A Watery Judgment

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 6. Let's pray. Father, open your word to us now and help us to see the purpose of this passage for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, amen. Rainfalling and people pounding on the door of the ark, begging to get in. Animals two by two walking into a great ship.

A gray-haired old man standing there with a staff, watching the entire parade. a ship tossed to and fro upon the waves while lightning and thunder goes on. All these may be images that pop into your mind when you hear the phrase Noah's Ark. But again, we have to go beyond our Sunday school memories and ask this vital question. Why is this here? What is the purpose of the story of Noah and his ark? because God didn't give it to us just so that we have something for our Sunday school curriculum.

Moses penned this story to make a point, to carry on the story of what God was doing in the world. Now let's review very quickly. God created everything perfect and wonderful, including man. Man was to rule the earth in submission to God. But because man succumbed to temptation, sin and death and corruption came into the picture. Now a battle ensues between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

The sin and corruption infects the next generation as Cain kills his brother Abel without any provocation, without any temptation. And then we hear the story of Lamech who kills a young warrior and boasts about his killing to his two wives. Sin grows even wider and deeper as men get worse until the whole of mankind has sunken into the depths of corruption And we see there great tyranny and brutality and immorality Or as the Bible says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thought of his heart was only evil continually.

And God determines to destroy it all. And He says, So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. So the question arises, has man in his wickedness thwarted the purposes of God? Is it now impossible for man to rule the earth in submission to God?

Has the seed of the woman proven powerless, and has the seed of the serpent won the day? That's what it looks like. Now we have a hint of the answer to that question, has man thwarted the purposes of God? we saw it last week we have the hint the hint of that answer in identifying Noah by speaking of Noah and his birth Noah whose father gives him a name that sounds like the Hebrew term that means rest or comfort for his father believed that maybe he is the promised one maybe he is the one who will deliver mankind from the curse of sin and we ended last week with that little phrase and Noah found favor in the sight of God.

Well now we come to the third Toledot in this book titled, The Generations of Noah. And here you will find the answer to the question, has man thwarted the purposes of God? Now this book starts in chapter 6 verse 9 and goes all the way to chapter 9 verse 29 the end of chapter 9 but out of mercy to you we're going to read the first part of the story we going to read from 6 9 to the end of chapter 7 all right so you follow along as I read these are the generations of Noah Noah was a righteous man blameless in his generation Noah walked with God And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.

Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits. The breadth, 50 cubits. And its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above. and set the door of the ark in its side.

Make it with lower, second, and third decks. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.

They shall be male and female, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. Two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this.

He did all that God commanded him. The Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

For in seven days I will send rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. and Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth and Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood of clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened, and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life.

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters and the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed above the mountains covering them 15 cubits deep and all flesh died that moved on the earth. Birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth and all mankind, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, men and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens.

They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. So reads the account of at least the first part of this flood that came upon the earth. Question. Has the spread of sin and corruption foiled God's plan?

That is to say, God's plan and purpose for man to rule the earth in submission to Him for the seed of the serpent to be conquered by the promised seed of the woman. Has that plan been thwarted? And the answer is, absolutely not. And as we read the story of Noah, here's what you see, that God wants you to understand, that he accomplishes those purposes through a righteous man who saves humanity and ushers in a new world. that's why we have the story of Noah and the ark God's purposes are not thwarted but through a righteous man who saves humanity he ushers in a new world now we haven't seen the whole story in our text as far as we went we see that God fulfills his purpose or begins to fulfill his purpose through a righteous man through judgment by a righteous man through judgment and salvation All right?

To this point, we can say this, in this point of the story, that through Noah, God begins to fulfill his purpose by judgment and salvation. Well, let's look at our text today. Understand, first of all, that God accomplishes his purposes through a righteous man. In the deep darkness of sin and corruption, Noah stands alone as a beacon of light. He is righteous.

That is to say, his life every day is characterized by obedience to God. He shows a blameless character. The word blameless carries with it the idea of a complete or whole person. Now, the Bible is not assuring that Noah was a sinless man. But he exhibited a wholeness of character That is, he actually lived by what he professed, he believed. He was not a hypocrite.

And then that third phrase says, he walks with God. We've seen that phrase before. We have seen that phrase before in the last chapter, where it says that Enoch walked with God, Noah's ancestor Enoch walked with God and he was no more. That is to say that God took him He escaped from the curse of death That one harbinger of hope that says there is escape from the curse of death And as you know and I think it here on purpose Noah walked with God and he also escaped a certain judgment.

Because he walked with God, he lived an obedient, unhypocritical life. Because he walked with God, God took him into his confidence and told him of judgment that was soon to come. However, the New Testament seems to say something a little bit different about Noah. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. By the way, Noah is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament.

We heard it mentioned in Luke today. But in Hebrews chapter 11, this great chapter on those who had faith, our forefathers in the faith, Noah is one that is singled out. Hebrews 11, verse 7. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

That comes by faith. It says here that his righteousness, and we may assume his blamelessness, came to him as a result of his faith. Now, the writer of the Hebrews is looking at the exact same text that you are. He's looking at the exact same narrative that you're looking at. I want you to see something here. As you read through this text, you're going to see something.

Maybe you saw it already. Chapter 6, verse 22. Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him. Chapter 7, verse 5. And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

Chapter 7, verse 9. They went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded him. And then lastly, chapter 7, verse 16. And those that entered male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him. What you see here is that Noah obeys And that obedience is faith That obedience is certainly faith I want you to think about that with me God commands him to build a ship To build this ark because a flood is coming.

And what does Noah do? What does he do? He builds it. I want you to imagine that you live on the prairies in Kansas. And God says to you, I want you to build this humongous ship because a flood is coming. You've never seen a flood.

At least a flood that big in Kansas? No way. No way. But what does he do? He builds it. Why?

Why? Because he believes what God is saying. He's never seen a flood like that. But he believes what God says. Think about this. God says that he will destroy everything.

If God does not follow through, Noah will have wasted his life building an ark and he would have gone down in history as the one with Noah's folly. Right? And if God does not preserve him and his family, then his faithful service is completely in vain. Why does he do it? Noah does these things because he believes. He is a man of faith.

He believes what God has told him. You know, I can tell you all I want. You know, when I get on a plane to fly overseas, right? Sometimes I think this is just a big game. I mean, you know, we're just flying over the... When I go to Romania, you know how we go?

We go over the top of the world. That's how we go. Right? And sometimes, you know, you get up to walk around because these flights go on forever. You're looking out the window and you're looking down on who knows what, Labrador or something. And you almost think, this can't be real.

I mean, there are like 500 people on this thing and we're flying seven miles above the earth? No way. And I can tell you, yeah, I believe that plane will fly. You bet. I believe that plane will fly if I never get on that plane. Do you think I really believe it?

No. The same with him. You know he believes because he does what God says This is his faith Now so you see this is not the righteousness of merit points but it the righteousness granted through faith He believes what God says Now, God has not changed. God has not changed. He saves a people through a righteous, faithful man. Can you see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane weeping and sweating blood and saying to God, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from Me.

But God said what? It's not My will to do that. And so Jesus was faithful to the end. Was He not? He was faithful to the end. Hebrews 12 says that for the joy set before Him, He endured this cross, scorning its shame.

That is, he believed that God had something on the other side of that cross. And he was faithful to accomplish what God told him to do. Peter also said of him, For Christ also suffered once for sin, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. He was faithful and righteous, and that is how God saved us. and God also preserves us in the face of judgment through faith just as Noah believed just as Noah believed we must believe what God says and when he says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever what believes in him what God should not perish.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Like Noah, you staked everything on that, haven't you? Everything. God has not changed. As we look at this, we need to understand that God accomplishes His purposes through judgment.

Through judgment. God tells His man Noah that He's bringing judgment by means of a flood. Now, we're so familiar with this story. Let's just stop here and think about this flood and all the descriptions that we've read about it. It's coming because of the wickedness of humanity. It's coming because of the wickedness of humanity.

And notice in this text, what is... seems to be singled out the most. You know what it is? It's violence. It's violence. It's singled out. We tend to put sexual immorality at the top of the list.

We saw last week that that corrupt immorality is certainly present in the thoughts and the tense and the behavior of men. But here God seems to talk about violence more than anything else. Do you have the same view of violence that God does? that's the question that comes to my mind hear about the two Baptist boys who are watching a movie and the cowboy gets off his horse and he walks into a brothel and one of the boys says oh we better turn it off something bad is going to happen there and the other one says no no we don't have to turn it off he's not going in there to mess around he's just going in there to shoot somebody right don't show us sex on the screen but if someone is shot, that's okay.

Listen, it wasn't too long ago, I was somewhere and I was watching a movie in which there was a lot of hacking and hewing going on. Heads rolling here and limbs flying all over the place. And then it occurred to me, God judged the world because of this. And I'm sitting here watching it. I want you to think about that for a moment. God judged the world because of its violence.

How much of our entertainment revolves around violence? Oh no, we don't watch the sexual stuff. We go through that real fast. But when you got that gladiator down there just hacking and hewing and blood spurting all over the place. That's okay. That's alright.

It dawned on me. This is why God judged the world. People reveled in violence. How are we any different if we're entertained by it? Just something to consider. You'll notice in verse 12 that human morality is linked to the animal world.

For even the animals here have exceeded the boundaries. Look at verse 12. Alright? Look at verse 12. and God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth All flesh That not just all humans I think NIV translates that all mankind but he saying all flesh He's including the animals. Even animals have exceeded the boundaries that God has set for them.

And later on in the covenant that we're going to see, that we're all familiar with, the covenant of the rainbow, we're going to see that animals are also addressed in that covenant. If you hadn't noticed it before, read it. Animals are also addressed in that covenant. How is it that animals can do that? Well, in some sense we can see this with matadors, enraging bulls, children infuriating dogs, wicked people engaging in cockfights.

We can see how that, but there's something going on here. the morality of humanity has led to even the immorality of all flesh, even the animals. Violence is being perpetrated everywhere by everything it appears. So this judgment comes because of the wickedness that's on the earth. It is a total judgment. It is a total judgment. All mankind, all the creatures with the breath of life, everything that is on the earth will die.

Everything. Don't miss that. Chapter 6, verse 13. He says, I've determined to make an end of all flesh. Verse 17. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven.

Everything that is on the earth will die. Everything. and then of course you come to chapter 7 verse 4 and here he uses the word watch for in seven days I will send rain on the earth and 40 days and 40 nights and every living thing that I have made I will what blot out from the face of the ground blot out that is strong terminology isn't it And then of course, 17 through 24. I don't know if you noticed, but notice the alls.

I'm just going to read it again. I've circled them all in this part. The flood continued 40 days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark and arose high above the earth The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth And the ark floated on the face of the waters And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground.

Men and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left. And those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. It's total.

It is total. no one escapes. Alright? Contrary to the movie that's out there no one escapes. There are no stowaways on the ark. Okay? Everyone except Noah except those eight people died.

It is a thorough judgment. Now I don't know if you've noticed in 17 through 24 there's a recurring phrase. Did you hear it? And the waters prevailed. Okay? It says several times.

It said there one, two, three, four times in that short space with those all's and every's in there. It says the waters prevailed. That is, the waters covered everything including mountains. It killed all flesh. It killed every living creature. The waters prevailed.

And the only living things left were those on the ark. Verse 23. it is a violent destructive judgment if you think the judgment is like people just kind of going down the third time and drowning you don't understand the flood you cannot even begin to imagine the violence of this event you can't even begin to you can't even imagine the violence of this event. It not just water slowly going up and people scrambling up the mountains and glub glub glub It worse than that It nothing like it Someone the other night at a meeting I was at mentioned that it had rained so hard for a while that he couldn't even see across the street.

And sometimes that's what we think. If you think of a heavy rain that you just can't see across the street that went on for 40 days and 40 nights, that's nothing. That's not what the Scriptures describe. Notice what it says in chapter 7, verse 11. It says, the text says that the fountains of the great deep burst forth. It has the idea that burst forth is used about four times in the Old Testament.

It has the idea of violent splitting. Imagine rocks exploding. That's what you need to be thinking of. Think in your mind. Think of hearing nuclear explosions all around you. That's what you need to think.

You need to think of earthquakes and tsunamis rushing across the land. You see the tsunami a couple of years ago in Japan? Did you ever watch that? That's nothing compared to what went on here. The earth is splitting. The crust is coming apart.

There are earthquakes. There are tsunamis. There is water gushing from underneath the earth. It is destructive. It is violent. There's no glub, glub, glub.

I'm going down the third time. There are people getting wiped out just like that. Whole populations wiped out in a moment. The text says in verse 11, the windows of the heavens were opened. You remember in the creation account, it describes that there is waters above the firmament as if there is this ocean above the firmament. Probably a very heavy vapor.

A vapor screen of some kind. that's not there any longer. Alright? And the windows of the heavens are open as if to say that water above the firmament came gushing down. Alright? Not a heavy rain. We're talking about coming down with great violence and great volume.

And what happens is, note this, what happens is, is it seems like the water above the firmament and the water below the firmament merge once more like they did at the very beginning before God separated them. so you cannot imagine what it means for those heavenly windows to open so erase from your minds any thoughts of people knocking on the ark's door because they were wiped out in in in whole populations with great violence and forget about finding any remnants of that pre-flood civilization you won't find a thing from before the flood don't eat no archaeologists are ever going to dig anything up from that time period because this was so violent and so destructive that everything was wiped out. That's what you need to think of when you think of the flood. We are talking about cataclysmic, total, violent, destructive judgment.

And so, and I think the author wants you to get this, so the world returns to the watery chaos that the book of Genesis begins with. Remember? That watery chaos in the very first verse of the book. And the Spirit was hovering over the waters. Right? We're back to that again.

And the serpent's seed is destroyed. At least temporarily. Now look. One thing you ought to understand from this You don't toy with God. You don't toy with God. And you don't think, do not think that his forbearance means that he's winking at sin.

He's not. Turn to 2 Peter, because Peter refers to this whole thing. And he gives us the lesson we need to learn from this flood. 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 1. this is now the second letter that I'm writing to you beloved in both of them I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles knowing this first of all that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires they They will say, where is the promise of His coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of the water and through water by the Word of God See From Genesis And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same Word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

You see the blessing he's drawn, the parallel? There were scoffers in Noah's day, no doubt, who said, what are you doing, building an ark? What an ark, what is that all about? What are you doing? 2 Peter 2 talks about that. There were scoffers.

Everything's going on just the way it has. Right? He goes on, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient towards you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved then the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed Jesus himself said in the day of Noah, we heard it this morning, people were just carrying on.

They were marrying. They were drinking. They were doing everything like they always did. And suddenly, boom! Judgment came. The same thing is true today.

And God let them go on for centuries and centuries. And even as we saw last week, He said I'm going to give you 120 years max for repentance, right? And so don't think that God is winking at sin now. He wasn't then. He's not now. He's being forbearing.

He's saying, I'm not doing anything now because I'm giving you a chance to repent. But someday, just like in Noah's day, suddenly, without warning, judgment will arrive on the scene. And only those who are prepared will escape it. and the judgment that God brings on that day will be far worse than anything that was experienced in Noah day the day of judgment will arrive and the final destruction of Satan seed and the victory of the woman seed will be assured the last thing I want you to see here in this text is you understand that God accomplishes his purposes through salvation oh boy that's good news isn't it if I would have quit here you'd have no hope But the story of Noah is not just about judgment.

It's also about salvation. For God provides for Noah and his family an escape from the judgment coming upon the world for its depravity. They will be saved. He commands Noah to build an ark. Chapter 6, verses 14 and 15. A great boat that is 450 feet long, It is 75 feet wide, 450 feet long.

It's a football field and a half long. Get that in your head. It's a football field and a half long. It's 75 feet wide. It's 45 feet high. In other words, it's about four and a half stories high.

I'm not sure if there's some kind of structure on the deck. Certainly there must be because all the children's books have pictures of a little thing on the top. but there has to be something up there for a door because there's a door in this ark and it's not down here, it's near the top it's going to have three decks to hold the animals along with several rooms Noah was to have pairs of every kind of animal but at one point God says bring seven of the clean animals these for sacrifice ok he was to stock the ark with food that would last them for the duration of the flood? And it appears, as I read the text, because it appears this way, and I don't want to read through the whole thing again, but it appears that seven days before the flood, Noah started loading the animals, and on the day of the flood, Noah and his family got on board.

And notice this in verse 16 of chapter 7. Who shuts the door? the Lord shuts the door. Isn that interesting So get out of your head any visions of Noah going OK it starting to rain everybody on board And then he battens down the hatch right It's not what happened. God told him, get on, it's time to go. They got on board and the Lord shut the door. That is, I think that the author, Moses, is trying to say God's fatherly concern and protection are involved in all of this. he is going to keep them safe he is the one who shuts the door water accumulates for 40 days and they floated on the waves for 150 days according to chapter 7 verse 24 the waters prevailed for 150 days next time we come back into this we will see that then at 150 day mark the water started to wane and I would say this that God certainly preserved those people in that ark that had to be supernatural with the violence of the flood no ship of any making even today could have survived that kind of violence certainly God was involved in preserving them through that judgment how will God accomplish the purposes of a man's godly dominion of the earth and keep the promise of the victory of the woman's seed.

How does he accomplish that? He accomplishes that by saving Noah and his family and all those animals. That's how he accomplishes that purpose. He's not thwarted. He judges those who are wicked and he saves people in order to accomplish those purposes. Look at chapter 6, verses 17 and 18.

Do you see what's mentioned there? A covenant. A covenant is mentioned there. Chapter 6, verses 17 and 18. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Although we hear later what the covenant is, all the stipulations of that covenant, all the promises of that covenant. At this point, God promises. commits himself to preserving and saving this family. This is an act of grace on God's part. This God who looks so angry here is so merciful and gracious here. And he graciously commits himself to preserving that family.

And we will see later that this covenant not only assures that those people survive, that his people survive, but that Noah bears the promise of God for a new age. That's going to start. So, you see the covenant mention. You see clues that tell you that a new creation is underway. A second creation. A reboot, if you will.

We find, again, a watery chaos. Like at the very beginning of the book. I think you're supposed to see it that way. There's a watery chaos. What do we see? We see this mention. and every bird of its kind.

Everything of its kind. You hear the echoes of the creation account. Male and female. Right? You get the idea of is this going to be a new beginning? You get that idea.

You get this idea that something's going to happen because you're bringing male and female so they can multiply and fill the earth. And notice that the animals came to Noah. What does that remind you of? It reminds you of the animals coming to Adam And so you see the clues of a new world a new creation You have to see that Noah and his family are saved by faith You can't get over that fact.

They're saved by faith. They believe what God says. And because they believe, they are saved. But most of all, please note this. Who is called righteous through this whole account? Who is called righteous?

One person. Noah. Not his family, not his wife, not his daughters-in-law. Noah alone is identified as righteous. And it is through this one righteous man that God's people are saved and a new humanity begins. Don't miss that.

Are there bells of recognition going off in your head? it certainly is true that when Jesus walked with the disciples on the Emmaus Road, He took them through the whole Old Testament and showed them how it pointed to Him. God has not changed. He will yet accomplish His purpose by means of saving a people through faith, according to His covenant promises, through their righteous representative who creates a new humanity.

That, my friends, certainly is a picture of Jesus. Would you agree? Here we have it in vivid colors. God saves His people He saves them through a representative He does it because he makes promises And he creates a new humanity. Recently, one of the children of this congregation asked his mom a question. He said, Mom, with all that evil, why didn't God just destroy everything and start all over again?

She came to me and asked that question. I said, I've got to think about that. Now we know, don't we? Why didn't God just destroy everything and start all over? Here's why. Because then he would have failed, wouldn't he have?

Evil would have triumphed. Evil would have thwarted and foiled the plan and the purpose of God for man to rule over the earth in submission to God and for the promised seed to win. If God would have destroyed everything and started over, it would be an admission of defeat. But God's purposes cannot be foiled. They cannot be thwarted. And God accomplishes His purpose through a righteous man.

Through judgment and salvation. God has God has not changed listen if you think God on the ropes today you be wrong God not on the ropes God not trying to figure out what to do His righteous judgment will yet destroy Satan's seed. And His mercy will yet rescue His people through Jesus. And they will rule and reign with Him on this earth. because he and we are the conquering seed.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how it just points us continually to this King and Savior Jesus. Help us, Father, no longer to think of Noah and his ark merely as a children's story, but as a magnificent story of you fulfilling the purpose that you always intended. would you please father remind us of that every time we see a little ark figurine or a Noah figurine help us to remember and to think that your purposes and plans will never be thwarted and again remind us that it is through Jesus the righteous one that you will yet destroy the serpent seed, gain victory and we will reign and rule on the earth just as you always intended.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.