What was it like in the days before the flood? 1 Peter 3, verse 20 answers in part stating that God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. You're listening to the latest edition of Encounter God's Truth, a Bible-proclaiming outreach of Whitcomb Ministries. I'm Wayne Shepherd, your host, welcoming you back to our series on creation apologetics, featuring Dr. John Whitcomb's insightful teaching on biblical origins and related topics like the Genesis flood. You can listen to the previous installments of this series at sermonaudio.com slash Whitcomb. Well, for the next two weeks, we're breaking away from the messages we've been sharing, which Dr. Whitcomb delivered last fall at the Answers for Pastors Conference at the Creation Museum. But we're staying with the same theme. This material actually comes from a sermon that Dr. Whitcomb presented recently to a local church. In it, he reiterates, personalizes, and applies the themes he addressed in the earlier parts of this series. So we wanted to bring it to you now. Our message is entitled, Noah's Ark and Christ Our Savior. Part 1, which we'll hear today, opens with a rehearsal of our speaker's own conversion to Christ more than 70 years ago. Here's Dr. Whitcomb. It's such a joy and a privilege, friends, to be able to open God's precious, infallible, inerrant, inspired Word and listen to what the Holy Spirit, who authored this book, tells us about how the world began, what's happening today and why, and how the world will end. A to Z. the total alphabet, a divine revelation in this book. I was a total godless evolutionist at Princeton University in 1942 and 43. I was an only child in a godless home. My mother and father were not believers. They were wonderful people. In fact, my father was chief of staff in the Third Army with General Patton. General George Patton was our next door neighbor in Fort Benning before the war. We knew him personally. My father was a professor at West Point and traveled in various places in the world and especially became the American military ambassador to Peru and lived in Lima for a number of years in South America. He spoke fluent Spanish. And friends, I thank the Lord for my parents because they had high ambitions for me. They said, we want you to go to West Point, but you're not physically qualified. I had physical problems that prevented me from going to West Point like my father did. So they sent me to what they thought was second best, Princeton University, where I could study in the John Foster School of Public and International Affairs, and someday become maybe an ambassador or a diplomat, at least, for the US government. But God had other plans. When I arrived, a month after I arrived on that campus, I'm amazed at this. A young man came and knocked on my door in the freshman dormitory, Pine Hall, and said, John, I graduated from the same prep school you did a year before you did at McAuley School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I'd like to invite you to a Bible class in Murray Dodge Hall on Sunday afternoon to hear an outstanding Bible teacher. I said, no. I'm not here to study the Bible. He did an awful thing. He went home and prayed for me. The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. He came back again, inviting me once more. I said no. He came back a third time. I finally said, okay, get this man off my back. I'll go, and I've never recovered. I've told the story in a paper that's on the book table called Priorities in Presenting the Faith, the Conversion of an Evolutionist, and what God did through Donald Fullerton, who led me to the Lord several months later in my dorm room in February of 43. A month later, I was drafted in the Army, survived somehow in Europe as a German interpreter, came back and finished at Princeton, and one night we had a film The God of Creation, produced by the Moody Institute of Science. 200 professors and students came to see the film. Guess who walked in? Albert Einstein. He was fascinated with how the world began. He was so frustrated at the atomic bomb disasters in Japan that he had had a part in designing. He thought the whole world would be destroyed. And friends, apart from the mercy of God, it could have been destroyed. Someday something special is going to happen. Could be tonight. It's called the rapture of the church. You know, four things have to happen first. The Lord himself would ascend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then what? We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And if those first four things happen, please phone us. The rapture could happen tonight. I say, Lord, thank you for these promises. Now, friends, tonight our topic is something that's fascinated me ever since I went to Grace Theological Seminary as a student in 1948. When I graduated, they invited me to stay on as a professor of Old Testament. I taught millions and millions of years before Adam and Eve were created, God created the world, the gap theory, Genesis 1, 1, 1, 2. In God's providence, a great lecturer came to our campus in October of 1953, Dr. Henry Morris, and explained that the flood was the dynamic by which the whole world was transformed forever. Trillions of creatures fossilized, strata, Grand Canyon. Didn't take millions of years for that flood to take place. I said, Dr. Morris, you got my attention. Pray for me. I'm going to write a doctoral dissertation about this. And for three years, I worked on this. Finally, in 1957, it was completed, 400 pages. I said to Dr. Morris, would you please pray that we can join together and co-author a book about the flood? You do the science, I'll do the theology. Let's work together. Three more years, and finally in 61, the book was published. And now one third of a million copies are over the world in three or four languages. And now we have a new 50th anniversary edition just published a year or so ago. Friends, you'd be amazed at how much the Bible says about the flood. Let's turn in our Bible to Matthew 24. Matthew chapter 24, verse number 37. As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that what? Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. The Lord Jesus said, there was a flood. It took everybody away except Noah, who entered the ark. Bye. Now, what was God doing during the 120 years while that ark was being prepared? I'm amazed. Let's turn back to 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 20. which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." What happened? The long-suffering of God. I have a hard time with this, friends. God says, he says, trust me, dear child, I'm suffering. I'm suffering long. I'm suffering deeply for what you do to me. Neglect me, ignore me, deny me, reject me. You know, it makes me, it just makes me weep to think my alma mater, Princeton University, about 125 years ago, officially turned away from the Bible. Why, that school was started to train preachers of the gospel. Jonathan Edwards is one of their first presidents. Now the official leadership of the university totally rejects the Bible. Now that doesn't mean there are no Christians on the campus, but they have their little private groups like our Princeton Evangelical Fellowship, through which I came to know the Lord. Small groups of students here and there, praying, reading, studying, witnessing for the Lord. Praise God for that. But Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, all the great major universities have turned away from God. Every accredited, reputable university in the world has rejected, ignored the Bible. God says, He suffers. He suffers. Long suffering of God. Okay, now turn to 2 Peter, all right? Chapter two. Verse 5, God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a what? A preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. He was what? A preacher. I want a tape recording, don't you, someday in heaven of his preaching. His sermon lasted 120 years. You know, I have a vital part in the ark being built in Kentucky. Anybody have heard of that? Answers in Genesis has launched a multi-million dollar project of building the ark. It won't take 120 years, God willing, maybe two. And the plans now are ready to start clearing the ground. It is my privilege to be there and offer the prayer of dedication for that project. And when the ark is completed, They expect the first year 1,200,000 people to come. The governor of Kentucky is excited. Think of what that's going to do to that community. It's 40 miles south of the museum. How many have been to the museum? Oh, that's one of the rest of you must go immediately. magnificent displays to show you that God designed, created a perfect world in six literal 24-hour days a few thousand years ago. Beautifully done. Beautifully done. And I say, Lord, thank you that you told us that during those years Noah was preaching, warning, pleading with people, come, come, come, believe. End of the ark. Be saved. Now, We're going to turn to a big one now. Hebrews chapter 11. Turn back a couple pages. The faith chapter. My, what faith that project took on the part of Noah and his family. Hebrews 11.1. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. He had never seen a global flood before. All right? Verse 3, through faith we understand that the worlds are framed by the Word of God, so the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Verse 6, without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. This is not just faith in what anybody says, it's faith in what God has said. Now, this has always been a challenge to my understanding. The Lord Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Not my arguments, not evidences that you and I could present, but the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, illumines, convicts, confirms in the hearts of men the things about the Lord. He created us this way. infinitely different than animals. They have no conscience, no heart for God, no capacity to believe. We love animals. We've had animals in our home for many, many years. And so have you. They're beautiful creatures. They didn't evolve either. They were created. But the chasm between men and animals is infinite. And God says, when I speak to you as a human being, you have my image, my likeness, and you can listen to me, and I can speak to you. And when I speak, you must believe. You must follow exactly what I say. Now, you say, what's that got to do with Noah? Oh my, what faith it took. Listen to the next verse. Are you ready? Verse number six, excuse me, verse seven. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, Nobody had ever seen a universal flood. He was moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Can you imagine that, friends? There could have been a billion people on the earth by the time of the flood. People lived hundreds of years. Very different kind of world than we know today. And Dr. Henry Morris has calculated the population explosion potential for the pre-flood world. But as a demon-possessed world, it was awful. You remember Genesis 6? God saw the wickedness of man. He was grieved in his heart. And I say, Lord, I can't imagine how awful it must have been before the flood. And, you know, the Lord Jesus wants us to know exactly what happened. And let's turn back to John 5 and listen to this. John chapter 5, verse 45, the end of the chapter. Are you there? John 5, 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, he said to the Jewish leaders of his day. There is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how should you believe my words? Lord, I think I got a message here. You have totally endorsed everything that Moses wrote, because Moses wrote because God the Holy Spirit told him what to write. Now let's turn back to Genesis chapter 7. Moses' first book, Genesis. Look at the amazing statement in chapter 7. Verse 11. Are you there? Genesis 7, 11. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the 17th day of the month, stop right there. You say, Dr. Whitcomb, why does the Bible have so much chronology in it? Days, months, years. You know why? Because chronology is the backbone of history. And history is a frame of reference for all theology. Aren't you thankful the verse doesn't start like this? Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a man named Noah, which is another nice way of saying there never was such a person. But you know, Genesis starts with six days of creation. Revelation ends with a thousand years of the kingdom. Jesus rose from the dead on the what? The third day. It really happened to a real person in real time in real history. Noah was a real person in real history. What happened to that day in his life? Oh, the world will never fully recover from what happened that day. Listen carefully. Are you ready? The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven are open, and the rain is upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Torrential, massive collapse of the pre-flood vapor canopy that condensed and drenched the world all over this planet, night and day, night and day, week after week, week after week. The intensity of that first period of time, 40 days, 40 nights. Now friends, there are people who claim to be Christians, like I was, who have serious questions about the magnitude and extent of the flood. A popular view today, as you perhaps have heard, is that it just covered the Near East somewhere, you know, the Tigris or British Valley or something. God says, I want to get your attention. That flood covered the world. Really? Look at verse 17 now. Are you ready? Genesis 7, 17. And the flood was 40 days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and bear up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. Watch those words, the ark. And the waters prevailed. That's a Hebrew word that means they were irresistible, overwhelming, prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth, And the ark, there's that word again, the ark went upon the face of the waters, and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth. Are you ready for this one? Here it comes, folks. And all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. In fact, 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. Now, we need to understand something right now. The mountains we have today weren't existing then. The Rockies, the Alps, the Himalayas, the Andes weren't here. They came up after the flood, filled with trillions of fossils. Ocean basins were shallower, mountains were lower, and that much water could cover the whole world. Not one hill, one mountain remained above the water. So the ark could not be destroyed. Now here's the interesting point now. Watch this footnote. 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail. That's 22 feet. Why 22 feet? That's half of the height of Noah's ark. So when the ark was filled with his precious cargo, it sank about half its height into the water. So God saw to it there was no mountain in the world that was covered by less than 22 feet of water the Ark had flowed over everything in this planet for months. Wow. Thank you, Lord. The details here. God says, do I have your attention? There was a real Ark. You know, people today laugh at Noah's Ark. We see cartoons. I've got pictures of people who think the Ark was some, like a bathtub with some giraffes taking their necks out and some... The Ark was no laughing matter, friends. You're in the Ark. or you're dead. Oh, I can't even imagine what it was like. By the way, Noah himself had a problem with the ark. Did you know that? Look back at chapter 6. He had a real problem, a real big one. Genesis 6, 19. He had spent 120 years Building there, and finally it's finished, and God said this to him, this shocked him, to the core of his being. 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. To be specific, Noah, I'm serious, of fowls after their kind. of cattle after they're canned. Of every creeping thing, that includes all dinosaurs, friends, reptiles, lizards, everything in the world that breathes and moves and lives on this planet. See, they didn't have to come from Australia. There was no Australia before the flood. Probably just one great continent. Because all the animals could walk right to the ark. And I'm sure Noah said, Lord, you can't be serious. You mean I have to go around the world and collect these animals? Impossible. And God answered the problem. Look what he said. Two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. Oh, thank you, God. I build the ark, you bring the animals. Isn't this wonderful? This is an example that is repeated many times in the Bible. God says, you do this, I'll do that. We're working together. That's the Great Commission. Make disciples of all nations. You say, really? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything I've told you. You say, that's impossible. Right, but I am with you till the end of the age. You do this, I'll do that. That's our Christian life too. Philippians. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works within you to work and to do his good pleasure. You do this, he'll do this, and we'll work together. One of my favorite illustrations of that is how in the world did Jesus get Lazarus out of the tomb? I mean, he had some serious problems. Three, to be specific. Number one, a huge stone blocked the tomb. I mean, a big one, a boulder. Number two, it's all wrapped up like an Egyptian mummy in all kinds of wrappings that they did for dead people. But the third problem was the big one. He was dead. And we'll pick up there next time with the conclusion of this teaching on Noah's Ark and Christ our Savior. We want to thank Faith Baptist Church of Avon, Indiana for allowing us to bring you the message that we started today on Encounter God's Truth. Students all across America are going back to school this time of the year, and almost all of them will hear an account of origins that excludes the Lord God and His Word. Are your students hearing the truth? Will you pray for others you know who may not be? Please share this broadcast with those around you who need to listen. Just visit us online at WhitcombMinistries.org and then find additional spiritual encouragement at Facebook.com slash Whitcomb Ministries and MyWorldview.com slash Whitcomb Ministries. And if you'd like to learn more about Answers in Genesis, Ark Encounter Project, which Dr. Whitcomb talked about in this sermon, visit ArkEncounter.com. God's Word is true from the beginning to the end, which is why we're delighted to bring you this series on Creation Apologetics. For Dr. Whitcomb, I'm Wayne Shepherd, praying for God's blessing on you and yours this Labor Day weekend. You can listen to a special message from Dr. Whitcomb for this holiday called, Why We Must Work, when you visit sermonaudio.com slash Whitcomb. And then please join us again next time here on Encounter God's Truth.