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Amen. Okay, so we're up to chapter seven now, Genesis, and as is my way, I'm going to just remind you where we were in chapter six. We looked at, if you remember how the sons of God are clearly believers. Okay, very clear, wasn't it? Evidenced in many places in scripture. And we saw that they were marrying unbelievers, which causes God's spirit to strive. And look, that kind of unequal yoking is a problem, isn't it? And yes, they weren't indwelt with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, but the Holy Spirit would come upon them, wouldn't it? And these are God's children then yoking up with unbelievers. We saw that there were giants in those days, and rather than being 50 feet tall, we saw an example of one many years later, Goliath, who was 9 foot 6 inches tall. And we just kind of looked at that briefly and how, look, it's not, there are people up in recent history that have got pretty close to that as well. So nothing completely crazy and sort of, you know, Lord of the Ringsy about that sort of stuff. We saw that Genesis 6, 4 said there were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old men of renown. So you had giant Zen, and for me, that verse says Zen, and then also after that too, born to these unequal marriages of believers with the unsaved. And look, these people became mighty men, men of renown. And you could probably understand why, couldn't you? Because before guns and those sorts of things, add a bit of reprobation into the mix as well. And I'd imagine that people that sort of size would have been a bit of a force to be reckoned with, wouldn't they? Especially before you had sort of government and police and all that sort of stuff. I think that could have been, yeah, they could have been a problem, right? And, you know, some would argue these might be sort of what people, some people were worshipping up until recently, you know, these sort of legends and things like that, mighty men of old, men of renown. But I think, yeah, probably a lot of them were these types of people. We saw that it repented the Lord that he had made man. He said he was going to destroy all life. Genesis 6-11 said the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. And then God tells Noah that he's going to destroy the earth. However, he tells him to make an ark and it was huge, wasn't it? Absolutely huge. We talked about that. I mean, I think just the width of it was a lot wider than the length of this building and the length was just, you know, it was huge, absolutely huge. So we saw that it wasn't like the little kids' books once. And then verse 18 in Genesis 6 said this, God said, but with thee I will establish my covenant. Thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shall thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind. Two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive and take that one to thee of all food that is eaten and thou shalt gather it 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. And we're going to go into Genesis 7 and verse 1 where it says, and the Lord said unto Noah, come now and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. I'd like to pray before we get going. Father, thank you for this chapter of the Bible, which has a lot of truths that we can get from it. Some lessons for us here. Lord, help me to just preach those clearly and accurately tonight, help everyone to just really pay attention to what your word is saying, Lord. Please just fill me with your spirit. Help me to be confident and bold, Lord, as I preach your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. What does it mean for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation? He said, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Turn to Psalm chapter 7, because the word righteous can be used both to describe the saved as believing in or trusting Christ counts for righteousness, doesn't it? You don't have to turn to Romans 4, 5. Your turn to Psalm 7, Romans 4, 5 says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So you are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, but also it can also be used to describe the saved who are then living righteously. Okay, so think about the spiritual armour, the saved being told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. And maybe if you have that breastplate of righteousness on, then you'd be described as righteous, wouldn't you? Psalm 7 is a psalm of David who's asking God for protection from the wicked that are persecuting him. It says in verse 1, it's shigayon of David, which he sang unto the Lord concerned the words of Cush to bend your mind. O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust, save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me. So he then basically says, you know, if I've done bad, then let them destroy me because, and he says in verse 8, because the Lord shall judge the people, judge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me. So this isn't talking about salvation. He's asking to be judged by God according to his own righteousness and integrity to then be protected. That's what he's asking for. He's saying, judge me and then please protect me according to my righteousness, mine integrity. Verse 9 says, I'll let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just for the righteous God, triath the hearts and reigns. So God knows what's on our inside too, doesn't he? See, we can have a clean looking exterior, but what's going on in our hearts? What's in our insides? What's our motivation really? Where's our heart? You know, are we just trying to look the part, but you know, really we're just full of just kind of anger and bitterness towards people. God triath the hearts and reigns. Verse 10 says, my defenses of God, which saveth the upright in heart. And this isn't salvation, it's about the protection a believer can receive. Yeah, we can receive protection from God, can't we? Physical protection, help with people trying to persecute us, people trying to, you know, much malignness, people are trying to attack us in one way or another. Verse 11 says, God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. So God judges his people and you could say on a daily basis as well, couldn't you? By the looks of that, God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. David wants his righteousness judged to then receive protection from God, okay? So that's what you're seeing there. Now go back to Genesis because you've got two extremes out there. Obviously you've got the common work salvation, that's what you're going to mostly see, that can't differentiate between the two. They just see the righteousness which comes from your own works and obviously that would be after salvation, that there's no one righteous without salvation. However, they can't kind of differentiate, they just think that's to do with salvation. Why? Because their wicked heart wants to justify themselves before God for salvation, okay? They think that somehow they can justify themselves, it's a pride issue. But then there's also the carnal Christian that we all have the ability to be, okay? Paul described himself as the carnal Christian, didn't he? And who wants to discard any of the commandments in the Bible saying things like it's all grace, we're just under grace, so you might have come across these people. They'll call you a legalist if you talk about any of the commands in the Bible, that somehow it's just salvation, after that it's kind of just do as you like. Now of course salvation is all grace through faith alone, but that's the start of the Christian life, isn't it? That's the start. After that we should now try to live right too, shouldn't we? That's what we should be trying to do, especially if you want the protection, the benefits, the rewards, the fulfilment that comes from serving God, yeah? That's what I want, I hope everyone else wants the same. You want to get all those extra blessings you can get and also have, and it is ultimately fulfilling as many people know, the more you're working for God, the more you're serving God, the more you're doing things for God, that's a fulfilling life, isn't it? Where do we learn how to do that? Well, you now have a turn there, 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So look, the Bible's there for that, isn't it, okay? For instruction in righteousness. That would be a pointless verse, wouldn't it, if like one of the common teachings, number one, it was automatic. Why do we have all these teachers in the Bible? Why are we being told to use all scripture to be taught how to be righteous? Or number two, if it didn't matter? Why does all scripture teach us how to be righteous if it didn't matter because we're just under grace, man, yeah? It's madness, isn't it? Okay, but that's the false teacher. Now go back to Genesis 7 with that in mind, where it says in verse 1, and the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Now Noah wasn't the only one saved, okay? Remember that we were looking at the sons of God in the previous chapter, weren't we? These were saved people. God said to him, come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. So he basically said, I'm going to physically save you because I've seen your righteousness in front of me, yeah? Look, Noah was close to God. We saw that he walked with God, didn't we? Genesis 6, 9 said, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect, which is upright, whole, complete, in his generations, and Noah walked with God. So basically, for me, Noah did what he was supposed to do in those days, yeah? Noah, he worshipped God in a way that God wanted him to in that old world, yeah? And we don't know exactly, we don't know a lot about the old world, do we, before the flood, but we do know what we see here revealed to us in scripture. He was perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. He was a follower, a disciple. He wasn't just saved, he followed the Lord, yeah? He walked with God. And the only other person we saw that was Enoch, didn't we? And Enoch ended up being translated and going to heaven early, okay? So Noah was obviously, look, that was a guy that was really trying to serve God and do the things of God. What does it take to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved, yeah? Okay, that's pretty simple, isn't it? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And what does John 8, 31 say? You don't have to turn there then, said Jesus, those Jews which believed on him, what does it take to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those Jews which believed on him, which were saved, he said, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Noah clearly continued in God's word what was revealed at that point in time, he walked with God. Genesis 6, 22 says, thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Okay, and obviously that was talking about some of that was the commandments of building the Ark, et cetera. It sounds like he did a lot of, basically did everything that God commanded him to do, right? Now look, Noah wasn't perfect, of course, okay? No one is perfect, but Noah was a saved guy that clearly had his heart right and was trying his best to serve God, yeah? And that's, well, what was the result? Physical salvation. Now, was it just physical salvation for Noah? No, his house too. Genesis 7, 1 said, and the Lord said unto Noah, come now and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. What is thee? Is he singular or plural? Singular. So who's he talking to? Noah. So Noah, has he seen righteous before him in his generation? But he said, come now and all thy house. So Noah, it was Noah that was righteous and his whole house benefited from it, didn't they? His whole house benefited because of his righteousness. And families of godly men and women could, you know, let's dwell on that for a minute, right? Let's dwell on that. I bet Noah's sons had times when they wished that they were actually out in the world worshiping the Giants. I bet they did. I bet they had times they're thinking, you know, this boat building, all this Ark building, I could be out there watching some of those big guys do some amazing feats of strength with all the rest of the worldly people. I bet they could. I bet there were times when they just resented it a little bit, right? Resented that it wasn't quite so fun or as exciting or whatever it was that they felt they're missing out on. You know, they weren't worshipping it. And nowadays, what is it? What's the Giants of our world nowadays? The celebrities? The idols? The idols of life? They're the Giants in our world now that probably many, many sadly Christian children and sadly even spouses of Christian men and women kind of wish they could just maybe, you know, get a bit more involved with the Giants of the day, with the idols, with the celebrities. Is it the end of the world if we followed them or watched that or got involved with that and everything else? Instead of, well, building a huge boat, and we could say building for God, like we've been talking about in Ezra, right? Yeah, he was building a huge boat. He was building for God. We're building something for God here, aren't we? And maybe there are times when maybe sometimes kids as they get older, they get resentful of that. If only we could still be doing this or still be doing that. And maybe it's, like I said, his wife might maybe had times and she resented the hours that he was putting into the things of God instead of climbing all those bean stalks to talk to those Giants, you know, something like that. Maybe, I'm joking, by the way, in case no one watched last week, yeah, listening and going, what's going on here? But look, maybe she did. Maybe she thought, well, you know, we could be doing something else. Maybe she found that hard. But Noah's righteousness protected his whole house. And, you know, it made me think, maybe there are many people out there that have been protected by the righteousness of a godly man, maybe in their house, maybe it's a godly woman in their house without even knowing it. Yeah. I mean, these guys, who knows what could have happened probably in the meantime, probably before even the art. But, you know, what would some of the kids out here, what would their lives have been like without mum or dad trying to serve God? Ever wondered that, kids? Because, you know, a lot of people think the grass is always greener. You know, maybe the floods of life would have already destroyed you. Maybe the dangers here with these kids, with Noah's kids, Shem, Ham and Japheth, maybe the canes and lamex would have already got to them. Maybe with you that could happen, right? There's a lot of dangerous people out there. There's a lot of dangerous situations, a lot of crazy situations out there. And you don't know what maybe you've managed to avoid because of that protection that's come from the righteousness in your house. And it's something to remember because, I mean, when I grew up and I look at some of the stuff that happened to kids that I knew, and just horrendous, absolutely horrendous, and still does happen. And if anything, it's probably got worse and all sorts of just weird stuff and, you know, lives lost and lives destroyed and all sorts of things that people can never blank out on all this weird stuff, which having not just the fact that having a godly person leading you home means that you're going to have avoided so much of those pitfalls anyway. But also the protection, the spiritual protection that comes from that as well. Because this whole family managed to get on the ark because of Noah's righteousness. And maybe that's a good thing for maybe some kids to try and remind themselves when as they grow up and they see other kids and the kids of the world doing things that look exciting, look fun, they think, oh, why can't I do that? Well, just remember that you've probably been protected more than you ever know. Maybe not until you're in heaven, by having someone godly leading your home and having that protection, that righteousness, sorry, that protection that comes with that righteousness. So where are we? David said, where we were, he said, my defence in Psalm 7 verse 10, my defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart. And it does seem that Noah's family got to ride on his coattails, didn't they? Okay, they got to ride on the coattails of his righteousness, his uprightness. God said for thee, thee, singular, have I seen righteous before me in this generation. And here's the thing for that as well. That's an inspiration for all the heads of households out there too, isn't it? You know, look, what's ultimately going to protect your family? Look, by all means, arm yourselves. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with having some, you know, the horses prepared against the day of battle. Maybe, you know, look, by all means, keep your families from the many dangers out there. You should be doing that. Okay, it's madness not to. There are pitfalls and dangers everywhere in life and we should be doing a lot more to protect our families. That's our job, the head of a family is. When I say the head, look, it's usually a man but in some situations it's not. Some situations it's going to be a lady for some reason. And look, our job is to protect our families. But above all of that, the best protection I see here that you can offer them is through your own righteousness. That's the best. Look, you can arm yourself to the teeth. You can have all the kind of the bug out kind of plans and all the tin beans you like and everything else. But ultimately, if you're not being righteous, you've lost out on all that spiritual protection that you could have had for your household. And it's a big deal, isn't it? That's our responsibility. When you got married and you made those vows and you promised to love and cherish that wife and usually it's going to be the men in this situation. When you had children who are in the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward, all of that. Look, you basically, you said, I'm going to look after these kids. I'm going to look after this woman. I'm going to look after this family, Lord. That's my job. And when you do that, you've got to make sure that you're righteous as well, don't you? Because that's the best protection you're going to get. The best protection you're going to get is spiritually, isn't it? And it seems that Noah here affected the whole household by his righteousness. But there's another lesson in this verse as well. The flood, God's wrath on the world of the ungodly has many similarities to the end times. Turn to Luke 17, which is one of a few passages where Christ is telling us of his second coming. There's a few passages in the Gospels where Jesus Christ is telling us about his second coming. Luke 17, we're going to look at where it says here in Luke 17 and verse 22. So Luke chapter 17 and verse 22, it says, and he said unto the disciples, the days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man and you shall not see it. And they shall say to you, see here or see there, go not after them nor follow them. For as the lightning that lighteth, lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the son of man be in his day. So when Jesus Christ returns, there will be no doubt about it, will there? Verse 25 says, but first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the son of man. Noah being the Greek for Noah. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. So even though believers will be getting hunted and persecuted, because you can't look at that thing and go, wait a second, I thought it was like a time that the world's never seen. Well, the believers will be getting hunted and persecuted. The rest of the world will probably be enjoying their new marked up life, won't they? They'll be going, great, we got the mark. Now we can buy and sell and trade and everything else. And they'll probably be having a nice little celebration time with it all, right? While the believers are getting hunted down like dogs. Verse 28 says, likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. What's all that about? That's all about trading, isn't it? Remember that Revelation 13, 17 says, and that no man might buy or sell, so they've either had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. And these guys, what are they doing? They're eating, they're drinking, they're buying, they're selling, they're planting, they're building. That's all the unbelievers, that's all the reprobates ultimately out there, because once you take the mark, you're done. They're enjoying the freedom in inverted commas that comes from having a mark, but the same day, verse 29, that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away, and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife, who by the way was looking back in her old life, became a pillar of Saul. Verse 33 says, whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Now, you might say, well, wasn't Noah seeking to save his life? I thought this was sort of a picture of the end times. Well, not in this way. Look, as we get to the end, those that try to keep the worldly life won't make it, will they? Okay, those that are trying to still keep hold of some sort of aspects of their worldly life, they're the ones that aren't going to make it. Noah not only spent 100 years building a huge ark, but he also endured until the end, didn't he? Turn to 2 Peter 2, well, I read Matthew 24, 13. You turn to 2 Peter 2. Matthew 24, 13 says, but he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. This is talking about physical saving, making it to the rapture. And how do you endure? By preaching the gospel. By preaching the gospel, that's our purpose, that's our vocation in life, okay? If you're saved, your whole purpose, your whole goal in life should be preaching the gospel. Now, look, some people might take a little while to get to that point of being able to confidently preach the gospel, but that's the road you're on. If you're saved, if you're not somehow getting closer and closer to being able to preach the gospel, or you're not preaching the gospel already, then for me, look, you're not a disciple anyway, and you're missing out on the whole point. The only way that any believer is making it through the tribulation is with God's help, yeah? And that's based on whether or not we've endured. And that's why Matthew 24, 13 is followed by verse 14. Don't worry, I'll just read it out. Matthew 24, 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. It's all about the gospel, isn't it? Up until that point of the image of the beast and the time to flee, we're to be soul winning, okay? That's why we're here. That's the only reason for you to still be there. That's the only reason for God to keep us alive, is if we're of some purpose, if we're preaching the gospel. Otherwise, what's the point? What's the point in going through any of that? And interestingly, when it comes to great tribulation, if you look at kind of how the dates line up, that's kind of when the two witnesses seem to take over. When we get to the point where we literally just flee time, because the gospel will always be preached, okay? There will always be someone preaching the gospel. And when we get to the point where it's time to flee, and we've endured until that point, and now it's just flee time, then we've got the two witnesses taking over, and they got a bit of extra power that we don't have, like breathing fire and stuff. Okay, so look, it's all about soul winning, okay? Which is what Noah was doing. So look at 2 Peter 2, because this is exactly what Noah was doing. Like I said, Noah and the flood is obviously a picture of the end times as well. I mean, it was an end of time, as it was known at that point as well, but it's like a precursor. You could say, well, look at 2 Peter 2, it says in verse 4, for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. So Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Which righteousness was he preaching? Well, probably both, but definitely salvation, right? The righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, he was described as a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God, right? And this is a guy that, look, if he wasn't preaching the gospel, he couldn't have been described as that, could he? How could he have been described as perfect in his generations? Complete, whole, if he's not a whole Christian, if he's not preaching the gospel. And Noah walked with God. How's he walking with God? A disciple. What does a disciple do? Well, Jesus Christ said, follow me, and I shall make you fishers of men. If you're not fishing men, or becoming a fisher of men, or learning to become a fisher of men, then you're not following Jesus Christ, are you? And sadly, that's the vast majority of saved people around the world. Genesis 6 22, you don't have to turn there, said, thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Okay, the thing that, Noah was a good soul winner, right? He was out there preaching the gospel. Here he was called a preacher of righteousness, okay? And like we said, if he wasn't, how would he be? How would he be described as perfect to complete? And it always amuses me, when you get these holier than now's, with their unbiblical, uneven standards, you get them, you see them out there, and you come across them, you know, and most of the time these people aren't even trying to win souls. So they're always like, well, you know, we had this, this clown woman here last week, on Sunday, it's like, this is very ungodly when I kick them out, yeah? It's like, like, who are you? You're at some clown church somewhere? Your whole gospel, your whole hill to die on, seems to be basically anti-racism, or whatever nonsense she was coming out with. Like, that's all she seems to care about. She wrote me, like, a four-page letter about Jesus being black, and everything else. I mean, what an absolute clown. Yet they're trying to tell you how ungodly you are. It's like, what do you even do? Who are you? And he said, they're everywhere, these people. It's like, didn't Jesus say to avoid all appearance of evil? Or I think she said wickedness. What are you even talking about? And they just, they have no idea, because they're not saved anyway, they're just wicked people, aren't they? But they're always trying to act like they're holy because they kind of make these new extra biblical sort of standards, don't they? Yet what are all the, what are none of these people ever doing? It's going out and preaching the gospel. It's getting people saved. And without that, you're not even, you're not a disciple. And for me, Noah is an end times picture of the soul winning Christian enduring into the end, okay? That's what I see with him. Like, he's clearly that, isn't he? Now, as opposed to the backslidden Lot, okay? So then you look and go, well, wait a second, what about Lot? But for me, he's just a reminder that all believers will still receive salvation, okay? Remember, these are pictures, okay? These aren't like, right, okay, so if you kind of hang around with the sodomites like Lot, you know, as long as you wait, you know, you're going to get saved. Well, no, he's just, he just shows you that, look, righteous people will be, you know, righteous by faith in Christ will be saved, okay? And it says here in verse six, where we are, it says, in turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them with an overthrow, make them an ensemble unto those after should live ungodly, and delivered just Lot. Now, he didn't deliver just Lot because he also delivered Lot and his wife, well, his wife kind of went a bit downhill for her, but the two daughters as well, right? So, so it wasn't just Lot, it was just Lot because Lot theoretically was basically just justified, but was Lot a righteous godly person? Well, the only way he's righteous was his faith in the coming Christ. It said vex with the filthy conversation of the wicked. Now, as we saw with Lot, look, Lot does some crazy stuff, doesn't he? So how's he described as just because he's got faith, okay? Because he's the one saved guy there, or maybe with his daughters, it said for that righteous man living, dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Now, yeah, it's going to vex him because he's basically a saved man of God. However, what was the result of spending that time having his righteous soul vexed of these people? Offering his daughter, offering his daughters to basically be abused, like crazy stuff, the stuff that went on afterwards, the boozing and everything else. I mean, look, this guy had severe issues, but he was saved. The fact that he's righteous is because of his faith. Verse 9 says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly added temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. So obviously, nothing righteous or just about Lot's life other than that from faith in Christ. But for me, look, they're two contrasts there, aren't they? So you've got a contrast between Noah and Lot, and being pictures of the end, they're not to be taken literally, are they? But Lot's just showing that everyone will be saved, and really, for his, it's like a picture of spiritual salvation. Whereas Noah, we see that physical salvation as well, don't we, due to him being that preacher righteous, due to him enduring. Now, go back to Genesis chapter 6, and in case you're going, well, I want to take it literally, look, you're not getting raptured in an ark, okay? It'd be cool if you could, but you're not going up in an ark, okay? But it is a picture of the rapture, the safety from God's wrath, isn't it? Now, Noah, like I said, he's a righteous enduring soul winner, who's preaching righteousness, by the way, in a world of reprobates as well, okay? We kind of looked at that before, didn't we, how wicked it had become, you know, God's just rex of these people. We saw that, you know, we saw that obviously before that, we saw Enoch obviously preaching and talking about reprobates and preaching about that, we see that in the book of Jude, we see, you know, it's got to the point where it's so bad now that God's wiping out the whole world. Noah's preaching, basically he's an enduring soul winner in a time when it must have been pretty tough to do that, yeah? And that's, look, that's where we're getting to, aren't we, at some point in this nation as well, where it will be tough, but they weren't all reprobates, I'm sure there were still people that were getting saved, yeah? Now, the ark, okay, obviously we've seen a picture of the end times, but it's also a picture of salvation, wasn't it? So, you know, like with the ark, there's only one door to salvation, isn't there? Okay, and Genesis 6 and verse 16, go back to Genesis 6 and verse 16, it says, 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 in the side thereof, with lower second and third stories shalt thou make it. Now, I'm sure that a few loading bays might have made the boarding and disembarking a bit easier with all of those animals, wouldn't you think, rather than Ador? I mean, they had a lot of animals to get in there, and a lot of animals to get off as well, but there was only one way in, like there's only one way of salvation, isn't there? Okay, there is only one way. Turn to John chapter 10, well, I read John 14 6, you turn to John 10, John 14 6, famous verse says, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's only one way of getting to heaven, there's only one door to salvation, and in John chapter 10, Jesus explains that he is that door. In John chapter 10, Jesus shows that he is the door, he is the door to heaven, he's all the only way, no man cometh unto the Father but by me, he said in John 14 16, John 10 7, it says, then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 8 says, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to still and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Now getting on that ark was easy, wasn't it? All anyone had to do was just go through that door. In fact, if they had knocked, he would have opened unto them, wouldn't he? However, it was only eight people that got on the ark, wasn't it? Only eight people got on that ark. Back in Genesis 7, it says in verse 1, and the Lord said unto Noah, come thou at all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous perform in this generation, very clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female and a beast that are not clean by two, the male and his female. So we see just the eight that get on there and again, it's a picture of salvation. They weren't the only people for me that were saved, but they're the only people that got on the ark. But then we see that he's taking these animals, okay? And he says, of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female, so obviously that's seven pairs, and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Now, although we don't see the clean and unclean defined until later in Levitical law, the clean were generally grazing animals, with a few exceptions, Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 go into detail with this. We're not going to do that for the sake of this sermon. But verse 3 then says, of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. So they have a seven day warning period, and then it's forty days and forty nights of rain. And of course the number forty isn't a coincidence, okay? When it comes to years, we see forty many times in forty years as the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. There are three different times in the book of Judges we see forty years of peace, Egypt destroyed and uninhabited according to Ezekiel, forty years of that, and I think it's forty years then after then that it's like re-inhabited. And of course there's forty stripes of criminals as well, and for me there is some sort of punishment aspect often to it with the forty years. But when it comes to days, forty days for me seems to be associated with various trials, yeah? Turn to Mark chapter 1, well I'll just tell you of a few. Moses fasted and was with God in amount for forty days and forty nights on both occasions. In Numbers they searched out the Promised Land for forty days, in 1 Samuel 7 16 it says that Goliath was challenging them for forty days, it said, and the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself forty days. 1 Kings 19, Elijah fasted whilst fleeing Jezebel for forty days and forty nights, and in Jonah 3 the Ninevites were given forty days to repent before the city was to be overthrown, now in Mark 1, Jesus has just been baptised, okay? Mark chapter 1, and look at verse 12, says, and immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness, and he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him. Now Matthew's and Luke's gospels give us more details, but don't miss that in verse 13 again, where Jesus was with the wild beasts for those forty days, and for me that's no coincidence that Noah was forty days in the ark with the wild beasts, and do you know what it tells me? You know, what's the point in that? Well, it tells me that Noah was going through a trial and temptation at that time, that's what I think. I mean, because I think it's easy to just again, we might see the kids books and just think they had this jolly time on the ark, you know, stroking the animals and all going, isn't this great, while the rain's coming down and everything else, but can you imagine how horrendous that must have been? I mean, this isn't just rain, this is like a full-on storm, eventually we see the mountains covered, I mean, it must have been unbelievable, that ark must have been getting just thrown about everywhere, right? That must have been pretty scary, right? That must have been a hard time, but they probably were hearing people dying outside, people maybe trying to cling on from the outside and things like that, I mean, that must have been a pretty rough time, but have you ever thought about this? Can you imagine the smell on that ark? Forty days with pairs of every animal in the world, and no, no, I don't think they had any sewage pipes on that ark, right? It must have absolutely stunk, and themselves as well, I mean, it must have been horrendous, the whole thing must have smelt terrible, they're on there, you know, obviously they've got this storm going on outside, they've really got their faith in God that they're going to somehow survive through it, or need that faith in God, it must have been a scary time, but maybe there was also a temptation to give up in some way, maybe he was going through a temptation just to maybe just give up, want to end their life, like I said, that must have been horrific. I don't know if I should say this, I'm going to say this story that I, for some reason, I've read this story not long ago, and it's a bit, you know why, because I was looking for stuff on giants, okay, and the story was this, yeah, you might not like this story, I don't care, okay, it's where it was basically that once Andre, anyone know who Andre the Giant is? So Andre the Giant was this old WWE wrestler, and he was like a famous guy, he's in a couple of movies, a guy I think was seven foot four, and he was huge, absolutely huge, and the story was that once he used the toilet on an aeroplane, and it was so horrendous that people were apparently crying, puking, and sobbing at the back of the plane, just funny things you come across sometimes, yeah, but however, you could understand why, couldn't you, I mean that was a big guy, and I think apparently when he used the toilet it was pretty horrific, right, okay, especially on the small aeroplane, I would imagine he caused the blockage, apparently it's a 12-hour flight as well, it was going over to somewhere in Japan, somewhere to Tokyo, but my point is, that was a 12-hour flight, imagine if you had 40 days of that, where there's a family of, what is there, there's eight of them, eight of them still needing to use the toilet, then you've got, who knows what coming from all those animals, I mean that must have been rough in there, because they didn't open the window till later, because it's lashing down with rain, that was a trial wasn't it, because I never really thought about it like that, I just always thought that must have been a bit boring, but you know, I'm sure they kind of, you know, know I was preaching to good servants and stuff, but I think that was a hard trial, they were probably vomiting, and imagine the seasick, anyone ever suffered from seasickness, yeah I have, it's horrible, I mean that's bad enough when you, you know, a couple of hours choppy trip, like if you got a ferry from Dover to Calais, you know, this is a bit rough, you know, if only we'd gone on a calmer day, 40 days of the probably the worst storm the world's ever seen, that must have been rough, so that was a big trial he was in, but for me, yeah, and then we see, obviously, look, you see that Jesus Christ here, he was in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered unto him, now who could have been tempting, anyone ever wondered this, who could have been tempting Noah maybe, well maybe just like Cain made it a one in four ratio in the beginning, maybe Ham and his wife, they often come in pairs, yeah, never wondered that, I mean we see and we're going to look into kind of stuff that went on kind of in a couple of chapters time with Ham, but maybe, maybe there was some other weird stuff going on in there as well, maybe there was some sort of temptations going on there and other bits and pieces, maybe he was actually dealing with that, maybe the tempter was tempting him as well in one way or another, perhaps that was a tougher 40 days than we think at least, yeah, because I think it's easy to just gloss over it and think, oh yeah, they were just safe on that ark, that must be something else, verse five it says, and Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him, so obviously Noah definitely walked with God, and Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth, and Noah went in and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him into the ark because of the waters of the flood, now some might say, but what about those poor people that didn't know about the ark, yeah, I go what about everyone else, you know, they just didn't know that the ark was built or they didn't know it was coming, well the ark was in building a hundred years, yeah, okay, that was a long time for this, probably a lot of people are calling him a crazy guy, you know like they call us crazy christians sometimes, maybe they're calling him a crazy christian as well building this ark, it was huge as well, so I don't think anyone, I don't think he was building it under cover, but like we said Noah was a preacher of righteousness wasn't he as well, so what was their excuse, well turn to Hebrews 11, because like with men and women of God now preaching the gospel, showing that the end is coming as well, and as we get closer, let's be honest, we're all going to be warning aren't we, we're going to be saying to family, friends, people around, look you can see it all happening, the bible's been saying this is going to happen, look at this one world government forming, look at all this stuff, look at this cashless society, we're going to be saying the same sort of stuff as Noah, going it's coming, it's coming, in fact we're going to have more signs to show them as well aren't we, than maybe Noah, because I don't think the storm clouds were kind of forming for 100 years yeah, but basically they had no excuse, the ark condemned the world, the ark condemned the world, that's what Hebrews 11 verse 7 says, it says by faith Noah being warned of God, okay so he was warned of God of things not seen as yet, and we're warned of God aren't we, of things seen, you know things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, the ark condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, so Noah condemned the world with that ark okay, that look they had ample opportunity, he had the big ark, he was preaching the truth, he was preaching what was going to happen, they didn't have it, and it's for me it's the same as we do when we go and preach the gospel, often we just condemn the world don't we, oh I mean I had someone today, I got through the whole gospel with them, got to the end and then they didn't want to call the name of the Lord, said they believed everything I said, so where does that fit in with the kind of you don't have to call the name of the Lord people, was it like oh yeah no no no, you know just basically rejected ultimately, and at the end wasn't ready to get saved, basically didn't want to call the name of the Lord, and what happened really there, probably she's just been condemned, now she might not, you hope and pray that maybe she's going to go away, and you know God willing just hope so, you know it's good to pray for people isn't it, you preach the gospel to and reject, but the sad truth is a lot of the time that's kind of done isn't it, and they're condemned, a lot of them are condemned by the fact like the first guy I knocked on door with, he just wanted to start asking me what our stance on gays are, they sound very happy you know, maybe he meant sodomites, I don't know, I try not to go down that route, but people like that, what are they really doing, you come with the gospel to them all they want to do is try and get around with you, and what are they doing, basically you're condemning them by coming to the door with the gospel aren't you, and Noah that he condemned the world by building that arc, and that's the truth isn't it, when you've got the truth then you've got the the offer of protection there, you've got the word of God there, and people reject it, a lot of the time it's condemning them isn't it, go back to Genesis 7 with that in mind, because you know people get upset don't they, people try and deny the flood because ultimately really it shows that look God will judge people yeah, God will judge them, and well they had ample opportunity, he built it for a hundred years, verse 8 says of clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean and of fowls and of everything that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark the male and the female as God had commanded Noah, and it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth, so what's the significance of this seven days here which we also saw mentioned in verse four, verse four said for yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days or 40 nights and every living substance that I've made will I destroy from off the face of the earth, well seven days it seems to be the standard cleansing period in the bible you see a lot with illnesses and sicknesses and things like that there'll be a seven day period maybe the priest will come and look upon that plague again after seven days seven days outside the camp etc but there was a seven day period for the consecrating of the priests if you remember as well before they did what before they came into the presence of God so there was a seven day period where they were to basically be consecrated in the doorway of the tabernacle of the congregation before they then eventually after seven days of being cleansed were able to basically be in that presence of the Lord and if you remember verse one said this look at verse one it says and the Lord said unto Noah come thou did he say go into the boat or did he say come come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation look the Lord was was in that ark wasn't he now I don't know exactly how that works whether it was the Lord Jesus Christ or what I don't know but what I do know is he said come now into the ark and there seemed to be for me that consecrating time of seven days before they do and then we see after that they seem to then go on and it's it's funny the wording because it talks about bringing in the animals yet there's this seven days it's clearly talked about twice there as well so there's some sort of cleansing process there I think verse 11 it said in the 600th year of Noah's life in the second month the 17th day of the month the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were open now fountains of the great deep is referring to the underwater springs that again just it's always interesting doesn't this this stuff that they were only properly discovered in the 1970s so so we've got the word of God talking about it over 1500 years ago and that's just when that was written oh sorry over 1500 years before the new testament sorry three and a half thousand years ago and you've got and then you've got it's taken until 1970s for people to really now they was like they were kind of started suggesting it a little before it was the 1970s they're like okay definitely we're seeing underwater springs now and it took them well a long time right to get there but should it surprise it shouldn't surprise us should it okay the word of God's just always right isn't it he was talking about the fountains of the great deep back when Moses was writing this like I said about three and a half thousand years ago now the the ocean floor the reason for this is basically largely undiscovered isn't it I mean if you think how vast the oceans are people aren't just kind of you know swimming around on the floor of the ocean or sending also you know whatever you know sort of I don't even know what you'd call them down there but look there's not really much discovered there but they did in the 70s sight to see and they're everywhere apparently okay you've got these underwater springs there weren't some people have some views that maybe there was these splits made and stuff oh for me there are underwater springs now and there are underwater springs then they were called the fountains of the great deep some of them fire out I think warm water as well interestingly as well but think how deep some of these oceans are as well people have only more recently started to discover this stuff windows of heaven I just think this talking about clouds some people have a few different views I know I just think they're the clouds you know the windows of heaven being the clouds and the rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights we talked about that 40 days and 40 nights of temptation there in the self same day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth the sons of Noah Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them into the ark they and every beast after his kind all the cattle after their kind and every creeper thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and every fowl after his kind every bird of every sort and they went in unto Noah into the ark two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life and they that went in went in male and female of all flesh as God had commanded him and the Lord shut him in preach eternal security off that couldn't you yeah if it's a picture of salvation and he got shut in the ark there wasn't any getting out was there okay once they're shut in once you're saved you're saved aren't you yeah there's no there's people try and come out with this sort of what if you chose to give it back why would you choose to give it back why would Noah open the door and dive into the water I just want to go you know I don't know like people come out with weird stuff don't they obviously giving back salvation is how does that even work yeah you you pass from death under life the second you put your faith in Jesus Christ you have everlasting life the Lord shut him in it's obviously a picture of salvation here there you see a picture of eternal security verse 17 says and the flood was was 40 days upon the earth and the waters increased and bear up the ark and it was lift up above the earth for me a picture of the rapture there okay being lift up above the earth and the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth and the ark went upon the face of the waters and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered now in case you're going hold on 15 cubits only around 22 and a half feet no the water was another 15 cubits above the highest point of the mountains that's a lot of water isn't it no of course it needed the fountains of the deep and everything just just you just seeing water everywhere now some would say look it probably hadn't rained until this point either so there was probably a lot of water ready to come down but whatever happened it was so so much water that ended up going above even the largest mountains in the world i mean that was a lot of water and that must have been scary in that arc as well because they must be going up some big heights there as well yeah um basically the whole thing was covered okay and and amazing right in verse 21 says an all flesh died that moved upon the earth both of fowl and of cattle and of beast and of every creeping thing that creeped upon the earth and every man is it am i right in thinking that people discovered fossils of fish on top of some of the tall mountains in the world and you know fossilized fish and things like that which comes from obviously at some point it was submerged underwater yeah um all in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was in the dry land died and every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground both man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven and they were destroyed from the earth and noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the arc again you just see this constant it's about noah isn't it is noah was the one and they basically like i said rode on his coattails really didn't they and like there's such a good message there isn't there to to be that godly leader of a family yeah and the waters prevailed upon the earth and 150 days now look that was an amazing event wasn't it and it's not just an amazing event that kind of we just read about in the bible i mean every every culture it seems throughout history has had stories and legends of the flood haven't they okay and i haven't kind of gone into this we're kind of out of time pretty much anyway but but look you you can't deny there was a worldwide flood we were trying to go well it was like the bible clearly says it was worldwide okay all the mountains yeah every high hill but it's not you know under heaven it's not just saying oh yeah well there was kind of a little flood because if there was a little flood local somewhere he would have been much better rather than spending 100 years building a bow probably to have spent that 100 years moving somewhere else he could probably could have done it all in a year yeah okay and spent the rest of the time preaching the gospel okay so obviously it wasn't localized it was a worldwide flood and that's why there's legends of the flood all over the world and cultures from one corner of the world to the other and there's much evidence for the flood people talk about things like grand canyon and things like this and just their evidence of a worldwide flood but the thing is is it really doesn't matter because you've got to be careful then to go down the route of i'm going to prove the bible to people look there are some people there are different routes people get to salvation but ultimately they need to believe the gospel to get saved and so many people it doesn't matter what you prove them they're still just going to go no i don't want to hear the gospel and i don't want to get saved turn to second peter three because it because it really is true it does make no difference it's not because well someone hasn't just been that good they haven't been good enough at teach me if only there were more kent hovines or maybe not now but previous former kent hovines you know or maybe if only there were more you know people that are just you know really into it only we have more scientists to prove to the science community and everything else no because they don't want to know they don't want the truth that's the truth it's got nothing to do with with the fact that you're just can't quite prove creationism to them i can't quite prove the flood second peter three in verse five says for this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of god the heavens were evolved and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against a day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men and that's what it comes down to isn't it they're willingly ignorant why because it's a judgment of god that's what the flood proves that god will judge the world and he's going to judge the world again because if you accept the flood then you have to accept the rest of the bible which says yeah there's going to be more judgment and you need to put your faith in jesus christ and it sounds so bizarre because you just said why wouldn't you just put your faith in jesus christ because of the wickedness of these people's hearts and the ones who are willingly willingly ignorant and people are ultimately willingly ignorant but there are some who are so hard-hearted aren't they that they're already given over i mean some of these atheist professor types i mean they're just a bunch of freaks and weirdos anyway aren't they but there are many people out there just don't want to hear do they they're willing and when we say willingly ignorant they just don't want they don't even want to be shown do they they don't want to prove they want to try and they think they can be clever and try and bamboozle you and then if you start answering and go well actually let me show you that from the bar no not interest anyway you know because they're willingly ignorant why because really the the word of god says that they're reserved unto fire against a day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men and that time's coming isn't it and you know what the flood will be kids child's play compared with what's coming hey it really is and people screaming and crying as they drown in the flood and get smashed about by probably all the currents and the storm and everything that happened with it is nothing compared with eternity in a lake of fire and and probably you could say also nothing compared with god's wrath being spilled out on the world as well because that sounds pretty horrendous doesn't it then people will be begging for death but will they get paid will they get saved no they're still willingly ignorant they don't want it they don't want salvation it's not about how we prove it to them it's about preaching gospel to those that want to hear the gospel want to get saved right on that let's pray father thank you well your word is just so amazing you you give us give us details and descriptions the things that no one has had a clue about for thousands of years and only now we'll start to discover um and lord you know because well because it's the word of god and there's just just so much it's so rich the little nuggets like that with the fans of the deep and then there's just all the many truths and the realities of life and the willing ignorance that we see out there just being spelt out in your word lord help us to just put more trust and more faith in your word lord to just not not be swayed by their so-called science experts of our day and um and all these all these you know intellectual clowns out there help us to just just put our trust in your word lord put our trust in in in what you have to say is as you know that's the beginning of knowledge that's the beginning of wisdom and uh help us to to just just remember these things we're going to this week lord especially that you know just the teachings there on on being a godly leader like noah was and and for those that aren't those leaders of their houses to to appreciate the fact that they do have a godly leader because for me anyone in this church is you know they're there because they have some godly leadership bringing them to the house of god to the pillar and ground of the truth please help those to appreciate that help those of us who are leaders to to be more like you want us to be to be those godly leaders lord help us to um to to get home safely tonight and to get back on sunday another day in your house just in the name of provost amen