We finished kind of the first half or the first third of Genesis chapter 6 last week
and what we realized was there was not 900 foot tall half-angel creatures that were walking around at one time.
Obviously that's a ridiculous teaching, but what we're going to focus on in this sermon
is the fact that Noah finds grace in the eyes of the Lord and salvation has always been by grace through faith.
And I don't have it in my notes, but you know, I kind of skipped over last week,
but let's start at verse number 6 instead of starting at verse 8.
Let's start at verse 6.
The Bible reads,
This is the first instance in the Bible where you see that very controversial word repent.
Now here's the thing.
You talk to a lot of churches and a lot of people.
If you ask them, what does it mean to repent?
They're going to say to turn from your sins, right?
To be sorry for your sins, to turn from your sins, turn over newly, make some changes,
get rid of your sins, get rid of your alcohol and stuff like that.
But what we notice is the first person repenting in the Bible is the Lord.
Look, the Lord's not a sinner.
He has no sins.
So he's not repenting of sins where it's like, oh man, I was committing a sin and now I'm going to stop sinning.
The Lord is perfect, right?
It's not just the first time repentance is mentioned,
but the most commonly one who repents throughout the entire Bible is the Lord.
He repents over and over again.
And what that means is it's basically a change.
Basically the Lord was this way.
He says, I'm going to change toward this way.
Okay, I've changed my mind about having man on the earth.
Now, here's the thing.
Repenting can be applied to sins and there are some verses you would apply it to that
because it could be you're changing your mind about your sin or you are turning from your sin.
But in terms of salvation, it is never linked to turning from sins.
And it does not always mean to turn from sins.
It means to change or to turn.
Because you'll tell people, well, the Bible says salvation is whosoever believe it.
And then they'll show you a verse with the word repent.
And they're like, see, there's the word repent right there.
It's like, well, the word repent is in Genesis chapter 6.
Are you saying that God turned from his sins and got saved?
Right?
I mean, the word repent means to change.
Does not mean to turn from your sins.
It means to turn but not necessarily from your sins.
And when applied to salvation, you are never going to see it say turn from your sins to be saved.
What you'll see is repent and believe the gospel.
That's not saying turn from your sins and believe the gospel.
What it's saying is you're trusting in the wrong thing to save you.
You're trusting in Buddha.
You're trusting Muhammad.
Turn from that belief and believe on Jesus.
Repent ye and believe the gospel.
Change your mind about what you believe and believe the gospel.
And so the first time you see the word repent, it's the Lord repenting.
Well, then in verse 8, it says this.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Now, I believe we can apply that verse to two different things here.
One of them is the fact that he found grace in God's eyes that God spared Noah and his family.
And that's true.
That's also an analogy about salvation because people are saved by grace through faith.
And of course, today we say that people are saved by grace through faith.
Obviously, Ephesians 2, the very famous scripture, we say we're saved by grace through faith.
But even before the flood, Noah was saved by grace.
This is what the Bible teaches.
Now, go to Hebrews chapter 11.
Go to your New Testament, Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11.
Because you might say, Brother Stuckey, that's just one verse where it says Noah found grace.
But how do you know that, you know, you can apply that to salvation?
How do you know that Noah got saved by faith alone?
How do you know there wasn't anything else attached to it?
Well, in Hebrews 11, we have a very famous scripture where it talks about the Hall of Faith,
the very famous chapter, right?
You think of sports, you talk about the Hall of Fame for baseball and basketball.
Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Faith because it's got this list of these great people
that have lived throughout the history of the world.
And it says in verse 1 of Hebrews 11,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,
for by it the elders obtained a good report.
And so it's called the Hall of Faith because it's all about faith
and it's talking about all these great people that have lived both before the time of Christ
and then just all the people from before the flood and after the flood
and people that have died serving God.
And it talks about them by faith, they accomplish things.
Now when it comes to faith, getting saved is by faith alone,
but we need to live our lives by walking by faith as well.
Look at verse number 6, though.
It says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
If we do not have faith, we cannot please God.
Then he says, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
That's a reference to salvation.
You come to God like, come on to me, right?
Referring to salvation, you must believe that he is.
You must believe Jesus is the only way to heaven to be saved.
You must believe that he is the Messiah.
He's the Christ, nobody else.
And so look, without faith, it's impossible to please God.
If you don't put your faith in Jesus Christ, you're not going to be saved, right?
When you come to God, you must believe that he is.
You must understand what salvation is.
But he also says that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Now that part of the verse is not in reference to salvation, right?
We live our lives by faith, and part of that is you got to get saved.
You cannot please God if you're not saved.
Now you can fear God without being saved.
Cornelius is an example.
You cannot please God without being saved.
Now I believe that if you fear God,
God is going to give you an opportunity to hear the gospel and get saved.
But you can't please God without being saved, according to verse 6.
But just because you're saved doesn't mean that you please God, right?
You must be saved to please God,
but just being saved alone doesn't mean that God is pleased with you.
Because he wants you to be saved, and that's part of the equation,
but he wants you to walk by faith.
And what it says is that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
He wants people to live their lives that believe there are rewards up in heaven,
and I'm going to diligently seek after the Lord for those rewards.
And if you don't live your life by faith trying to do mighty things,
God's not pleased with you either.
You have to believe on Christ,
but you also have to walk by faith if you want God to be pleased with you.
And doesn't that make sense?
I love my kids, and God is going to love you forever if you're saved.
But here's the thing, it doesn't mean that I'm always pleased with my kids, right?
Now, of course, I'm going to love my kids more than any other kids.
Isn't that obvious?
But here's the thing, just because they're kids doesn't mean that I'm always pleased with them, right?
When they do wrong, I'm not pleased with them.
Earlier today, I was not pleased with my son Zephaniah, right?
And here's the thing, it's the same thing with God as a child of God.
Just being his child does not mean that God is pleased with you.
He wants you to obey.
He wants you to live your life seeking after those rewards, right?
Serving God with the judgment seat of Christ,
you're not going to be ashamed,
but you're going to look through the rewards as the fire comes.
It's like, man, I had some things last through the fire.
Being saved alone does not mean that God is pleased with you.
But then notice this in verse 7.
By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Now, in verse 6, it talks about without faith, it's impossible to please God.
And it mentions two things.
One of them is in reference to salvation.
You must believe that he is.
The other one is in reference to living a holy and godly life.
So the indication is that all the characters mentioned in Hebrews 11 did both of those things.
God was pleased with them because they got saved,
but also they diligently sought God.
So here's the thing.
It mentions a lot of characters that were Old Testament characters.
Noah is before the flood.
And how did he get saved?
Well, by faith, according to Hebrews 11 verse 6.
There's nothing about works.
Now look, the whole verse of Hebrews 11 verse 6 is not all about salvation
because the last part is about seeking after God and serving God, right?
Well, here's the thing.
It mentions Noah in verse 7.
And it mentions the fact that, you know what?
He was moved with fear and he prepared an ark.
So that is walking by faith because of the fact he didn't see the flood coming.
He just trusted what God said.
And he was already saved,
but he was walking by faith because he heard God say,
I'm going to flood this world.
He was moved with fear because he was afraid of God and said,
you know what?
I better prepare for that because he was walking by faith.
Okay, and what it says was he became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith.
Now, why is he the heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith?
So you think of the word heir.
Think of, for example, you know,
you have a family and there's a lot of money
or inheritance that gets passed down and you get the deeds to the house.
And you're the heir to your parents,
you know, house and fortune and all those things.
Well, it says the righteousness which is by faith.
Well, eight people were on that ark.
There is Noah and his wife and then his three sons
and then his three daughter-in-laws.
So anybody who's born after that point has some of the blood of Noah,
obviously, right?
He was the one who came off that ark
and he's the heir which is of the righteousness,
which is by faith.
So it's very clear in Hebrews 11,
if it wasn't clear in Genesis 6,
that Noah was saved by faith.
We're saved by grace through faith,
meaning we don't deserve it.
Oftentimes people define grace as unmerited favor,
which is a solid definition to say.
And so it's something we don't deserve,
but God allows us to have it by faith.
Okay, and go to Romans 4.
Romans 4.
So look, salvation has always been by grace through faith.
It's always been by grace through faith.
It's never changed and it never will change.
It's not like we have to worry about,
wow, one day if we live during the end times,
man, we better make sure we're doing the works
because we might lose it.
We might take the mark of the beast
and lose our salvation because during the end times,
and this is what people will say.
The same people that talk about the 900 foot tall,
you know, jolly green giant or whatever,
the same ones that talk about how you got to live a good life
during the end times to be saved, right?
They have all kinds of heresies
and weird teachings that they mix in,
but the Bible is very clear
that everyone in the Old Testament was saved by faith.
They weren't saved by their works.
You say, well, why did they do all the animal sacrifices?
Because that pictured Jesus Christ.
That wasn't for them to be saved,
but it was a picture of Jesus Christ.
And all of the Old Testament is pointing
toward Jesus Christ in one way or another.
Romans 4 verse 1.
You say, well, brother, that's only one
Old Testament character, show me another.
Romans 4 verse 1.
What shall we say then that Abraham our father
as pertained to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath aware of the glory, but not before God.
And so the Bible says that if Abraham
were justified by his works, he could glory.
Isn't that similar to Ephesians 2 8 and 9
where it says lest any man should boast?
Because if you got to heaven by your works,
you could say, I deserve to be in heaven, right?
I look at all my works.
Look at what I accomplished, right?
So here's the thing.
Abraham, he couldn't get by works
because then he could glory in himself
and not in Christ.
Guess what?
The same is true about Noah.
If he got to heaven by his works,
he could say, look at how good I am, right?
I am so good, I earned my way to heaven.
The same thing is true today.
If somebody got saved by their works,
they could boast in glory and say,
look at what I accomplished.
Look at my lifestyle.
Look at how great I am.
But see, Abraham was not justified by works
because of the fact he'd be able to boast in himself.
But you know what?
Everybody in heaven is going to say,
I believe that Jesus Christ died for me
and praise the Lord because I didn't deserve this.
Right?
We go so many.
And I always tell people when I go so many,
I always say, you know, as I'm in Revelation 21 8,
you know, kurapa dapa tayo nang impirim.
All of us, right?
When was there ever a point in human history
where that's not true, though?
Because the reason why we can't earn our way to heaven
is because we've sinned.
They sinned 3,000 years ago, too.
They sinned 4,000 years ago.
They sinned 5,000 years ago.
They're going to sin 1,000 years from now
if the world lasts that long.
Look, people are sinners.
It's never been any different.
So the same reason why we can't earn our way to heaven
is the same reason no one could earn their way to heaven.
Works were never going to cut it
because of the fact we're sinners.
Right? It's so simple.
It's so basic. It's a gift.
Verse 3, for what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So how was he saved?
Well, he was saved by putting his faith in Jesus Christ,
in the coming Messiah.
Obviously, he's before Jesus Christ.
So, look, obviously they didn't understand
every single thing about Jesus.
They didn't know His name before the time of Christ.
But they believed by faith
that God would provide Himself a sacrifice.
That's what it says in Genesis 22.
God will provide Himself a lamb.
And Abraham's aware of it to some degree.
Abraham's also aware of there being a resurrection
because he's willing to sacrifice his son.
They might not have gotten all the timeline correct,
but he's aware of those basic things.
It's not like they're ignorant of that in the Old Testament,
but what they got saved by was faith in something
they had not seen.
Now, of course, we are after the time of Christ,
and we are putting our faith in something
we haven't seen either.
We trust by faith that it's true.
And look, faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Right? The Bible says that, yeah, you know, it's by faith,
and we don't see all these things.
And throughout the Bible, we were saying,
if I only saw it, I would believe it.
But you know what? That's a lie.
Because Jesus Christ literally rose again,
and people still didn't.
They still didn't believe, right?
Because some people were just not going to believe
no matter what. They refused to believe.
They're stubborn.
Verse 4,
Now to him that worketh is a reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
And see, the Bible's saying that
if you try to work your way to heaven,
you know, what happens is debt.
You say, why is that?
Well, here's the thing. Look at it this way.
Let's say somebody commits a murder, okay?
And they're on trial, and they're guilty of murder,
and they've got six months before they have the sentencing
or whatever, and it's known that they committed the murder.
They're like, well, I'm just going to work off that murder, right?
I'm just going to do a lot of good works,
and then I'll be innocent of the murder.
Well, you're still not innocent of the murder.
And here's the thing.
According to the Bible, one lie is enough to condemn you.
So here's the thing.
Let's say you do a million good things today,
but you told one lie,
or you had a bad thought.
The thought of foolishness is sin.
You're in debt even more.
You say, man, but I did all these good things.
It doesn't matter.
You don't get proven innocent of a murder
because you did good works.
You're still guilty.
And see, in God's eyes, one lie is enough to condemn you.
So here's the thing.
You could do a million good things.
You didn't pay off the lie,
and yet you have even four sins on your record.
And yet, isn't this how most people are trying to get to heaven?
They're trying to work their way to heaven,
one way or another,
and God's going to say,
apart from them,
depart from me, I never knew you,
because you can't work your way to heaven.
It's not a record of grace, but of debt.
But see, the person who does not work,
meaning that they're not trying to work their way to heaven
or trust in their works,
it says, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
Look, if there is someone who believes on Christ
and puts all their faith in that
and is not trusting in their works,
they're saved,
even if they don't do any good works whatsoever,
even if they have no good works.
I ask people this when I'm giving the gospel.
Today I ask this lady this question in John 3.36.
I'll say there's two types of people,
and I'll give kind of the examples.
Let's say you have somebody
who believes in his heart,
but he doesn't go to church,
doesn't get baptized,
you know, he drinks.
He's not the greatest person,
but he truly does believe.
And I said, is that person going to go to heaven or hell?
Now, she said hell.
She answered wrong.
Thankfully, she changed her mind about what she believes
as I talked to her for five more minutes
and she got saved.
But she got that wrong
because people naturally assume,
well, you know what, if you don't have the works,
you go to hell.
Right? That's what they think.
And so we're trying to get them to change their mind
about what they believe.
And see, here's the thing.
The Bible says that if somebody believes
according to verse 5,
but they don't do works,
their faith is counted for righteousness.
And look, this is linked back to Abraham.
So what Paul does is links the New Testament
with the Old Testament and says it's the same.
The time of Abraham,
post-flood, free Christ,
along with, you know,
the time of post-resurrection of Jesus Christ,
salvation is by grace to faith.
That's what it says.
Verse 6,
Even as David also described it,
the blessedness of the man
unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
So David also talked about salvation
by being by grace through faith,
not our works.
So look, this is Old Testament.
We saw Noah.
We saw Abraham.
We saw David.
All of them were saved by grace through faith,
not their works.
Turn in your Bible to Acts 10.
Acts 10.
Acts chapter 10.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how do people answer that
that believe in dispensational salvation?
Because when you talk about dispensationalism,
there's kind of, you know,
different sorts of beliefs within that,
and kind of the really dangerous ones
are the ones who are teaching salvation is different
in different time periods.
Now, some people will say that we believe
God works differently in different time periods and stuff,
and they believe some weird doctrines,
but they don't believe salvation was different
throughout human times.
When you think of dispensational salvation,
these are people that believe salvation
has basically seven different time periods.
And basically, Adam and Eve were saved
by not eating the fruit.
That was their salvation,
and they screwed it up, okay?
This is what they say.
And they have different stages of salvation
depending on who.
Noah was saved by building an ark.
That's his physical salvation.
It's not a spiritual salvation.
And they'll go through all these different people,
but then they have very clear verses.
And what they'll say is this,
well, those are exceptions.
Exceptions, right?
And I think it was Gene Kim who said that.
He's like, it's an exception.
But that doesn't change the rules.
It's just an exception.
So, I mean, if David got saved by grace through faith,
why didn't other people get saved by grace through faith?
The other thing they say is this,
because Jesus Christ is preaching faith alone in John 3, right?
John the Baptist is preaching faith alone in John 3.
Very clearly, faith alone,
this is before the resurrection of Jesus.
And according to dispensational salvation,
before the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
salvation was by works.
They say you had to do the animal sacrifices and everything
because we say New Testament for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
but before the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
we're still looking at the old covenant, right?
So what dispensationists will say is,
yes, Jesus preached faith alone
even though it was by works then,
but what he was doing was preparing people
for when salvation would be by faith alone.
So basically, he was preaching something
that would take place in 30 years, but it wasn't true yet.
Well, in John 3, John the Baptist said,
he that believeth on the Son hath
present tense everlasting life.
Not one day will get up, but no half everlasting life.
The other question I would have is this,
if salvation, if Jesus and John the Baptist
were able to preach faith alone salvation
before salvation was by faith alone,
according to them, to prepare people,
well, let's say that the end time
is gonna happen in 20 years.
Can I preach salvation by works to prepare people
for when it's by works according to them?
Because they say during the end times,
you gotta work your way to heaven.
Can I just preach a work salvation
because one day it will be by works?
I mean, do you see how stupid this is?
It's ridiculous, but they can't answer
all of these different verses.
But see, if that's not good enough,
notice what it says in Acts 10 verse 43, or verse 37.
Acts 10 verse 37.
That word I say ye know, which was published
throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power,
who went about doing good and healing all
that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
And we are witnesses of all things which he did
both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree.
Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly,
not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God,
even to us who did eat and drink with him
after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach unto the people
and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God
to be the judge of the quick and dead.
To him give all the prophets witness
that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.
See, the Bible says all of the prophets witnessed this.
All of the prophets, they proclaimed
that whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.
Every single prophet in the Old Testament,
they preached faith alone,
whosoever believeth in him,
preaching about the coming Messiah
that will come and die and pay for the sins of the world.
They all preached that.
Now look, when we're reading the Old Testament,
it doesn't mean everything that's mentioned
is about salvation, though.
You look at the life of Elijah,
we don't see him preaching the gospel
in 1 Kings 17 and 18.
We see him doing these mighty works,
but that doesn't mean that he wasn't preaching the gospel
because in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith,
it talks about the great characters got saved by faith
and they walked by faith.
They did both of those things.
So just because the Bible's only showing us
them walking by faith
and not showing them getting saved as a six-year-old
or an eight-year-old or a 15-year-old or whatever
and then going out sowing every day
doesn't mean it didn't happen, though.
I mean, think about Elijah.
Elijah was told to hide by a river
and a raven was going to feed him for several years.
Do you really think that God would do that
if Elijah didn't have a chance
to preach the gospel one time?
Right? I mean, of course,
Elijah's preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
I mean, obviously, God's probably just providing people
that are just divine appointments
that happen to be there as well
because, you know, people are going down to the river,
getting, you know, something to drink,
relaxing or whatever.
He's probably preaching the gospel every day, right?
I don't believe that God's goal for someone
who is a soul winner is
I'm going to stick you in the wilderness for years
and you can't preach the gospel to anybody.
That doesn't make sense.
But see, here's the thing.
Just because the Bible doesn't mention
Elijah getting people saved in that time period,
logic would tell us that he is getting people saved.
Because otherwise, why would God have him
hiding by a brook for years?
It doesn't make sense.
Obviously, he's still serving the Lord
and if all he's doing is trying to survive for three years,
he's not serving the Lord, right?
Obviously, he was still able to preach the gospel
in that situation.
Turn back to Genesis chapter 6.
Genesis 6.
Now look, I'm not saying that there was nothing that changed
at the moment Jesus rose again.
One of the big things is the fact that
us that are saved today,
we are in dwell with the Holy Ghost.
In the Old Testament,
they were not in dwell with the Holy Ghost.
They would get filled with the Holy Ghost
to do mighty things.
Just like us today,
we get filled with the Holy Ghost to do things.
But they weren't in dwell with the Holy Ghost, okay?
They're still saved by faith alone.
Now, the question we would ask in our heads
is what if you run into someone who says,
you know what?
I believe salvation is by faith alone today,
but not yesterday and not forever.
It's like, you know the song,
Yesterday, Today, Forever,
but it's just like not yesterday,
but today, but not forever, right?
What if you run into someone who believes
salvation is by faith alone today,
but they don't believe it's always been by faith alone?
Well, the truth is we've all run into people like that,
especially here in the Philippines.
I mean, most Baptist churches preach
a repentance of sins, work salvation.
But even when they get salvation right for today,
they usually get it wrong for other time periods, right?
There's many preachers that are dispensational preachers.
The question is, are they saved?
Are they confused?
Well, you know, a couple of thoughts on that,
and I'm just going to give you my thoughts.
You might not have the exact same opinion,
but one thing to think of is,
you know, the book of Galatians.
At the church of Galatia, Paul the Apostle is writing about salvation
because that's what the church was messed up on
because these Judaizers were coming in
and telling them, well, if you're really saved,
you got to keep the Jewish laws,
and they're trying to apply it to salvation
and everything like that.
And then a lot of people are starting to get really confused.
And here's the thing, you know, Paul said,
I am afraid of you lest I've bestowed upon you labor in vain.
What Paul is saying is, I think you're saved.
I'm not quite sure.
It's like, I mean, I led many of you to the Lord.
I preached to you sermons.
You're screaming, amen, and loving every second.
But he's like, now I'm afraid of you
because did I bestow labor upon you in vain?
I mean, and when you're reading Galatians,
you can tell Paul's saying, you know what?
I'm not for sure whether you're saved or not.
And the reason why is because they're getting mixed up on salvation.
And here's the thing, most of them at the church of Galatia were saved.
So is it possible for a person to get confused that's saved?
Yes, it is possible because we see that with the church of Galatian.
They get very confused because they have false teachers coming in.
Look, if somebody gets saved today
and then they start going to a church that preaches repentance of sins
for year after year after year, you know what?
They're going to be a little bit confused and some stuff, right?
If you get saved and you don't hear this sort of preaching
and you go to a false church, you're going to have wrong doctrines.
You're going to have some wrong beliefs
and you're going to be a little bit confused about some stuff.
You're probably going to teach,
well, if you're really saved, you're probably going to do some works, right?
You're going to get confused.
Now, here's the thing, many of these preachers
that teach salvation is different in different time periods.
They've never read the Bible cover to cover.
What they've done is they've gotten saved
and gone to a Bible college or seminary
where basically they don't read the Bible.
They're just trained in Clarence Larkin's book on dispensationalism.
So what takes place?
Well, I mean, there's probably some saved people
that are confused on dispensationalism.
And here's the thing I would say about this, though.
Number one, you know what?
Of course, it's natural to question someone's salvation
if they have weird things about salvation.
When we go soul winning, we can only go off what people say.
We talk to someone and they tell us,
you can lose your salvation.
I assume they're not saved, right?
They tell me they got to repent of their sins
and quit drinking and quit smoking.
I assume they're not saved.
Now, here's the thing.
Sometimes you talk to people and they give you an answer
and it's kind of like a gray area
where you hope they're saved, but you're not really sure.
And here's the thing.
If they really are saved, though,
he that is of God heareth God's words.
So if somebody's really saved,
they've got the Holy Spirit of truth inside of them.
So if they've been lied to for years,
but they're really saved and you show them some verses,
it should click immediately with them, right?
You know, I remember someone I worked with a long, long time ago
and, you know, he said he was a Christian,
but I wasn't really sure, you know,
because everybody says they're a Christian
and I asked him what he thought it took to get to heaven.
He said, by grace through faith, it's not at works.
And I said, do you think you could ever lose your salvation?
And he's like, huh?
He said, I haven't really thought about that before.
And he was like kind of pausing because, you know,
I guess he hadn't really thought of it before.
He's like, I don't know, you know, maybe.
And then I gave him like one verse and immediately he's like,
oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense.
It's eternal life.
So how could you lose it?
To me, I think that person was saved
and it's just he got confused by false teachers.
He hadn't been trained in the right things
and he got a bit confused.
I remember when I got saved, you know, this question came up.
Well, how are people saved during the Old Testament?
And I remember I asked my pastor at the time
and I just started going to that church.
I've been saved for six months or eight months or something.
And then his answer was, that's a deep question.
He's like, you know, because he did sacrifices,
but were they required?
So basically he didn't really give me an answer.
He's like, everybody has different opinions
how they're saved in the Old Testament.
So I was like, well, you know, I guess I'm not 100% sure.
Now here's the thing, if somebody had come to me
and just shown me a few verses
and explained it in five minutes,
if I was sitting here right now,
listening to this sermon as a saved person,
I would immediately change and say,
man, that makes perfect sense.
I don't know why I was confused on it.
Of course, they couldn't be saved by their works
because we can't be saved by works today.
But until you hear it preached, you might get confused
because there's a lot of weird teachings out there.
So I personally believe there are some people
that could have a weird teaching on that.
They believe salvation is by grace through faith now,
but you know what, they're off on other time periods
because they've been brainwashed
and misled and stuff like that.
But at the same time, I would say,
I'm not confident in their salvation.
You say, why?
Because, you know, the first step of us preaching the gospel
is showing people that we cannot earn our way to heaven
and that we're all guilty.
So it's always been like that.
I mean, if we're all guilty today,
we've always, always been like that.
So if someone is off on that with salvation
at different time periods, it's like,
I hope you're just really confused about some stuff
because it should resonate if you're talking to them
when you explain it to them.
I would also say this,
most people that would have that teaching,
if you actually nailed them down on salvation today,
even though it would seem like they believe salvation
by grace through faith, it would probably manifest
that they don't actually believe that.
They probably believe it's by faith,
but that means you're gonna have works also.
But if somebody you actually ran into that was like that,
which there are people like that,
I think there's definitely people like that
that are confused because they've heard false teachings.
Of course, we've heard a lot of the truth from preaching,
but, you know, think about if you never went to church
and you just listened to Joel Osteen and whatever came on.
You'd believe a lot of weird things.
Now, Genesis chapter 6.
So number one, we see salvation is by grace
and it's always been like that,
but God spares the godly.
God spares the godly.
Notice verse 9.
These are the generations of Noah.
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God.
Now, when it says that he was perfect in his generations,
what it's saying is not that he's sinless,
but that he's a complete, complete believer.
He's reading the scriptures.
He's praying. He's doing everything.
And compared to other people,
Noah was the best during his time period.
Obviously, he was a sinner just like, you know, you and me,
but he was the best during his time period,
and it says Noah walked with God.
It's a reference throughout the Bible
of walking with the Lord and serving God, okay?
Then it says in verse 10,
And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence.
So the earth during this time period is very wicked.
This is the reason why God wants to start over.
Verse 12,
And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt,
for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah,
The end of all flesh has come before me,
for the earth is filled with violence through them,
and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
And so God is going to destroy the earth.
He's going to send a flood,
and he's speaking to Noah,
but Noah gets spared.
Why is it that Noah was spared?
Well, because of the fact
he was just and perfect in his generations.
He was better than anybody else.
And God said,
I'm going to basically use the greatest man, Noah,
and I'm going to spare him,
but also his entire family.
Go to James 4, James 4, James 4.
But what you must realize is this,
that even though there was only eight people
saved on the ark,
that does not mean that there's only eight people
that went to heaven that lived during that time period.
Because some people teach that.
They'll say,
Well, the only eight people that were spiritually saved
were Noah and his family.
No, there's a lot of people that were spiritually saved.
Just like in today's world,
most people don't want to live for God.
That doesn't mean that they're not saved, right?
Because people always try to attach works with salvation.
Well, if you're really saved,
you're going to do the works.
So obviously those are the only eight that were saved.
Because if they were really saved,
then they would have gotten on the ark, right?
People will say things like,
Well, you know what?
These people you say you're getting saved soul winning.
I mean, brother Stuckey,
you said you got somebody saved soul winning.
Where are they?
Why aren't they in church?
Because if they really got saved,
they'd be here today.
Well, I will say this.
On our invitation,
it does not say Tuesday evening.
And I only highlight Saturday.
So she didn't even know that we had service tonight.
But look, if she doesn't come on Saturday,
it doesn't mean she's not saved.
Just because you're saved
doesn't mean that you're going to start going to church.
Most people we get saved don't start going to church.
Okay.
Now notice what it says in James 4 verse 4.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God.
See, the Bible's indicating
that even if you're a saved person,
if you become a friend of the world,
you become an enemy with God.
You say why?
Because God is fighting against the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life.
And if you side up with the world against God,
you're God's enemies, right?
I mean, sometimes in life,
there's a line drawn in the sand
and there's basically two sides to be on.
And you can't say I'm on both sides.
It's like, you know,
do you believe salvation is by faith alone
or is it by works?
Well, you know, I believe both.
I believe it's by faith alone,
but if you're really saved,
you're going to have the works.
I mean, does that...
It's like people try to draw this middle line.
I mean, is salvation in Jesus Christ only
or is there another salvation?
Well, you know, I believe it's in Jesus, right?
Joel Osteen on Larry King.
He's like, yeah, you know, for me, it's Jesus.
But I mean, I can't judge those
that have never heard about Jesus, right?
And then he tells this story.
He talks about how his father was visiting India
and he's like, they're so spiritual in India.
And it's just like, yeah, that means they're saved.
It's like, what kind of spirit do they have though?
Right? I mean, like, what are they worshiping?
It's like, if it's not Christ,
it doesn't matter how spiritual they are.
Look, there's a lot of spiritual people around the world.
You know, in Mecca, they're pretty spiritual.
They're pretty religious.
Right? I mean, the Muslims are down there in Saudi Arabia
and they're really religious
and really zealous for what they believe.
It doesn't mean they're going to heaven.
It's the wrong God.
And if you side with the world,
you are an enemy of God, the Bible says.
Now go to Hebrews 10.
Hebrews chapter 10.
You say, what are you saying, brother Stuckey?
I'm saying that God killed some saved people in that flood.
He sent that flood, and you know what?
It didn't just wipe out unsaved people.
It wiped out some saved people.
Now when it comes to how many people are saved on earth,
we really have no idea.
And truthfully, we don't really know about the salvation
of the members that were on that ark as well.
I think all of us assume Noah's wife was probably saved.
I mean, the Bible doesn't directly say that.
I'm sure she was though.
Shem and Japheth, I'm assuming they were saved.
And if they're saved, probably their wives are saved.
But it doesn't necessarily tell us about those individuals.
But that's them physically being saved.
And the reason why they were physically saved
was because of Noah.
That's the reason why.
The Bible is very clear, especially
as you get to Genesis 7, it talks
about how they were all told to come into the ark
because Noah was right before God.
It wasn't because of them.
We really don't have any idea how much Shem read the scriptures
or whatever.
But he got on the ark because of his dad, the Bible says.
But see, many people died simply because they
became an enemy of God.
They sided with the world over God.
And here's the thing.
You know what?
Obviously, the world had to be pretty wicked for God
to destroy us.
I mean, you think of Genesis 19 with Sodom and Gomorrah.
I mean, I guess that's what I figure
it was like in Genesis chapter 6 before the flood.
And it's not really hard to see that we're headed down
that direction in this world again, right?
And why God would destroy the world again,
it's going to be like the days of Noah and many different applications
you can make from that.
The Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot and it couldn't be
the Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot about those days
because it's so grievous and so terrible that maybe it's
too much, right?
Because when we do our Bible reading, we read everything
the Bible has to offer and it's there for a reason.
But I can't say that when I get to Genesis 19 that I read
it and I'm like, oh, this is awesome.
I love this chapter.
It's an important chapter, but it's also very disturbing.
Judges 19, man, I don't enjoy, I mean, Judges 19 is the
most disturbing chapter in the Bible.
It's not like I enjoy reading.
I mean, it's interesting, but it's very disturbing as well.
It's not something that's fun to read.
It could be that the chapters that the information before
the flood would just be too strong for us to take.
It would just be disturbing if all were, because you know,
the thing is, you read Genesis 19 and Judges 19 and it
makes you mad and it's a bit disturbing.
But the thing is, if you hear too much of it, it will
desensitize you to it, right?
If you just hear it every once in a while or see it every
once in a while, you're like, oh, it's disgusting.
But then if you were to see it like all the time and every
chapter was about that, you'd start to get desensitized.
It would probably be a bad thing for you.
But Hebrews 10 verse 30, for we know him that hath said,
vengeance belongeth unto me.
I will recompense, sayeth the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people, not just the
unsaved people, but his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. And look, the same thing is true in 2021, right?
I mean, obviously we cannot lose our salvation, but the
Bible tells us to fear him, which is able to destroy both
body and soul in hell.
Now, as a saved person, we're never going to have that
happen to us, but he's the one powerful enough because he's
the one who's going to cast unbelievers into hell.
The Bible says we should fear him instead of anybody else,
right? But see, here's the thing.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. If you're committing wicked sins in this life, it's
a fearful thing.
We don't know what God will do to us.
We ought to be afraid to do wrong.
I mean, honestly, we ought to come to things in our life
where there's something we know is wrong, and it's just
like, even though you're tempted, you say, I'm tempted to
drink this alcohol, but I'm afraid of what God's going to
do to me. Now, you should be afraid of what the alcohol is
going to do to you, because that's not good for you either.
But we ought to be afraid to say, man, I'm afraid of what
God's going to do to me if I commit this sin.
I'm afraid of what God's going to do to me if I do wrong,
right? God will judge his people, even saved people, if they
act up in this life.
Go back to Genesis chapter six, Genesis chapter six.
I mean, it's a pretty extreme example when the vast majority
of saved people God just killed with a worldwide flood.
That's crazy.
I mean, most people in the world got killed because, you
know, you'll see things like a major earthquake takes place.
Like, for example, in Haiti, what was it, 2010 or something
a long time ago, because they had one recently, but they
had one a long time ago, and it was like 3 or 4% of the
population died.
I mean, a lot of people died. Over like 316,000, I think,
was the number, and the population was just under 10 million.
It's not like it was a country of 100 million people, which
I believe is probably because of their worship of voodoo,
it was a basically a satanic religion.
But out of 316,000, it's very possible there are some saved
people that happen to be killed that were not living a
godly life.
Now, what I believe is this, if you were a godly person
living in Haiti, you would not be in that 316,000.
I believe God would spare you, but it's definitely possible
some saved people got killed because they just weren't living
a godly life.
And it's like, you know what, you side up with the world,
you might go down with the world.
That's the way it works.
If you're going to link up with the world and do everything
the world does, then God's hand of protection might be gone
and saying, you know what, I'm not pleased with you.
I'm angry with you.
And you know what, if you happen to go down with them, then
that's what happens, right?
I mean, look, if somebody's driving drunk, a saved person
is driving drunk, I could definitely see God saying, you
know what, whatever happens to them is whatever happens.
I'm not going to put my hand of protection on them.
But, you know, in another sense, if you're driving to church
and you're not drunk, hopefully, if you're coming in church,
you're driving to church, you're on a jiffy or whatever,
it's like, I do believe as a saved person, if there's some
major accident, somehow your tricycle or jiffy is going to
miss that accident, you're going to be okay because you
know what, you're trying to do right.
You're trying to serve God, right?
And so what I'm saying is this, you know what, as God's people,
we should be afraid of a God that will judge people.
And look, yes, God will not send you into hell, but he can
destroy your life here on earth.
Right?
I don't want God to destroy my life.
I mean, can you imagine living a really sinful life and then
God causes some major thing to happen to you because, you know,
you won't, you know, basically adhere to what he said.
I don't want that to happen in my life. Genesis 6 verse 14.
Make me an ark of gopher wood.
A broom shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within
and without with pitch.
And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it up.
The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits.
The breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits.
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above. And the door of the ark shalt thou set inside
the ark, with a lower second and third story shalt thou make it.
Behold, I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth
to destroy all flesh where it is the breath of life.
From under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall
die. But with thee I established my covenant, and thou shalt
come into the ark. Thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy son's
wives with thee.
And so God speaks to Noah and says, your family is going to
come into the ark. Thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy
son's wives with thee.
So point number one we saw was this, salvation is by grace.
It has always been by grace through faith. Point number two,
God spares those that are living a godly life living a holy
life. But you as a saved person, especially if you know
what's right. And if you're at this church and you've been
here, you've heard that the truth preached. You know what's
right. If you choose to do wrong, you're going to be judged
by God in this life.
But point number three is, what is a kind? What is a kind?
Because what the Bible is going to talk about is kinds of
animals. Okay, in our modern day, we have word like species
is a very common word. The Bible does not use that word and
those words are not actually interchangeable.
Okay, and I'll explain this to you. Verse 19, and of every living
thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into
the ark to keep them alive with thee.
They shall be male and female.
Sort is like kind. Two of every sort, two of every kind. Of fowls after
their kind and of cattle after their kind. Of every creeping
thing in the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. So it talks about two of every
kind. Now you say, how is this different than a species?
Well, let me give you a definition of a species and I'll
explain why the definition of a species makes no logical
sense at all. The definition of species, here's one definition.
It says a group of living organisms consisting of similar
individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.
The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit ranking
below a genus and denoted by Latin binomial, e.g. Homo sapiens.
So what it said was one thing to highlight when it talks about
a species, it says individuals capable of interbreeding.
So basically, if you have these two animals, you have dog
one and dog two, and they are able to have an offspring,
then they are the same species.
So basically a man and a woman, but obviously a man and
an animal, you're not going to be able to have a child.
And so with animals, you have different sorts of animals.
The way we label animals might be different than how the
Bible does so. We have dogs, we have cats, we have wolves,
we have tigers, we have all these different ones, but it
could be those could actually be under the same category
that came off the ark.
Now you say, what is wrong with their definition?
Well, they said that if two animals can interbreed, two dogs
can interbreed, and that means they're the same species.
Here's the problem with that.
Sometimes what you'll see is dog A can interbreed with dog B
and they can have an offspring. Dog A and dog B can interbreed.
Dog B and dog C can interbreed, but dog A and dog C cannot
interbreed. Sometimes A is close enough to B and B is close
enough to C, but A is not close enough to C because there's
enough of a difference that they cannot interbreed.
So the problem would be A and B would be under the same
species by their definition. B and C would be in the same
species, but A and C are not the same species, which doesn't
make any sense, right?
And so the problem with their definition is sometimes A can
interbreed with B and B can with C, but not A with C.
And so these are the same species.
These are the same species, but these are not the same species.
So their definition breaks down and they would do good to
look at the Bible because you have to understand when it came
to the animals on the ark, if we were to actually look at
the ark today, who knows what animals would be there? Because
here's the thing.
There's a lot of animals out there that are not identical,
but they're pretty similar and it could be they're the same
kind of animal. And as time goes by, basically, you know,
just looking at humans, right?
I mean, when you look at different parts of the world, humans
look a little bit different.
Some countries, they're taller.
Some ethnicities are taller.
Sometimes their noses are smaller or bigger.
Sometimes their eyes are smaller or bigger, but obviously
humans are humans, very different than anything else.
You can tell, right?
Same kind, right?
Well, here's the thing.
It's the same thing with animals, though.
There's a million different dogs out there and it could be
that a lot of those dogs are actually under the same kind
and they all started from these two dogs on the ark and as
time went by, they went very different directions, but they're
the same kind of animal.
We don't exactly know, but what I'm saying is this.
It's not like on the ark there was one million animals.
We don't know how many there were, but we have to realize
the great variation we have. When you look at humans today,
there is a great variation throughout the entire world.
People look different, right?
I mean, even when you look here in the Philippines, I mean,
you look at that people that are that more state of the mountains,
you know, the natives of the ideas.
They look different than, you know, other people that Filipinos
because as time goes by, there's just changes that take place,
but we're all still humans.
And so just as there's this great variation within humanity
in terms of height, skin color, eye color, hair color, all
these things, you know, that is true as well with animals.
And so when you look at animals today, it doesn't mean that
of the 5,000 different types of dogs, there was two of every
single one of those on the ark.
It could be there was, you know, about 10, like five different
groups of two, and all these dogs we see today came from
just, you know, five different kinds of dogs in the ark because
as time goes by, you know, people are going to look a little
bit different. Same thing with animals.
There's going to be this great variation and it's been 4,000
years, a lot changes in 4,000 years.
Okay, and so the definition they have of a species doesn't
work. What's funny is their second definition is a kind or
sort. So they kind of use the Bible definition as a secondary
one, but see the Bible definition actually works because
what a kind would be is basically that when they got on
the ark, they're in the same category of animals, but you
know what? They've gone in different directions and it could
be that these are the same kind of animal, but this animal
cannot interbreed with this animal, although they came from
the same animals originally, because changes take place.
Some dogs might have become very big and some are small,
but they came from the same kind, the same original two on
the ark, but at this point one dog is very big, one small,
they wouldn't be able to interbreed, but they still could
come from the same original two on the ark. Now the Bible
doesn't, we don't necessarily know all the animals we have,
you know, how many different kinds there were. What I'm saying
is this though, they try to make the ark seem illogical
because they say there was a million animals. How did they
all fit on the ark? Because there wasn't a million animals
on the ark. We don't know how many there were, but of all
the animals you see, it could be great variation within
just a small group of kinds that there are. Right? You know,
coyotes, wolves, and a lot of dogs are pretty similar. It
could be they came from the same two. I'm not really sure,
but I'm just saying there was a lot less animals in the
world like to make you think, right? And so look at verse
number 21, verse 21, and it says, and take thou onto thee
of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather to thee,
gather to thee, and it shall be for food for thee and for
them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded
him, so did he. So what the Bible says is that the food
that was on the ark, it says, gather it to thee, so gather
it to yourself, Noah, and it shall be food for thee and for
them. What it's saying is both the people and the animals
ate the same food on the ark. So they're eating a vegetarian
diet on the ark. And you're not really seeing, you know,
it's in Genesis 9 where animals first have a fear of
humans because humans are hunting animals. But, you know,
the food that's gathered on the ark, you're looking at plants
that they're eating. They're eating basically a vegetarian
diet, it would seem, from Genesis 6, verse 21, because the
food that's gathered is for them and it's for you. Okay.
Now, let me just mention one other thing in passing, and
we'll look at verse number 20. I'll give you a couple more
thoughts. It says in Genesis 6, verse 20, of fowls after
their kind and of cattle after their kind, of every creepy
thing in the earth after his kind, to of every sort
shall come unto thee to keep them alive. Now, I've heard
people say that insects didn't get on the ark, and they
say the reason why is because insects can survive in water.
Now, I will say insects can survive in water because when
I was a kid, I remember trying to drown an insect and I'm
like, why isn't this thing drowning? Right? But here's the
thing. It says of every creeping thing in verse 20. That's
the insects, right? Insects were on the ark, but I will tell
you what was not on the ark, and that was water animals. You
say, why? Well, here's the thing. The Bible says God's
going to flood the earth, and he says that of everything
that's on the earth, two of every kind. But here's the
thing. The Bible makes the distinction that we do not in
our modern language. You have to understand earth and sea
are different. See, we look at planet earth today, and planet
earth is compass of sea and land. But in the Bible, the
word earth is land. So earth in the Bible is like lupa,
right? It's like land and sea. You're thinking of Dagat or
Karagatan. So basically you have earth and sea. You don't
have, you know, as we have today, earth. You know, we have
earth and sea. There's this division. So when he's saying
I'm going to flood the earth, well, the water's destroying
the earth, but you're not bringing two sharks on the ark
because they're part of the sea, right? And so the water
animals, obviously they could actually survive. Now, I'm
assuming God only allowed a few water animals to survive
as well. So he's starting from scratch, but he's flooding
the earth. The water animals are not going on the ark,
obviously. And the thing is, it's not contradicting itself
because of the fact there's a distinction. You know, people
that believe in a flat earth, they'll look at verses where
it says, you know, to the end of the earth. And what they
think is this, that there's an end of the earth, like whoops,
you fell off. That's actually just indicating the end of
the earth is actually the water, okay? Because there's a
distinction of earth and sea in the Bible. So our modern
day of earth is a little bit different, okay? Now, let me
just read you this last article from the website Answers
in Genesis that talks about, you know, kinds. And it says
this, the wild animals today are often considered according
to their species. The Bible deals with animals according
to their men. A Hebrew word usually translated as kind. We
can infer from scripture that God created plants and animals
to reproduce after their kinds. And it is clear from various
texts that a kind is often a broader category than the current
concept of a species. This means that a kind may contain
many different species. Since no one was only sent
select representatives from relevant kinds, all land-
dwelling vertebrate species not present on the ark were
wiped out. Therefore, if we see an ark kind represented
today by different species, horses, zebras, and donkeys
of the equid kind, those species have developed since the
time of the flood. Therefore, species are simply varying
expressions of a particular kind. So they give the example
here of horses, zebras, and donkeys. That makes a lot of
sense because those animals all are very similar. Now, of
course, we can tell the difference between a zebra and
a horse because the zebra obviously black and white. But
at the same time, there's a lot of similarities. So we
have to ask ourselves that question. Is that under the
same umbrella? Basically, here's the original umbrella
on the ark and now today this is what we have. And so all
these animals that we have, it would not be that much
that were actually on the ark. It would be a lot less. Anyways,
let's close in the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you
for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your
work on this topic. And help us to know all of our Bibles,
even parts from the Old Testament, Genesis chapter 6, and help us to apply