The Flood

Today's scripture passages are found in Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9.

These verses are found in your bulletin.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,

and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land,

man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

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.

For behold, I will bring out 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.

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 40 days and 40 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 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.

He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground,

man 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.

In the 601st year,

in the first month,

the first day of the month,

the waters were dried from off the earth.

And Noah removed the covering of the ark,

and looked,

and behold,

the face of the ground was dry.

In the second month,

on the 27th day of the month,

the earth had dried out.

Then God said to Noah,

Go out from the ark,

you and your wife,

and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Bring out with you every living thing

that is with you of all flesh,

birds and animals,

and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,

that they may swarm on the earth,

and be fruitful,

and multiply on the earth.

So Noah went out,

and his sons and his wife,

and his sons' wives with him.

Every beast,

every creeping thing,

and every bird,

everything that moves on the earth,

went out by families from the ark.

Then God said to Noah,

and to his sons with him,

I establish my covenant with you,

that never again shall all flesh

be cut off by the waters of the flood,

and never again shall there be a flood

to destroy the earth.

And God said,

This is the sign of the covenant

that I make between me and you,

and every living creature that is with you,

for all future generations.

I've set my bow in the cloud,

and it shall be a sign of the covenant

between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth,

and the bow is seen in the clouds,

I will remember my covenant

that is between me and you,

and every living creature of all flesh.

And the water shall never again

become a flood to destroy all flesh.

When the bow is in the clouds,

I will see it,

and remember the everlasting covenant

between God and every living creature

of all flesh that is on the earth.

God said to Noah,

This is the sign of the covenant

that I have established between me

and all flesh that is on the earth.

Good morning.

For those of you who don't know me,

my name is Eric Scott.

I'm the youth guy here at Watermark Church.

This past week,

we had a very special celebration.

It was Tobin's birthday.

And we as a staff decided to do a skit

to celebrate, not make fun of,

celebrate Tobin on his birthday.

And for some reason,

I can't think of why they chose me

to play Tobin in this skit.

And I had to dress up like Tobin.

I think I wore this exact outfit, actually.

And I had to say a number of lines

that Tobin always says.

One of those lines

that I've been thinking a lot about this week

is many Sundays he'll get up here

and he'll say,

Today's passage

is possibly the hardest passage

in the Bible to preach on.

And the first couple times

you hear him say that,

you're like,

Okay, this one must be a really tough one.

And then you hear him say it like five times

or eight times,

and you're like,

Where is the actual hardest passage

to preach on?

But as I thought about that line this week,

I realized the secret.

The secret is,

whatever passage you have to preach on this week

automatically is the hardest passage

in the Bible to preach on.

So today we're going to be looking at

the flood.

The past couple weeks

we've been going through the book of Genesis.

Tobin started us off two weeks ago

looking at creation.

And he said,

If you look at the Bible's story of creation,

it's different than every other

ancient creation narrative.

In all of the other ones,

there's creation out of chaos,

out of a conflict,

out of a lack.

But in the Bible,

you see God creating out of an overflow

of his goodness.

And because of this,

he makes the creation good.

He creates man in his own image

and gives him this worth

that you don't find

in any other creation narrative.

He creates man and woman

and makes them for community.

He places them in a garden together

and they're naked and unashamed,

the Bible tells us.

And Tobin pointed out

that that is not just a physical thing,

but also an emotional thing

where they were fully known

by each other.

They had no fears,

nothing to hide from each other.

And last week,

we had Michael Ramston come in

and he talked about the fall.

Adam and Eve,

they had one command from God

not to eat the fruit

from one tree.

They believed a lie

that that fruit would make them

just like God.

They ate the fruit.

sin entered the world.

And with that,

alienation came in.

And Michael went through

this comprehensive list

of the types of alienation

that entered the world

with sin.

There was internal,

psychological alienation

where we are not at peace

with ourselves anymore.

There's spiritual alienation

where we're separated

and cut off from God.

There's social alienation

where we are cut off

from fully being able

to interact with one another.

There's ecological alienation

where the world around us

is a broken place

and it is breaking down

and we have global warming.

There's vocational alienation

where the jobs

that we were created to do

don't satisfy us

and don't function

like they were created to.

And then there's

physical degradation

where our bodies break down

and eventually we die physically.

And Michael said

that this picture of death

that enters the world at sin

is the most comprehensive view

of death that you can ever find.

But that despite humanity's rebellion

against God,

despite the fact that we had failed

so terribly,

despite the fact that we had brought

this death on ourselves,

God did not simply hit a reset button

on creation to start over.

He decided that he was going

to rescue this creation.

And so today we're going to start

looking at the story

as it moves forward.

If you follow the story,

the first two chapters of the Bible,

Genesis chapter 1 and 2,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

tell of creation.

Genesis 3 is Adam and Eve

eating the fruit.

In the next chapter,

Genesis 4,

Adam and Eve have two sons,

Cain and Abel.

And Cain murders Abel

in cold blood

because God accepted Abel's sacrifice

and not Cain's

and Cain was angry about it.

And then you get to Genesis chapter 6

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

where it says,

the thoughts and intentions

of man's hearts

were only evil continuously.

It's a sort of big, rapid jump.

Eat a fruit,

three chapters later,

the thoughts and intentions

of man's heart

are only evil continuously.

I think, for me at least,

when I look at that,

it's like,

what happened here?

Why did this escalate so quickly?

But the thing is

that it's actually

a very logical progression.

In the garden,

God created Adam and Eve

to have a relationship with him.

He created himself

as the center of their lives.

And then,

by eating the fruit,

by disobeying him,

they separated themselves from him

and cut themselves off

from this life.

Moving forward,

humanity is operating

in the sense of separation,

in the status of separation from God

and spiritual deadness.

And that,

as the human actions get worse,

it's not that humanity's condition

is actually becoming worse

and worse and worse,

it's just that they're showing

more and more symptoms

of their state

that's already inside themselves.

The fact is,

ever since Adam and Eve

eat the fruit,

humanity is dead,

separated from God,

alienated.

And the question's not

how did it escalate so quickly

in just three chapters

and a few generations

to,

from eating a fruit

to being only evil continually.

The question is,

how much grace did God

have to show

to restrain it

from just happening

instantly like that?

But we get to Genesis chapter 6.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

The thoughts and intentions

of man's hearts

are only evil continuously.

It's a great,

happy way

to start out this passage,

right?

And we see God

looking in

at this situation

and he says

something has to be done

about this.

This cannot endure.

I'm going to wipe out

everything on the earth.

And he decides

to send a flood,

to destroy everything,

but out of this creation

he's going to save

one man

and his family.

He's going to save

a man named Noah.

He's going to save

a couple

of every type of animal

out there

so that they can

repopulate the earth

after this destruction

is complete.

Now as a kid

I was always

sort of taught

that God saved Noah

because Noah

was a good guy.

But if you look

at the Bible

that's not actually

what it tells us.

It tells us that

Noah found favor

in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah received grace.

Noah,

just like everyone else

in his day,

was a sinner.

Noah,

just like everyone else

in his day,

deserved death

for his sin.

And the one thing

that saved Noah

from being destroyed

in this flood

with the rest of creation

was grace.

And so

I think,

again,

I have a question

that I ask

when I look at this story.

why didn't God

save more people?

He sends a flood

on the earth,

he saves eight people.

Why not more?

But I think

that's the wrong question.

I think the question is

why would he save

any at all?

Why would he choose

to show grace?

Because it was

only by grace alone

and not

by their merit

that they

are chosen

to be saved

in this situation.

So God comes to Noah,

he says,

Noah,

I want you to build

an ark.

He says,

go for wood,

here are the dimensions

that you have to build,

build it,

fill it with animals,

and I'm going to send

a flood,

I'm just going to wipe

everything out,

you're going to be on there,

you're good to go.

And as God comes to Noah,

Noah obeys.

We see that repeatedly

in this passage.

God tells Noah

to do something,

Noah obeys.

Noah can't see

the full picture,

but every step of the way,

as God tells him

what to do next,

he does it.

And every step of the way,

as Noah obeys,

God shows himself

to be faithful.

God takes care of Noah,

God protects Noah

and his family.

And I think,

just as a side note,

Noah can be a great example

to us in this.

If you look at the story,

God comes to Noah,

gives him a command

to do something

which had never been done before,

in preparation for an event

that had never happened before.

If you look for any

human logical explanation

for why Noah

should have done this,

there was none.

The Bible tells us

that before Noah's time,

it had never rained before

on the earth.

Noah lived in a dry area.

And God says,

build a big boat.

And Noah's like,

okay.

He starts building.

There had never,

if Noah looked

for a logical reason

to build this boat,

to obey God,

he never would have found one

because it didn't exist

because the things

that God was saying

were going to happen

had never happened before.

And yet,

Noah trusted God's goodness.

Noah trusted God's faithfulness.

Noah obeyed.

Noah built the boat.

And God rescued him.

And I think a lot of times

in our lives,

we feel God calling us

to do something.

And we're like,

I need to find

a logical reason

why I should obey God.

But the thing is,

he's God.

And sometimes,

there's no logical,

reasonable explanation

for why we should do things

other than that

God said to do it.

And everyone else

will look at us

and say like,

that's weird,

what's he doing?

But if God tells us

to do it,

then God will be faithful

to protect us

and keep us safe

and take care of us

through that.

And so,

Noah obeys.

Noah builds the ark.

God protects him

and his family.

Noah loads the animals

onto the ark.

They get everything ready.

And then,

the doors of the ark close

and the rains come.

And if you look

at the story of the flood,

it's actually really interesting.

In many ways,

it's an undoing

and redoing of creation.

If you look at the story

of creation

in Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

you have,

it starts out with just,

there's darkness

over the face of everything

and there's water everywhere

and the spirit's hovering

over the water.

And then,

the days of creation come

and God makes light

and then God separates

the water below

from the water above

and he brings chaos,

he shapes chaos

into order.

He makes land,

he makes plants

and trees,

he makes the sun,

moon,

and stars,

he makes birds

and fish

and animals on the ground,

he makes man

in his own image.

And as you look

at the story of the flood,

basically all of this

happens backwards.

birds.

So,

day one,

the light was created.

In the flood,

the clouds come in

and cover up the light

and darkness is here

once again.

Day two of creation,

you've got the waters

below on the earth

separated from the waters

above,

but in the flood,

the rains come

and these waters

are once again combined.

Day three of creation,

you've got the land

coming up out of the water,

but as the flood comes,

it comes up

and it covers up

all of the land.

Day four of creation,

the sun, moon,

and stars are created

and again,

they're covered

by the clouds

so that they can't

be seen temporarily.

Day five of creation,

the fish are created,

they can sort of

survive the flood,

I guess,

but the birds,

the birds are wiped out.

And then day six

of creation,

the animals that go around

on the ground

and man are created

and again,

they are wiped out

by the flood

so that by the end

of the 40 days,

we're back to the state

where water is over

the face of everything.

We're back

to the very beginning

of the creation story

where there's just

darkness and water.

And it's at this point

that God begins

to restore

this work of creation.

And interestingly,

he doesn't,

like Michael said

last week,

he doesn't just

hit a reset button,

he saves a remnant

from the original creation

to come back

and repopulate

this new creation.

creation.

But as we look

at the story,

the clouds part

and light comes in again

in day one.

The waters below

and the waters above

separate as the rain stops,

mirroring day two

of creation.

As time goes by,

the waters on the earth

lower and the land

once again comes out

and trees and plants

begin to grow,

mirroring day three

of creation.

The sun, moon,

and stars,

they'd always been there,

but they become visible again,

mirroring day four

of creation.

The first animal

that Noah sends out

of the boat

is a raven,

a bird,

which was created

on day five

of creation.

And the second animal

he sends out,

the story tells us,

is a dove.

And then finally,

the ark lands

and they unload

and all of the animals

created on day six

leave the ark.

And the parallels

don't end there.

after the creation narrative,

God tells man

in Genesis 1

that he has been created

in God's image.

And in Genesis chapter 9,

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

after the people

get off the ark,

God reminds them

of the fact

that they have been created

in his image.

In Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God gives man rule

over the earth.

In Genesis chapter 9,

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

God again tells them,

you are in charge

of these animals.

In Genesis,

the creation narrative,

God gives this command

to be fruitful

and multiply

and build the earth.

And in Genesis 9,

this command is repeated.

The parallels are amazing.

And there's one more parallel

that's there as a reminder

of the effects of sin

that remain after the flood.

Because in the creation story,

we see Adam and Eve

after the creation

has been completed.

They're in this garden.

Things are good

and they're naked

and they're unashamed.

And they're together.

And this nakedness

is a sign of trust,

of obedience,

of faith in God,

a perfect community.

But with Noah,

after the ark lands,

he goes and he plants

a garden of his own.

He plants a vineyard.

Out of this vineyard,

he makes some wine.

He drinks the wine

and gets drunk.

And he lays naked

naked in the tent

in his garden.

But unlike Adam and Eve,

whose nakedness in the garden

was a picture of faith

and obedience and trust,

Noah's nakedness in the garden

is a sign of sin and shame

that remains

from human rebellion against God.

His son walks in

and sees him

and Noah ends up cursing

his own son

because of this.

So we can see

that God takes

the creation

that had been there.

He wipes it out.

He brings back

man and the animals.

But the effects of sin

that God had been

working to wipe out

are not fully wiped out

in this creation.

Although he had wiped out

the sin around

Noah's family,

he had not wiped out

the sin

within Noah

and his family.

And so as I looked

at this story this week

and I thought,

how does this make

a difference in my life?

I found a few different ways.

The first way

is that

all of my community

must be centered

around God.

If you look at

Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God creates man and woman

and as he creates them

he puts himself

at the center

of their community.

He creates Adam

out of the dust

and the first thing

that Adam sees

when he comes to life

is God.

And he knows himself

as created

in God's image

in this relationship

with God.

And when God decides

to make a woman

he doesn't just say

oh, here's a woman Adam.

He puts Adam to sleep,

takes Adam's rib

and makes a woman

and the first thing

that the woman sees

when she comes to life

is God

because her boy is asleep.

And she sees God

and she understands herself

in this relationship

with God

and it's only after

she's established

the fact

that she is in this

relationship with God

first and foremost

that God introduces

Adam and Eve

to each other.

And as they go

through life together

they understand

that although

this is good

although they are meant

to be together

God is ultimately

the one at the center

of it.

And with the fall

that understanding

is lost.

At the fall

human community

in many ways

replaces God

in our lives.

So that when you look

at Genesis chapter 6

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

as God's explaining

why he's sending

the flood

it talks about

how the sons of God

saw that the daughters

of man were attractive.

Many people think

that this means

that the guys

who believed in God

were going

and marrying

any girl

regardless of

whether she believed

in God

or cared about God

or whatever

and they were

putting their desire

to be loved

and their desire

to be with someone

in a relationship

before their desire

to be in a relationship

with God.

And this community

that God created

for good

to point us back

towards him

instead becomes

an idol

that replaces him

in these people's lives

and that drives them

away from God.

And this is something

that I see in my life

all the time.

Like I love

love being around people.

Like I think

I have a problem

because I just

like I get energized

by being around people

I enjoy being around people

and when I'm by myself

for too long

I'm just like

I want to scream

because I want to be

around people.

And I think

in many ways

this is a good thing

right?

This is an echo

of that need

for community

that God created

within us.

But in many ways

this is also

a product

of my fallen state

because when I reach

this point

I just want people

around me so badly

that I reach out

and I cling to people

and rather than

seeing them

as gifts

from God

to help point me

back to them

I see them as tools

to help fulfill

my desire

to be loved.

Rather than

using them

to help me

worship God

I use them

as idols

that point me

away from God.

And in these times

rather than

engaging in true

gospel community

I look for people

who I think

will make me feel good.

I look for people

who I can be

comfortable around.

And rather than

using community

for worship

it drives me

away from God.

Rather than

having God

at the center

of my community

I put myself

at the center

of my community.

And everyone there

is there for me.

At least in my mind.

And this story

reminds me

that God

has to be

at the center

of my community.

In this story

when man

puts himself

at the center

of his community

rather than God

God wipes him out

and after the flood

he again

places himself

at the center

of human community

by making

a covenant

with man.

The first thing

off the boat

he makes a covenant

reestablishing himself

as the center

of our community.

And so in my life

I need to

put God

at the center

of all my community.

The second thing

that I saw

from the story

of the flood

that I think

really impacts my life

is that I need

to remember

this one

this one's gonna like

make us

cringe a little bit

I think

when we hear it.

but remember

God's role

as judge

in the earth.

See I think

we don't like

to think about God

in his role

as a judge

because it's uncomfortable

it's not fun

it's not safe.

And I think

there are two main reasons

why we don't like this.

First off

we want God

to exist

to make us happy.

At least I do

in my life.

In my life

I am the person

that I spend

the most time with.

Everything that I do

I think back to

how will this impact me?

When I look around

at the world

I think

I want to be happy.

I'm aware

of how everything else

in life impacts me.

And I want God

to be just as concerned

about making me happy

as I am.

And I think

that's probably

a pretty universal thing.

Am I the only one?

I hear giggles

so I think

I'm not the only one.

I think they're

nervous giggles.

I don't want to confess

that that's actually me too.

And so

I want God

to exist

to make me happy.

And if God is judge

and if God's judgment

can mean that he sends

a flood

that wipes people out

that seems contrary

to their happiness.

Because part of happiness

would seem to be

being alive

to enjoy that happiness.

And so the fact

that God is judge

goes against

my desire here

for God to exist

to make me happy.

We think

God's job

is to give us

good grades in school

help us get the right job

get the right promotion

find the right spouse

have the right kids

have a great house

and put us in a position

where we can get

everything else

we need in life

on our own.

I think that

a lot of times

is the definition

of happy

that we assign

God to give us.

But the thing is

if you look at the Bible

that's not

God's role.

That's not why

God exists.

It's actually not

that God exists

to make us happy

but that we exist

for God's sake.

Colossians chapter 1

Colossians 1:16

verse 16

says

Now we fall into that list

under visible things

and things on earth.

So we're included

in that list

and it says

that we have been created

by God

for God.

We exist

for God

not Him

existing

for us.

If we continue

looking at the Bible

Psalm 4610

says

Be still

and know

that I am God.

I will be exalted

among the nations.

I will be exalted

in the earth.

The purpose

of the earth existing

is not for Eric Scott

to be happy

and comfortable.

The purpose

of the earth existing

is for God

to be glorified.

And again

in Ephesians 2

when it's talking

in this wonderful passage

about God's work

of saving us

when we were rebels

and aliens against Him.

It says

that God's work

of saving us

was not so that

He could show

how wonderful

and amazing we are

but so that

in the coming ages

He might make known

the riches

of His mercy

in kindness

towards us

in Christ Jesus.

He saves us

so He can show off

how great and amazing

He is.

we exist

for the glory

of God

which means

that God

has the right

to do with us

what He pleases

and if that includes

judging us

when we deserve it

then He has

the right

to do that

according to the Bible.

Now the second reason

that we don't like

the idea of God

being a judge

is that we don't

actually think

we're that bad.

we look around

ourselves

and think

Hitler

he was a bad guy

I'm not him

I deserve another chance

Stalin

he was a bad guy

I'm not that bad

I haven't killed

that many people

yet

I deserve another chance

and as long

as we look

around ourselves

at broken humanity

we can always find

someone worse

than us

to compare ourselves

against

so that we can say

I think I deserve

another chance

and we think of God

as operating on

this same scale

like we're a little

better than someone else

maybe he's a little

better than us

but that doesn't

give him the right

to judge us

right?

The problem is

that's not how

the scale works

it's not that

Hitler is here

and we're here

and God is here

the problem is

that God is totally

different than us

that he is perfect

he is good

and we are not

that we as his

creation

owe him

our allegiance

and we instead

have been rebels

and traitors

and turned against him

and as a result

of this

it's not that

we deserve to just

be looked down on

a little

and be like

sorry you're not

as good as me

but we deserve

death

and so

as we look

at our state

we see

that

God has the right

to judge us

because we exist

for his sake

that we deserve

to be judged

because we're sinful

and we are not

up to his standard

and that just

doesn't make

any good news

does it?

If we look at

this problem

of God being judged

if we put ourselves

in the story

of the flood

basically we see

that we're drowning

with everyone else

and we deserve

to be drowning

with everyone else

which at least

in my book

is not good news

but there is

good news

in this story

see the flood

was an act of love

the flood

was an act of love

because God's

greatest concern

among us

is setting his people

apart for himself

because he knows

that the path

to true life

lies in a relationship

with himself

and that sin

is a barrier

to that relationship

so in the flood

when God acts

to wipe out

sin

he's tearing down

the barriers

that keep Noah

and his family

from being able

to experience

this perfect relationship

with him

that God

cares

so much

about his people

being able to have

this right relationship

with himself

that he would sacrifice

everything

including the rest

of creation

in order to accomplish it

and tear down the barriers

that keep it from happening

and as we look

at the story

of the Bible

there is one

other place

where we see

the great extent

to which God

will go

in order to tear down

every barrier

that keeps his people

away from himself

there's one other story

in the Bible

that shows

the great extent

to which God

hates sin

the great extent

to which God

wants this sin

torn away

from creating

a barrier

between us

and him

and unlike

the flood

this other one event

is absolutely

successful

in its work

and that one other event

that shows

how great

God's love is

for us

how much

he desires

to have this barrier

of sin

taken away

from our relationship

with him

is the death

of his son

on the cross

the cross

is how

God's role

as judge

can be good news

to us

because although

we deserve

his judgment

although he has

the right to judge us

he steps in

and he takes

our place

and takes

his full wrath

upon himself

so that we don't

have to bear it

the cross

is the place

where God's justice

as one who is perfect

and cannot be

in the presence

of sin

and God's love

as the one

who wants

to rescue

the sinners

who have turned

against him

come together

and where once

for all

sin is defeated

and destroyed

and we

who stand

deserving of judgment

can be set free

without God

having to give up

his justice

and I think

as long

as we

try and downplay

the role

of God

as judge

we're going

to create

a lot

of problems

we're going

to downplay

the severity

of our sin

because

if God's not

actually going

to judge it

then I can

do whatever

I want

we're going

to downplay

the importance

of salvation

because if

Christianity

is a life system

that works

for me

and Buddhism

works for someone

else

and atheism

works for someone

else

then they found

what works

for them

no problem

but if there

is a God

who is judge

then it's not

just about

finding what

works for you

it's about

finding truth

because the truth

is if God

exists as a judge

like the Bible

says that he does

there's going

to come a day

of judgment

and the only hope

for us

just like the only hope

for Noah

of being saved

is grace

and that grace

is found

through the cross

and so if it is

true that God

is a judge

as the Bible

says that he is

we must emphasize

the importance

of salvation

in our lives

and the lives

of those around us

because Christ's

work on the cross

is the only way

to escape

this judgment

if we downplay

God's role

as judge

we downplay

God's love

for us

because if there's

no judgment

coming on us

what's the point

of the cross

what's God

showing us

in the cross

the thing

that makes

the cross

so powerful

is the fact

that God

is a righteous

judge

that God

does have

wrath

coming against

us

for our sin

and that he

stepped in

and he took

our place

that the judgment

that we deserve

fell on him

instead of us

if we downplay

God's role

as judge

we're going

to rob others

from the opportunity

to hear about

this great salvation

because we're not

going to be inspired

to tell them

about it

and so

understanding

that God

is judge

is hugely

important

in the story

of the flood

and the one

other way

that the story

of the flood

should impact

my life

is to give me

hope

because as we

look at the

Bible's story

of the flood

and its effects

God works

this great

catastrophe

that wipes

sinful humanity

off the face

of the planet

but it does

not ultimately

succeed

the sin

around Noah's

family is wiped

out but the sin

within Noah's

family remains

and it carries

through to today

so that each

of us

is sinful

each of us

rebels against

God

each of us

lives in this

broken world

each of us

feels the effects

of this broken

world

every day

the Bible

promises

us

that a day

is coming

when God's

going to step

in and he's

going to make

all things

new

that a day

is coming

when there

will be a

new heavens

and a new

earth

and that God's

people will

live with him

forever in this

new earth

and that it

will be free

from sin

that what

was accomplished

in part in the

flood will one

day be accomplished

in full

that we can live

in this place

of perfect joy

perfect peace

perfect happiness

with God

forever

and that the

accomplishment

of this

is made possible

only through

the cross

and the death

of his son

so let's pray

father we thank you

for the fact

that you

love your people

we thank you

for the fact

that you are

committed to do

anything

to tear down

the barriers

that keep us

from you

we thank you

for the cross

for you

stepping in

and bearing

the judgment

that we deserve

for dying

in our place

for taking

the punishment

for our sin

for defeating

its power

once and for all

we pray that

as we go

throughout this

week

that this

reminder

of your power

of your justice

and of your love

will empower us

to love our

neighbors

to share your

good news

with them

and to walk

in a way

that is obedient

to you

and to live

with hope

of the day

when you will

step in

and once for all

make all things

new

and that we will

be able to live

with you forever

on this new earth

in Jesus name

amen

you