Speaker 1: just go ahead. Matter of fact, you just, you can
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Speaker 1: ask for money from every person in the church. And
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Speaker 1: you take the money that all of us have collectively
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Speaker 1: and go build something that looks like the ark. You
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Speaker 1: just go do that. Just go ahead. Just, just go ahead.
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Speaker 1: You think you can do that right now. If you
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Speaker 1: think that we collectively have enough money to build what
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Speaker 1: Noah built, you got another thing coming. Amen? Amen? There's
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Speaker 1: a church down the road that, you know, they're building what,
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Speaker 1: a $ 40 million add-on to their facility? $ 40 million. They
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Speaker 1: couldn't take that money and build this ark. And there's,
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Speaker 1: you know, a kabillion of them. I don't know how
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Speaker 1: many of us there are. How are we going to
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Speaker 1: do that? Noah did it with his own money. So
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Speaker 1: I say again, Noah was filthy, stank, nasty rich, okay?
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Speaker 1: But all of his wealth was consumed in the flood.
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Speaker 1: So was his wealth the reward of his righteousness? No,
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Speaker 1: his wealth is consumed in the flood. Well, what about children?
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Speaker 1: Be fruitful and multiply. That's the command. Be fruitful and multiply.
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Speaker 1: Our children are a blessing. They're an inheritance from the Lord.
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Speaker 1: And it's interesting, you know, I look out here and
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Speaker 1: most of you guys out here, we have larger, you know,
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Speaker 1: you look at the average size of families in the
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Speaker 1: average church and you look at the average size of
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Speaker 1: families in this church and we got them whipped, all right?
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Speaker 1: Just easily, hands down, we just got them whipped. We
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Speaker 1: got people who walk in here with three, four, five
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Speaker 1: kids going, man, we got a little family, okay? So that's,
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Speaker 1: you know, we've got them whipped. And we do, when
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Speaker 1: you sort of get this idea of children being a blessing,
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Speaker 1: you begin to think, got more children, therefore I'm more blessed.
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Speaker 1: Here's what's interesting. You look at these 10 generations from
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Speaker 1: Adam to Noah, and you see the same phrase. There's
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Speaker 1: the son of record. And so-and-so had so-and-so when he
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Speaker 1: was this many years old. And then there's this phrase
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Speaker 1: after every one of them. He lived many more years
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Speaker 1: and he had more sons and daughters, which means if
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Speaker 1: they only had the son of record plus more sons,
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Speaker 1: got to be two for it to be plural, and
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Speaker 1: more daughters, got to be two for it to be plural,
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Speaker 1: they had a minimum of five. Noah's righteous, he only
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Speaker 1: got three. So was he not as blessed as other people?
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Speaker 1: Families could have had dozens if not hundreds of children
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Speaker 1: in the lifespans that they had during this day. Noah
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Speaker 1: got three. So was he less blessed? God says he
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Speaker 1: was righteous. And if righteousness means you get an abundance
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Speaker 1: of the stuff that people want, Noah should have had
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Speaker 1: more kids than anybody else because he was more righteous.
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Speaker 1: Probably everybody Noah knew had a bigger family than him.
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Speaker 1: Probably everybody he knew was blessed with more children than him.
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Speaker 1: He's the only one who got on the ark. Are
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Speaker 1: you one of those families who feel slighted because people
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Speaker 1: around you have a larger family or a larger house
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Speaker 1: or more of this or more of that? And as
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Speaker 1: a result, do you sometimes get on your face at night,
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Speaker 1: grieved before God, asking him why he likes them better
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Speaker 1: than he likes you? The reward for Noah's righteousness was
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Speaker 1: he got to get on the ark. Amen? God, there's
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Speaker 1: people out there who are more wealthy than I am.
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Speaker 1: Not getting on the ark, Noah. God, there's people out there,
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Speaker 1: they got more kids than me. Not getting on the ark, Noah. God,
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Speaker 1: there's people out there, they're taller than me. They're stronger
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Speaker 1: than me. They're more powerful than me. They have more
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Speaker 1: clout than I do. They're not getting on the ark, Noah.
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Speaker 1: You are. Your children are. Have you come to that
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Speaker 1: place in your life? Where you understand that the reward
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Speaker 1: for your righteousness is God? Not stuff. It's God. How
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Speaker 1: do we feel when our children are like that? You know?
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Speaker 1: I love it. I love it when I, you know,
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Speaker 1: I'll go away for a trip and I'll come back
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Speaker 1: home and you'll just hear, daddy's home. That wonderful age,
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Speaker 1: you know, and I like his little Asher. You know,
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Speaker 1: now little Asher can, he can walk and he can
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Speaker 1: make his noise. We call him our Celtic barbarian because
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Speaker 1: he runs around. He's a wild man. I love it.
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Speaker 1: And so I'll come home and he just goes, it's wonderful.
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Speaker 1: And there's hugs and kisses all over the place. Here's
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Speaker 1: what I would not enjoy. Daddy's home. Did he bring
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Speaker 1: me something? Don't you want to go say, it's your daddy.
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Speaker 1: Don't you want to go, yay, daddy's home. Did he
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Speaker 1: bring me something? Because if he didn't bring me something,
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Speaker 1: I really see no need to go jump in his lap,
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Speaker 1: to go hug him. to go whatever. That's how we
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Speaker 1: treat God, people. It's the God of the universe. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: but did he bring me something? The reward of Noah's
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Speaker 1: righteousness was God. Deliverance By God. Not only do we
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Speaker 1: see righteousness and its reward, but in this next movement,
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Speaker 1: we see a picture of sin and its persistence. Noah
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Speaker 1: was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.
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Speaker 1: It's over 100 years now he's building this ark. Now
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Speaker 1: he's 600 years old. The floodwaters came upon the earth.
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Speaker 1: And Noah and his sons and his wife and his...
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Speaker 1: sons wives with him went into the ark to escape
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Speaker 1: the waters of the flood of the clean animals and
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Speaker 1: the animals that are not clean and the birds of
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Speaker 1: everything creeping on the ground two and two male and
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Speaker 1: female went into the ark with noah as god had
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Speaker 1: commanded noah and after seven days the waters of the
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Speaker 1: flood came upon the earth well does that have to
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Speaker 1: do with sin and its persistence Here's what it has
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Speaker 1: to do. There are people who watched Noah for decade
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Speaker 1: after decade after decade. and heard Noah for decade after
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Speaker 1: decade after decade and nobody but nobody made it on
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Speaker 1: the ark. Noah, wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, wife, wife, wife.
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Speaker 1: What about the neighbor? What about the closest neighbor who
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Speaker 1: got to see Noah and hear Noah more than anybody else?
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Speaker 1: Surely there was a change of heart there. Surely there was.
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Speaker 1: Surely during those seven days when everyone and everything is
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Speaker 1: piling on the ark, they're looking and they're going, you
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Speaker 1: know what? Animals don't act like this on their own.
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Speaker 1: Maybe there's something to what Noah's been saying. Surely, surely
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Speaker 1: not by that point. No, sin is persistent. You can't
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Speaker 1: reason the sinner into saving himself because sinners don't save themselves.
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Speaker 1: They merely serve themselves. Sin is persistent. You can't scare
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Speaker 1: sin out of people. You can't. You can't. You know,
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Speaker 1: I imagine that on day 12, 13, 14, when it's raining,
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Speaker 1: and these people never seen anything like this before, the
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Speaker 1: great firmament above opens up, The springs from the deep
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Speaker 1: are opening up. They've never seen anything like this before.
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Speaker 1: I bet there are people on day 10, 11, and
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Speaker 1: 12 saying, I still think Noah's crazy. Sin is persistent.
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Speaker 1: You get a child that you desperately want to see
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Speaker 1: come to faith. I'm sure there hadn't been any parental
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Speaker 1: manipulation on your part. People ask me all the time.
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Speaker 1: I got one that I want to see come to faith.
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Speaker 1: I've tried everything. Is there something you can give me
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Speaker 1: for them to read? Oh, yeah, that's the answer. The
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Speaker 1: right book. You've been sharing the gospel with that child
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Speaker 1: in your house. You've been living the gospel with that
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Speaker 1: child in your house. But all you needed was to
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Speaker 1: call Pastor Votie so that he could recommend the right
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Speaker 1: book because anyone who reads this book, they're going to
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Speaker 1: get on the ark. Help you if you believe that.
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Speaker 1: The only thing that will save that child is the
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Speaker 1: hand of Almighty God. That's it. That's it. You cannot
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Speaker 1: manipulate your child into the kingdom. You cannot manipulate your
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Speaker 1: mother or your father into the kingdom. You cannot manipulate
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Speaker 1: your siblings into the kingdom. You cannot do it. Share
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Speaker 1: the gospel? Absolutely. Build the ark? Absolutely. But Noah wasn't
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Speaker 1: dragging anybody. Amen? What are you doing with that club
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Speaker 1: and that rope, Noah? You're coming on the ark. One
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Speaker 1: way or the other. We're getting you on the boat, baby. No. No.
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Speaker 1: That's not how it happens. That's not how it's done.
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Speaker 1: And here's the thing. There are some of you who
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Speaker 1: have manipulated your friends or manipulated your children and pressed
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Speaker 1: them for some kind of decision. And now you're miserable.
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Speaker 1: Here's why. Because when you finally got them to say
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Speaker 1: uncle and pray the prayer, you finally got them dunked
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Speaker 1: in the water. Now five years later, you look at
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Speaker 1: them and there's absolutely no fruit whatsoever. They're as lost
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Speaker 1: as they ever were. And you don't want to admit it.
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Speaker 1: Because you dragged them onto the ark. And you did
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Speaker 1: not solve your problem. You did not solve their problem.
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Speaker 1: Because you cannot solve their problem. Folks, I got lost
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Speaker 1: relatives too. What's worse, I have some relatives that I
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Speaker 1: saw come to faith just miraculously. Miraculously. My Buddhist mother
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Speaker 1: was born again six months after I got saved. Bam,
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Speaker 1: she was in. Got an uncle who was a Muslim,
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Speaker 1: saw him come to faith. All kinds of stuff. It
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Speaker 1: was incredible. And then I get people who come up
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Speaker 1: to me and they go, well, you know, can you just,
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Speaker 1: you know, what did you say to your Buddhist mother?
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Speaker 1: What did you say to your Muslim uncle? As though
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Speaker 1: somehow there's a spiritual judo move that I discovered that
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Speaker 1: I can just give to them that will work on
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Speaker 1: whomever it is that they're trying to win the faith
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Speaker 1: in Christ. No, because there's for every person in my
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Speaker 1: family that I've seen come to Christ, there's five more
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Speaker 1: who are as lost as the day is long. I
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Speaker 1: can't fix them. I didn't fix any of the others.
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Speaker 1: Sin is persistent. God told Noah, you don't build an ark,
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Speaker 1: you and your kids are going to make it on
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Speaker 1: the ark. Don't you know Noah had to think at
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Speaker 1: some point, surely when I tell these people that God
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Speaker 1: has told me that he's going to kill them all,
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Speaker 1: Surely they'll get right. Surely. Surely there will be more
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Speaker 1: than just me, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and our wives. Surely
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Speaker 1: there will be. When I tell these people, and when
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Speaker 1: they see this ark going up, and they watch these
25:46
Speaker 1: animals fulfilling the prophecies that have been coming from my mouth,
25:51
Speaker 1: surely they will say, oh, Noah, how could we have
25:54
Speaker 1: doubted you? Yes, we will come with you onto the ark.
25:57
Speaker 1: You've got to know that passed through Noah's mind. But
26:00
Speaker 1: when the day came, who gets on? Eight is enough.
26:07
Speaker 1: That's it. That's all. Noah and his righteousness, Noah and
26:13
Speaker 1: his eloquence could not get anyone else on the ark.
26:21
Speaker 1: No one else. No one else. And finally, We see
26:32
Speaker 1: the manifestation of the wrath of God. Don't miss this.
26:39
Speaker 1: In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month,
26:44
Speaker 1: on the 17th day of the month, it's interesting. We
26:48
Speaker 1: get the month and the day. Why? Because neither Noah, Shem, Ham,
26:58
Speaker 1: nor Japheth would ever have forgotten this day. And when
27:06
Speaker 1: they told the story again and again and again, they
27:12
Speaker 1: would never have forgotten this day. You got one of
27:16
Speaker 1: those days? On that day, all the fountains of the
27:26
Speaker 1: great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens
27:30
Speaker 1: were opened. I love that picture. The fountains burst forth.
27:36
Speaker 1: The windows of the heavens were opened. This was not
27:39
Speaker 1: a drizzle. Amen? And rain fell upon the earth 40
27:46
Speaker 1: days and 40 nights. On the very same day, Noah
27:50
Speaker 1: and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth and Noah's
27:55
Speaker 1: wife and the three wives of his sons with them
27:58
Speaker 1: entered the ark. They and every beast according to its kind,
28:05
Speaker 1: and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every
28:09
Speaker 1: creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind,
28:11
Speaker 1: and every bird according to its kind, and every wind creature.
28:16
Speaker 1: They went into the ark with Noah, two and two,
28:19
Speaker 1: of all the flesh, in which there was the breath
28:23
Speaker 1: of life. And those that entered, male and female of
28:27
Speaker 1: all the flesh, went in as God had commanded him,
28:32
Speaker 1: And the Lord shut him in. The flood continued 40
28:41
Speaker 1: days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up
28:44
Speaker 1: the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The
28:48
Speaker 1: waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the
28:52
Speaker 1: ark floated on the face of the waters. And the
28:55
Speaker 1: waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the
28:58
Speaker 1: high mountains under the whole heaven were covered The waters
29:02
Speaker 1: prevailed above the mountains and covered them 15 cubits deep.
29:06
Speaker 1: And all flesh died that moved on the earth. Birds, livestock, beasts,
29:12
Speaker 1: swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind.
29:19
Speaker 1: Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the
29:24
Speaker 1: breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing
29:30
Speaker 1: that was on the face of the ground, man and
29:32
Speaker 1: animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They
29:36
Speaker 1: were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left.
29:40
Speaker 1: and those who were with him in the ark and
29:43
Speaker 1: the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days our God
29:45
Speaker 1: is a God of wrath We look at this, and again,
30:03
Speaker 1: we look at this, and immediately the first question that
30:06
Speaker 1: arises for people is, how could a loving God do
30:12
Speaker 1: something like this? But there's another question that must be asked.
30:20
Speaker 1: How can a righteous God not love? How can a
30:30
Speaker 1: righteous God not do this? And who in this room
30:37
Speaker 1: thinks about himself or herself and your own life and says,
30:41
Speaker 1: based on the way that I have lived my life,
30:44
Speaker 1: I'd have been on the boat with Noah? Who? Who
30:48
Speaker 1: among you has not offended a holy God, has not
30:53
Speaker 1: offended a righteous God? Who in this room thinks you
30:57
Speaker 1: deserve the ark and not the flood? Who among you?
31:00
Speaker 1: Because I bet not even Noah believed that he was
31:09
Speaker 1: worthy of the ark. Not Shem, not Ham, not Japheth,
31:13
Speaker 1: not one of them. They're on the ark and the
31:15
Speaker 1: earth is being flooded and people are dying all around them.
31:20
Speaker 1: They hear the wails and the screams of people as
31:23
Speaker 1: they die outside. Not one of them was sitting on
31:27
Speaker 1: the ark saying, that's what you get. You should have
31:29
Speaker 1: lived like me. I believe every one of them on
31:35
Speaker 1: the ark hearing the screams of people outside The screams
31:41
Speaker 1: of the last of them who had finally found high
31:43
Speaker 1: ground as the water finally overcame them as well. Everyone
31:49
Speaker 1: on that ark would have thought, why me? Why me?
31:59
Speaker 1: Why the eight of us? You better believe Noah thought,
32:05
Speaker 1: why me? Why my sons? Why my sons? Everything that
32:09
Speaker 1: he had ever done in his entire life for which
32:13
Speaker 1: he deserved the waters of the flood would have poured
32:20
Speaker 1: through his mind. Because they understood the wrath of God.
32:29
Speaker 1: You see, I'm afraid that when we don't view this
32:32
Speaker 1: event properly, And when it is not significantly horrific for us,
32:37
Speaker 1: we are in danger of not understanding the wrath of
32:42
Speaker 1: God and therefore not appreciating the grace of God. Listen
32:47
Speaker 1: to this from Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs talks about repentance in
32:52
Speaker 1: his book, Gospel Remission. This book was written in 1674.
33:02
Speaker 1: And he talks about the attitude of the believer towards
33:09
Speaker 1: his own sin and the wrath of God. He says,
33:14
Speaker 1: what do I see? Oh, I see the angry countenance
33:17
Speaker 1: of an infinite God against me, whose eyes are a
33:21
Speaker 1: flaming fire, looking with indignation upon me. I see a black,
33:26
Speaker 1: dismal cloud of the displeasure of the Almighty hanging over me.
33:30
Speaker 1: I see a most hideous and dreadful sentence of wrath
33:34
Speaker 1: ready to fall upon me. I see woe, misery, and
33:37
Speaker 1: destruction pursuing me. I see blackness of darkness and desolation
33:42
Speaker 1: even surrounding me. I both see and feel the woeful
33:46
Speaker 1: accusations of a guilty conscience within me condemning me, continually
33:50
Speaker 1: grating upon my soul and terrifying me with dreadful visions
33:54
Speaker 1: of eternal miseries to betide me. I see the chain
33:59
Speaker 1: of black guilt and horror of my soul that I
34:02
Speaker 1: carry with me wherever I go. I see the bottomless
34:06
Speaker 1: gulf of eternal horror and despair with the mouth of
34:11
Speaker 1: it wide open to swallow me up. We don't write
34:20
Speaker 1: like that anymore. That's because Noah for us is a
34:28
Speaker 1: children's toy It's a sanitized, quaint little story. Instead of
34:42
Speaker 1: a reminder of how God deals with sin. There are
34:51
Speaker 1: things that you thought and said and did on last
34:56
Speaker 1: night for which you deserve the waters of the flood today.
35:04
Speaker 1: For which you deserve the wrath of God today. But
35:15
Speaker 1: here's the good news. The good news is God prepared
35:22
Speaker 1: that ark for the sake of preservation. Preserving his elect.
35:30
Speaker 1: Even preserving the world that is around us. Here's the
35:34
Speaker 1: interesting thing. I was watching on Friday this movie Expelled,
35:39
Speaker 1: and I know there were a couple of groups that
35:41
Speaker 1: went to the movie. And you watch this movie Expelled,
35:49
Speaker 1: and you watch these people who believe in Darwinian evolution.
35:53
Speaker 1: And one of them at one point particularly speaks to
35:56
Speaker 1: this issue of the Noahic Flood. And he talks about
36:01
Speaker 1: this idea that, you know, oh, that Noah built an
36:04
Speaker 1: ark and all these animals went in on the ark
36:06
Speaker 1: with Noah. It's a terrible story that shouldn't be told
36:09
Speaker 1: to children. The idea that somehow God would put these
36:13
Speaker 1: animals on the ark and these people on the ark
36:15
Speaker 1: and from that preserve all these animals and from that
36:18
Speaker 1: preserve humankind and the human race. And so I'm sitting
36:22
Speaker 1: there in the movie and I'm going, wait, time out, bro.
36:25
Speaker 1: You just said that the idea that eight people going
36:29
Speaker 1: onto an ark and perhaps thousands of animals going on
36:33
Speaker 1: to the ark, all the different species going on to
36:36
Speaker 1: the ark, and then producing what we see now, that's ludicrous.
36:40
Speaker 1: But the idea that a single cell produced all the
36:45
Speaker 1: variations of species, that you're okay with. And later on
36:53
Speaker 1: in the movie, you find out that they're even okay
36:55
Speaker 1: with the possibility that aliens... seeded the planets with that
37:00
Speaker 1: first material that turned into us. Noah, ark, thousands of
37:04
Speaker 1: different species on the ark, then producing all that we
37:07
Speaker 1: now see. No. But a little cell that contained all
37:18
Speaker 1: we needed for life, being ignited by lightning in the
37:22
Speaker 1: primordial ooze. Where did the lightning come from, sir? I mean,
37:27
Speaker 1: just help me on that one. Not to mention, where'd
37:30
Speaker 1: that cell come from? You got some explaining to do.
37:47
Speaker 1: Why are you here today? Why am I here today?
37:50
Speaker 1: And again, I'm not talking about in the spiritual sense.
37:53
Speaker 1: I understand, okay? I understand we're a catechizing group. So
37:58
Speaker 1: don't all at once, you know, to glorify God and
38:00
Speaker 1: enjoy him forever, okay? That's not... We're here today because
38:10
Speaker 1: God preserved Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth on
38:15
Speaker 1: the ark. All the various peoples and people groups of
38:22
Speaker 1: the world, we get from Shem and Ham and Japheth.
38:27
Speaker 1: Isn't that incredible? God did that. So in a very
38:32
Speaker 1: real sense, you and I are here. We have the
38:35
Speaker 1: opportunity to live today because God didn't blot out everything.
38:43
Speaker 1: When you go to the zoo and you see these
38:45
Speaker 1: amazing creatures and you look at them and you go,
38:49
Speaker 1: what's that for? Some animals, we're going to have to
38:55
Speaker 1: get to heaven because And have God explain specifically why
39:00
Speaker 1: that one, you know? But there's a reason. Because God
39:06
Speaker 1: preserved that one. Whatever it is, it's because of this
39:14
Speaker 1: event and God preserving it. So in a very real,
39:20
Speaker 1: very practical sense, that's what the ark means. But here's
39:24
Speaker 1: the other thing. It goes back to what we've been
39:26
Speaker 1: talking about for three weeks now. The preservation. of the
39:30
Speaker 1: seed and the promise and the covenant. You understand the ark,
39:41
Speaker 1: you understand the cross. But here's what came just sort
39:47
Speaker 1: of collapsing in on me this week i think about
39:56
Speaker 1: the suffering and i thought about that a lot this
39:58
Speaker 1: week the suffering that went on outside the ark and
40:05
Speaker 1: how noah is preserved in the ark and again there's
40:08
Speaker 1: some suffering going on as well you spend 200 days
40:14
Speaker 1: in a wooden ark with thousands of animals Praise the Lord. Okay, that's, yeah.
40:25
Speaker 1: But I think about all that that went on outside.
40:27
Speaker 1: And then I come to the cross. And the wrath
40:33
Speaker 1: of God that was poured out on Jesus Christ was
40:42
Speaker 1: of as much significance and magnitude as all of the
40:49
Speaker 1: suffering that went on outside the ark. Because he took
40:58
Speaker 1: upon himself my sin, your sin, the sins of all
41:03
Speaker 1: of those whom he would redeem. And in taking upon
41:09
Speaker 1: him those sins, he took upon him the wrath for
41:13
Speaker 1: which those sins were worthy. Amen. And that's what he endured.
41:24
Speaker 1: And that's what he suffered. In order that you and
41:33
Speaker 1: I might be rescued from the wrath of God. The
41:41
Speaker 1: great irony and beauty in that is this. God has
41:46
Speaker 1: saved us from God. Do I believe that God is
41:55
Speaker 1: a God of love? I most assuredly do. And I
41:58
Speaker 1: believe that because I know that God is a God
42:00
Speaker 1: of wrath. And in his great love for us, he
42:09
Speaker 1: demonstrated it towards us in that Christ, while we were
42:15
Speaker 1: yet sinners, Christ died for us. God made him who
42:22
Speaker 1: knew no sin to become sin for us in order
42:26
Speaker 1: that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
42:30
Speaker 1: You better believe God loves us. You better know it.
42:34
Speaker 1: You better know it. The great mystery is not why
42:39
Speaker 1: do we have tragedies? The great mystery is why do
42:44
Speaker 1: we get anything else? A couple of issues here. Number one,
42:52
Speaker 1: there are those who argue that this flood was a
42:54
Speaker 1: localized flood. The flood in Noah's day, that was just
42:59
Speaker 1: a localized flood in that part of the world. There's
43:01
Speaker 1: a couple of problems with that. Number one, the Bible
43:04
Speaker 1: says the whole earth wasn't a localized flood. Secondly, God
43:12
Speaker 1: makes a promise and his promise is that he won't
43:14
Speaker 1: do that again. If Noah's flood was a localized flood,
43:18
Speaker 1: God's a liar because there have been other localized floods.
43:31
Speaker 1: It's not a localized flood. Here's the other thing. If
43:34
Speaker 1: that flood was a localized flood, then we have a
43:37
Speaker 1: huge problem because from Shem and Ham and Japheth, we
43:40
Speaker 1: get all of the peoples of the earth that are
43:42
Speaker 1: listed after this. If it was just another localized flood,
43:45
Speaker 1: if that's all it was, then there's a whole other
43:46
Speaker 1: part of the earth where there are people groups who
43:49
Speaker 1: came from somewhere other than Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Yeah,
43:54
Speaker 1: you go messing with that one. And if it was
44:03
Speaker 1: just a localized flood, then we believe in localized redemption.
44:09
Speaker 1: I don't believe in localized redemption. I believe there's going
44:13
Speaker 1: to come a day when we will stand before the
44:16
Speaker 1: throne and people from every tribe and nation and tongue
44:22
Speaker 1: and kindred will be gathered together around the throne of
44:26
Speaker 1: almighty God. I believe that with every fiber of my
44:29
Speaker 1: being because that's what the Bible teaches me. Our God
44:41
Speaker 1: is a God of wrath, but he's also a merciful
44:45
Speaker 1: God who rescues from his wrath. And so Christ takes
44:55
Speaker 1: on this sin so that God can do two things simultaneously.
44:58
Speaker 1: Number one, according to Romans 3, be just because he
45:02
Speaker 1: pours out his wrath. And number two, be the justifier
45:07
Speaker 1: of those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Because
45:11
Speaker 1: once we've placed our faith in Jesus Christ, if God's
45:14
Speaker 1: wrath has been poured out on him and we are
45:17
Speaker 1: found in Christ, then that penalty has been paid. That's
45:21
Speaker 1: why we talk about penal substitutionary atonement. Genesis chapter 7
45:34
Speaker 1: is a tale of horrifying judgment. and of glorifying redemption.
45:46
Speaker 1: And your life will be characterized by one or the other.
45:53
Speaker 1: My prayer for you is that by God's grace and
45:57
Speaker 1: his mercy, you would come to a place of repentance
46:01
Speaker 1: and faith. My prayer for you is that you would
46:07
Speaker 1: look upon the wrath of God as no small thing
46:12
Speaker 1: and that God would use that to cause you to
46:15
Speaker 1: cry out to him for deliverance. My prayer for you
46:20
Speaker 1: is that you would never, ever, ever be able to
46:24
Speaker 1: rest until God has saved you and has rescued you
46:29
Speaker 1: from his wrath because I know that only God can
46:33
Speaker 1: do that in your life. You wrestle with God You
46:40
Speaker 1: do business with God. And you grab a hold of
46:44
Speaker 1: God and don't you let go. Until he saves you.
46:52
Speaker 1: Until he saves you. Until he redeems you. From the
46:58
Speaker 1: waters of the flood. And from the terror that is
47:02
Speaker 1: most assuredly to come. Let's pray.