Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we begin our Advent series, which is called Ready. We want to be ready. Ready Advent with Jesus. And during Advent, this is a season of preparation, a season of readiness. Now, of course, everyone thinks about, during Advent, getting ready for Jesus' birth, being prepared to celebrate, once again, the birth of Christ. But also, Advent is just as much about being ready for the second Advent. that we heard about last week between those on the right and the left. So today we look at that aspect of Jesus returning, this being prepared, as we hear lessons from how God used Noah as he had to be prepared for the judgment that was coming in the flood. So the title of the sermon is, Noah Ready for Judgment. So of course, there is so much that we could say about Noah, the ark, the flood. It could easily be a fairly lengthy sermon series in itself just looking at that. But let's get a brief biography of Noah, just to start out. Noah was born of the 10th generation after Adam and Eve, 1,656 years after Adam's creation. His father was a man named Lemic and he spoke over his son Noah. His name means bring us rest or relief. they were once again given that command that God gave in the Garden of Eden to be fruitful and multiply. It's a good thing because we're all here today. Now remember that before the flood, the Bible tells us that people lived for a very long time. We don't know exactly why, but there are different theories out there about that. I won't go into all those standards today. So, I say that in considering that Noah and his wife had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Jacob. None of them was born before he was 500 years old. And then, it's when he's 600 years old, we learned in our scripture lesson today, that the flood began. So, someone said it was a lot of work. Well, he's overseeing this raising of children and giant construction project in his father's And he would seal this, of course, with something else people often think of with Noah in the flood, the side of the rainbow, sealed God's covenant with Noah. Another interesting note about Noah is that after the flood, he became a vine dresser. That means he is the first recorded maker of wine in human history. And that did get him into a little bit of trouble, though. Noah lived to the ripe old age of 950 years old. Not quite as old as Methuselah, but pretty close. Now what was the world like that Noah lived in? Oh, it was a world that was very wicked. Since the fall of the Garden of Eden, man had continued to descend into debauchery, wickedness, Noah remained faithful. Our Old Testament lesson began with those words in Genesis 6-9. Noah was a righteous man. Blameless in his generation, Noah walked with God. So, of course, this does not mean that he was without sin, because we know that the only one without sin is Jesus Himself. But what it does mean is that in this wicked generation, Noah stood out. Verses 11-13 describe the sad situation and what God told Noah He was going to do about it. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. But God, in His mercy, He had not given up on His creation. He had not forgotten about His promise that He would send a Messiah, that He would send a Savior one day. So Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their three wives, as well as two of each kind of animal, seven of the clean animals, they would be preserved. There would be life on earth that was spared from this great judgment that was coming. So of course, you know, what did God tell Noah to do? He told him to build a great ship, an ark. And it was on this ark that that life would be preserved. Now we must understand, though, As I mentioned in the children's sermon a few summers ago, Shoshana and I were able to take a group of young people from here in Trinity up to Northern Kentucky and we visited the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter up there. And it was pretty impressive to see all these exhibits and things that they had reconstructed there. And if you could see the picture on the cover, I don't know if you can see it from where you get a chance to see this, I know a couple of you have too. It just is so big. It just strikes you that this is a huge ship here that God told Noah to build. And when you see it, it's a little bit different than some of those arcs you might have seen in your children's books. You know, the little cartoonish arcs. You know what I'm talking about? They're kind of like a, I don't know, It doesn't really look real, does it? It doesn't look real. It looks like this ark could barely fit everything on it. It might just tip over if a big wave hits it. But the real ark that the Bible describes that God told Noah to build, that you see a replica of their life size, it is a very sea-worthy ark. It gives the dimensions of the arc for us as well. And it gives it in cubits, as we were hearing from the scripture. So what in the world is a cubit? How do we know how big this was? Well, a cubit was the measurement from a man's fingertips to his elbow, basically. So the forearm area. Now obviously that would vary on people, but on average that would be between 17 and a half and 22 inches for one cubit. It also tells us in the Bible that the ark was designed with three depths. That gives it about 100,000 square feet of space inside of the ark. So again, when you see this replica, you really see this hip hole. This is enough capacity. Basically, it's the size of a modern oil tanker. If you've ever seen an oil tanker, that's how big this would be in the ancient world. it can hold the capacity of about 500 or more railroad cars. And again, that's the conservative estimate. It could have been even a little bigger if you go with the longer cubic length. In fact, there was no other ship in human history this big all the way until 1858. There was a 669-foot ship called the Great Eastern that was built in that year. So the point is, that they spent on the ark. They say, well, still though, that's big, but there's a lot of animals in the world, right? I mean, how could you get two of every species of animal on the area of the food and everything like that? Well, also we have to note that the Bible uses the same Hebrew word when it talks about creation back in Genesis 1, as it does when it talks about the animals here. And that word is translated as kind. He didn't need two of every dog breed if all his breeds existed back then. Probably not. Like we have every day there's a new dog breed. But the point is he just needed two dogs. He needed two from the feline family because within that all the genetic place. Now back to the judgment. Back to the judgment. The judgment would come. When Noah was 600 years old, the flood arrived. And for 40 days and 40 nights, it rained. And verse 11 of chapter 7 also tells us that the waters came from below, that the fountains of the great deep burst open. So this was water that was coming down and the daylings would rain, but it was also the waters from the earth. flood. Because Genesis 719 told us that the floodwaters rose to cover the highest mountains by 15 cubits, so about 22 feet. All flesh that was not on the ark would perish. This global flood would have huge geological impacts on the world and explains much of what we see today. And then there are fossils, right? Well, how are fossils formed? Fossils are formed when something dies very quickly, and then it's encased in mud, rock, underwater. Well, if there was a global flood, what would you expect to find all over the world? Even on top of mountains, you would expect to find fossils. And that's exactly what we do see. So we know that God is a God of justice. He's a God of wrath against sin. But we also know that God is merciful. Ancient Jewish writings speak about Noah passionately warning other people that God was not pleased with their sin. That judgment was coming. But what about the Bible? We talked about this in Sunday school. There are ancient writings. Some of them are in the Bible. Some of them are not. So, we have extra biblical sources talking about Noah doing this. Do we have any biblical sources? Yes, we do. We heard about it in our epistle lesson from 2nd Peter. It says that in that lesson that he was a preacher or he was a herald of righteousness. So, God spared Noah but the unrepentant godly would perish. So Noah was calling out God's word to the people, preaching righteousness as this ark is being constructed. People scoffed. They ignored the warnings from God. Now, let this be an encouragement to any pastors out there who think, you know, they're just preaching faithfully every week and we don't have new people. We don't have new converts for you as you're witnessing the people and you don't feel like everyone's responding the way you want them to. Noah was a herald, a preacher of God's righteousness for 120 years. How many converts did he get? None. He had his family, that's it. but he was faithful to what God called him to do. So we keep sharing the message, we keep preaching the message, and we leave the results to God. So the flood came. These people didn't listen to Noah, so they were not ready. They were not ready for the judgment. They thought Noah would fool God's law, foolishness, and they would pay dearly for it, wouldn't they? in our gospel lesson today in Saint Matthew 24. Let's turn our attention there for a second because we see very interesting here that Jesus draws a direct and clear parallel between the judgment that came on the world with the flood of Noah's time to when he will return on the last day. Here are verses 37 through 39 again. But 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 Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." So Jesus speaks about being prepared and unprepared. He gives warnings to those who are unprepared. for his return. Uh Kent spoke about that a few weeks ago, didn't he? About the wise, the foolish virgins. Some of them are ready for the bridegroom and some weren't and Jesus makes this a theme of his preaching. So, what were they doing back in Noah's time before the flood hit? What were they doing in Jesus time? What are people doing today? Just like Jesus said, people are going about their daily lives. People are getting married, they're having families, they're working, they're finding Black Friday deals either in person or online. People are very concerned with things that they think pertain to them, their physical well-being. But unfortunately, while we make so many preparations for our physical existence, so many times, we and others, we can ignore the spiritual preparations. that are much more important. It would have been much more advantageous to be prepared when the flood hit than to be out trying to find some kind of deal for when Jesus returns. But how many are tempted by and consumed by the things of the world? How easy is it to be sucked in by the lure of mammon? The false prophets are out there. Peter warned us about that too, didn't he? I'm sure there were those scoffers as Noah was warning the people of what was coming. Don't listen to that crazy old guy. He's building a boat out in the middle of, there's not even any water here. Don't listen to him. Listen to me. We have those false prophets then, we have them in Jesus' time, we have them today. But as Peter says, they're damnable. Heresies only lead to swift destruction. The lusts of the flesh and greed, they lurk about deceiving many. We must follow the faithful example of Noah and be ready when that day of judgment comes. And when we remember Noah, we have to be careful about something. We have to be careful about thinking that he was saved by building the ark. Noah is called faithful Noah for a reason. Because he had faith. Because without faith in what God revealed to him, he would have never built the ark. Hebrews 12, 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness that comes by what? Faith. Noah was saved by the same thing that we are, faith. In this faith, Noah acted in obedience. Genesis 6.22, Noah did this. He did all the things that God created him, God commanded him. You see, Noah had to have faith, didn't he? Because what he's being told to do sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? But he trusted God, and he did it. Obedience does not create saving faith. Saving faith creates the obedience. If Noah didn't believe God, there's no way he would have done it. He believed, and he acted. Noah in the ark is a picture of our salvation. Jesus Christ is the salvation of God come to us. The New Testament makes this pretty clear. If you read 1 Peter 3, it says that there were eight people, that's Noah and his family, that were saved through water, and then that's when we get that passage that says, baptism now saves you. Because in baptism, we are given the gift of faith in Jesus Christ. We pray a portion of Luther's flood prayer as our call out of the day today. And maybe that was a little familiar to you because in the liturgy of the baptism of the Lutheran church, we pray Luther's flood prayer in its entirety. Why? Because as the scripture tells us, we have seen this clear connection between the flood, water, and baptism. The Bible tells us that in baptism, the old sinful man is drowned. That's the judgment of God against sin. But then the new man emerges to new life. And that grace of God is applied to far more than eight people in the new government. Genesis 6.16, God instructs Noah to build the ark. And as I spoke about earlier, this may not be the first thing that we think about with the ark, but it's very important. He tells Noah specifically to build on this ark a door. And notice that it says a door. He doesn't say doors. That doesn't make sense, does it? animals that are gonna need to come in, all the cargo that's gonna need to come in. I mean, any big ship, you're gonna have multiple points of entry, right? But God tells Noah to build this ark with one door. Why? Because everyone and everything that would be saved aboard that ark would come through that door. The floodwaters came. And the Bible tells us something else interesting about this door. Well, first of all, didn't Noah have to go out and catch all the animals? No, God brought them to them. So God called the people aboard the ark to the door. And then when the flood came, who shut the door? God did. God did. What does this show us? That God calls us to faith through the door. We enter into salvation. and he seals that door, keeping us safe aboard his ark of salvation. John 10, 9, Jesus says, I open the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in and out and find a pasture. There's only one door, and to the safety of the ark, there's only one door to return alive, and that's Jesus Christ. So, we sang that song earlier, are you ready? There's a great day coming by and by. Are you ready for that day to come? That day is great and bright, but it's also sad. It's sad for those who rejected Christ because that clock has expired on their time to repent. When those floodwaters arrived, it was too late then. We should learn from the example of Noah. We want to be preachers, heralds of righteousness, calling the air into repentance and faith in Jesus, warning them of the coming judgment. You can't just wait until it happens and figure it out then. You need to be prepared. We should be obedient as Noah was. And most of all, we should have faith like Noah. Even faith in the things that we haven't seen yet. We trust in the promise of God. So, I pray that you are ready, not just in Advent, but every day. As Jesus said in the gospel, therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh. When you don't expect it, that's the day the flood hits. That's the day Jesus returns. We are only ready in Christ. Through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, we have forgiveness of sins. We are ready for judgment. Ready as the final judgment, We receive our reward through faith in Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. The peace of God is past all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.