The second Bible reading is from Genesis chapter 8 verses 1 through 19. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. the rain from the heavens were restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the water had abated, and in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. and the waters continued to abate until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent a dove forth from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark. for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So no one knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. This is the word of the Lord. Let me pray for us. Lord, we are grateful for your word this morning. We're grateful for opportunity to sing praise to you. You are worthy of all praise and all worship. We pray now as we seek to know you more fully, that you would teach us from your word that your Holy Spirit would be at work in each of our hearts. So would you help us this morning, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let me invite you to please be seated. And again, a very good morning to you. I'm very glad that you are with us this morning. It is a special morning for us here at Christ Church. As I said at the beginning, this is a morning in which we get to celebrate a baptism. Baptism is hugely significant in the life of an individual and in the life of a church. It's a sign of new life and transformation. It's a sign of death followed by resurrection. It is, we would say, a sign of the gospel. And so it is an act that is to be celebrated joyfully among God's people. And there's something massively significant about the fact that baptism is an act that involves water. The believing person goes under the water only then to come up and rise out of the water. And so I think it's quite fitting that in the Lord's providence here this morning as we continue in our study of Genesis, that's what we're doing here at Christ Church, we're just slowly making our way through the book of Genesis. And in the Lord's providence this morning, I think it's quite fitting that we're focusing here today on the historical event of Noah and the flood. Because the story of the flood in Genesis ultimately becomes for us, in God's Word, a vivid picture of what baptism is all about. Now, when I was growing up, and I experienced this as a parent as well when my kids were younger, the story of Noah and the ark tended to be really a children's story. I can think of little figurines that we had as a kid, little play sets, actually, of Noah and the ark and the animals, and you could move them around, and you could put them inside the ark and close the doors. They were all kind of in these bright pastel colors, I assume meant to be very friendly and welcoming to children. And so maybe that's been your experience as well. When you think about Noah and the ark, you think of it primarily as a children's story. Or maybe for you, when you think of Noah and the flood, you think of something that's maybe more like a myth or a fable, something that's just kind of made up and isn't true. Well, friend, wherever you may be coming from as you come to this story, I want to invite you to try and let the Bible speak for itself today. Because the Bible does, in fact, present this as history. And I'm personally convinced that it is. There are specific dates that are given here. There's a geographic region that is mentioned here. Not only that, but there is, of course, even outside the Bible, accounts of a cataclysmic flood that overwhelmed the Earth. And so I just want to invite you to come along with me this morning and to try and let the Bible speak for itself here today. Because if we do that, what we'll find is that actually this event is massively significant and will teach us some very important things about God. Especially if you're someone who's new to Christianity or maybe you're exploring matters of faith, you may find this morning that God isn't perhaps exactly who you thought he was. You may find, in fact, that maybe God is a bit greater, more majestic, maybe even, if I can use this word, a little bit more terrifying than you ever realized. But you also may find at the very same time that God is far more kind and good and generous than maybe you ever realized. So again, I want you to invite you to come with me this morning. Let's see what the Bible has for us. You're going to want to have your Bibles open in front of you or the bulletins. You have your bulletins there. We're going to look at these readings from Genesis chapters 6 through 8. Now, as we dig in here today, we're going to see that there are two interlocking themes that we need to keep before us the whole way through, both of which do, in fact, teach us about God. And those are the themes of God's judgment and God's grace. And so friends, that's my prayer for us this morning, that as we study this very well-known but perhaps misunderstood Bible story, we'll see and believe and be changed by both the fierce judgment of God and the free grace of God. Now this is a long passage spanning the portion here of these three different chapters. So here's just a quick overview. Chapter six is about the building of the ark in preparation for the flood. Chapter seven is about entering the ark as the floodwaters prevail. And then chapter eight is about exiting the ark as the floodwaters recede. So here's my plan for us as we walk through this. I'm going to begin by making just a few observations for you about some of the things that Moses, Moses is the author of this, that Moses is emphasizing that he wants us to see. And then after that, I'm going to give you some application points. Because the New Testament draws several application points for us today from this account of the flood, one of which is indeed helping us to understand what baptism is all about. Okay, so some observation and then we'll do some application. One point that Moses draws our attention to and which we need to observe is related to the character of Noah. So look at chapter 6, verse 9. This is on page 10 of your bulletins. Chapter 6, verse 9. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Now, as we read that, it's important we remember where we left off last week. If you were here last week, chapter 6, verse 8, which we focused on last week, told us that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, meaning Noah was a recipient of God's free grace. So it was a gift from God. And therefore, when we read today in verse 9 that Noah was a righteous man, We need to understand that Noah here now is only identified as righteous because of what came before that at the end of the last section, again, God's grace. And this is in fact how the New Testament understands Noah and speaks of his righteousness. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7 connects Noah's righteousness with faith. Okay, so it's not that Noah deserves God's favor, but it's the fact that Noah has put his faith in God, and as a result of that work of grace in his life, Noah is now considered to be a righteous man. Indeed, we're told here that he's considered to be a blameless man, which doesn't mean that he's perfect or without sin, but that he's a man of integrity. Why? Because he's a man who walks with God, we're told. Now in contrast to Noah though, a second point we need to observe is the corruption of the world in which Noah lives. So look at verse 11. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So in other words, the world is being destroyed by sin, we're being told. Again, as we saw last week, there's violence, there's sexual perversity, there's the abuse of women, there's the distortion of marriage, and it's multiplying on the earth and it's ruining God's good creation. Just remember this devastating statement from last week in verse 5 of this chapter. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. And that brings us to another point of observation. And that's the determination of God. Look at verse 13, still page 10 there in your bulletins. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh. For the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. That's God's fierce judgment against sin. In his goodness and his justice, God is determined to end all sin. And there's a little play on words here. God's determination to destroy the earth and all flesh is related to the word translated as corrupt in verse 12. So in other words, Moses is highlighting for us the fact that human beings have destroyed God's good creation and therefore God will now destroy them and the world. And the way that God is going to do that is through a flood, we're told. And so in verses 14 to 16, he instructs Noah to build an ark. And God gives Noah very specific instructions for that. Because verse 17, he says, And so again, God's judgment His good, right, always just judgment is fierce. Every human being, we're told, is a sinner who as a result of their sin has brought evil and violence into this world and thus has destroyed God's good world and therefore deserves to be overwhelmed by the floodwaters of his judgment. And yet, right alongside that fierce judgment, is also God's free grace. That's what we also need to observe here, not just the determination of God to bring judgment, but also the covenant of God by which he'll show grace to Noah and his family. Verse 18 begins with a but, and that but should remind us of God's grace that we saw last week back in verse 8 where we had another but like that. Chapter 6, verse 8, we were told last week, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Well, similarly now here, verse 18, God says, I'm going to destroy But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you." And then verse 19 goes on with the instruction to bring pairs of all the animals and food, et cetera, so that God can ultimately preserve a remnant of life in creation. And friends, we need to see this but here in verse 18 as simply owing to the freeness of God's grace. This covenant of salvation only happens because God establishes it by his grace. It's a gift of grace that God gives to Noah and his family. And that brings us to a fifth observation. The ark is the only place of salvation. There's no other way to survive the floodwaters of God's judgment except in the ark. Turn to chapter 7, pages 10 and 11 in your bulletin, because this is what we see repeatedly emphasized in chapter 7. Look at verse 1. Then the Lord said to Noah, go into the ark, you and all your household. Verse 7, and Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Verse 9, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah as God had commanded Noah. Verse 13, on the very same day, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. Verse 15, they went into the ark with Noah. Verse 23, after all flesh has died, we're told that only Noah was left and those who were with him. Where? In the ark. It's as black and white as that. Everything inside the ark is saved while everything outside the ark is destroyed. The ark was God's gracious gift to Noah to save Noah and his family from God's judgment, and there was no other way to be saved. This is how God would save them. Look at the end of verse 16. Verse 16 tells us that, and those that entered male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. The Lord sealed up the door and made sure that Noah was safe from his judgment. Friends, do you see how gracious God is in doing that? And he makes sure that Noah is absolutely safe in that God-provided ark and nowhere else can Noah survive the judgment of God. And so God safely, graciously shuts him in. Here's another observation that Moses has very intentionally built into the telling of this. It's the point that what God is doing here in the flood isn't just saving one man and his family, but he's also, in effect, uncreating the world in order to recreate it. That's a huge part of what's going on in this section. God is uncreating the world in order to recreate it, as it were. While these chapters were being read for us earlier, perhaps you thought you were hearing some echoes from Genesis 1 and 2 and the account of God's original creation of the world. And if you did, well, well done, because that's what Moses is intending for us to hear. There are numerous echoes and parallels from chapters 1 and 2 with chapters 7 and 8 here. So let me just very briefly show you a few of them. One is actually back in chapter 6, verse 12. Remember when God originally created the world, He looked at it, and we were told in chapter 1, behold, it was good. Well, here now in chapter 6, verse 12, God looks at the earth and behold, it was corrupt. And so as a result, God determines to uncreate the world. Now, originally God created the world in seven days, but here now in chapter 7, as he uncreates it, God gives Noah, notice, a seven-day countdown to him uncreating the world. Chapter 7, verse 4, for in seven days I will send rain on the earth, forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. Verse 10, and after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. And so originally, after seven days, we had a beautiful, good world. But here now, after seven days, the uncreating of the world will begin. And so instead of God separating the waters, as he did in Genesis 1, here now he unleashes the waters from both top and bottom. Chapter 7, verse 11. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month. So it's meant to be historical. On that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened. So again, the world is being uncreated. Similarly, if you look at verses 14 and 15, What goes into the ark to be saved echoes the animals and the things according to their kind, that phrase that's so pervasive in Genesis 1. And then on the flip side, those that are left on the earth to die include all that God originally created. Look down at verse 21, page 11 in your bulletins. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind, everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left. Everything dies. That's the emphasis. Everything is blotted out. Only Noah was left. It's an uncreating of the world. But then when you get to chapter 8, what you have there is the beginning of the recreating of the world. So if you're using your bulletins, you'll need to flip to page 13 now. And look at that second sentence of chapter 8, verse 1. And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. Now the Hebrew word for wind is the same word for spirit. Okay, so that verse could be read as, and God made the spirit blow over the earth and the waters subsided, which then sounds a lot like Genesis 1-2, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters right before God then begins to create the world originally. And so the same thing is happening now. Just like the original creation, the spirit of God is over the waters as God begins his work of re-creation. In fact, when you read through chapter 8, that's exactly what you encounter. It's recreation. And so there's another reference to seven days. The waters are now once again separated. The birds come out. And then when the ark lands and the floodwaters have completely subsided, the land animals and the human beings emerge onto the dry land. And they're even given the same commission that was originally given in Genesis 1, to be fruitful and multiply on the earth. Friends, understand, all of that is very intentionally woven into this account. We're to see and understand that as God graciously saves one man and his family from the floodwaters of His judgment, so also He's uncreating what has now become a corrupt world in order to ultimately, after His judgment has subsided, to create a new world, a new creation for those rescued by His grace to live in. Do you see that here? As you see, that's the pattern of salvation that is given to us right here at the very beginning of the Bible. It's grace, judgment, a means of salvation provided by God, a new creation. This pattern of salvation given to us right here at the very beginning of the Bible, so that we'll then understand what the rest of the Bible is all about, and ultimately, in fact, to understand what the good news of Jesus Christ is all about. Again, it's a pattern of salvation being established right here at the very beginning. So hang on to that. We're going to come back to that when we get to some application. Let me give you just one more observation, though, and then we'll do application. One more observation. The final observation I want to make is this. The center of this account is chapter 8, verse 1. This passage is actually structured like a chiasm. If you don't know what a chiasm is, don't worry about it. It's just a way of putting together a passage in an artful kind of way where you put the point of the passage at the very center of it. And what the chiasm here reveals is that right at the very center of this account, and therefore the driving point of this account, is chapter 8, verse 1. Look at it. Page 13 in your bulletins. Chapter 8, verse 1. But God remembered Noah. But God remembered Noah. Now, that doesn't mean that God had forgotten Noah and now needed to remember him in that sense of remembering. Rather, the remembering here is an act of God's covenant faithfulness. Remember, God had established a covenant with Noah to save Noah from his judgment, and God remembered to do just that. In other words, he was faithful in his promise of grace. He safely shut Noah into that ark. And then, as the floodwaters of his judgment destroyed everything else, God remembered Noah. And thus God brought Noah safely through that judgment so that Noah and his family could live in a new creation. God remembered Noah. He remembered his covenant of grace, and he was faithful. So with all of that then, let's turn to some application. All right, what are we supposed to do with this account? What does it mean for us today? If it's more than just a children's story, how exactly then should it impact our lives right now? Well, friends, again, it's mostly the New Testament itself that provides us with the application of this passage. And so I'm going to give you four points of application from all of this. One, we have here an example to be followed. Two, there's a lesson to be learned. Three, there's an invitation to be received. And four, there's a warning to be heeded. So first, we have here an example to be followed. The New Testament actually holds up Noah as an example to us, and particularly as an example of saving faith. Hebrews 11.7 essentially tells us that we want a faith like Noah. Because Noah had the kind of faith that displayed itself in obedience to God. Notice the pattern we have here, particularly in Genesis 6. Over and over again, God commands, and then over and over again, Noah obeys. And friends, Noah's obedience here, I mean, it's really quite extraordinary if you think about it. I mean, just think of how foolish he would have looked to his friends and his neighbors. And he's building this massive boat over a period of at least decades, if not a century, in a location where there's not much water. He's building a vessel to survive a flood in a place where it probably doesn't rain a whole lot to begin with. Now, I guess I don't know for sure exactly what Noah thought about all this every day as he got up. But he is sinful and human. And so I'd have to imagine that day after day, hammering away on this giant thing under a blazing sun, using up his resources, using up his time, that surely at some point he would have had to ask himself, what in the world am I doing? Like, is this real? Do I really believe this? Is this really going to happen? Is this really what I'm going to devote my life to? And yet, ultimately, his faith was such that he kept going and he obeyed God. In fact, 2 Peter 2.5 tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. In other words, Peter seems to be saying that Noah told his friends and his neighbors what he was doing and why he was doing it. In other words, he was telling them about the righteousness of God. He was telling them about their unrighteousness and how that was going to bring God's judgment. And therefore the only way to be saved is to be in this ark before the rain begins to fall. And yet what a joke Noah must have seemed like to his neighbors. It's like when you tell people that there's a hell, that there's an eternal judgment that's coming because God is good and He's righteous and He's just and we're not. And then they laugh at you and they think you're some crazy religious wacko. Well, friend, if that's ever happened to you, Peter actually goes on to encourage us in 2 Peter 2, saying that if God could rescue Noah, a preacher of righteousness, then surely, says Peter, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. Meaning, listen, if you find yourself belittled or maybe even threatened because you proclaim both the grace and the judgment of God to your neighbors, don't fear. Look to the example of Noah, look to his faith, look to his obedience and see the way that God delivered Noah. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. So don't give up. And Noah is an example of persevering, obedient faith to be followed. Second, this account here in Genesis of the flood presents to us a lesson that we very much need to learn and actually relearn and keep on learning. And if I can put it in this simple way, it's the lesson that sin really is that bad, and God really is that angry at sin. His judgment really is fierce. And He's not wrong in His judgment. Church, we need to feel the weight of these chapters. Again, I know this is often thought of simply as a fun story for kids. But if we take it on its own terms, it's really quite a sobering story. The world is essentially turned into a massive graveyard for all human beings but eight. And so if we take it seriously and we're sobered up by it, We'll learn the lesson that sin really is that bad and God really is that angry at sin. And that he's right to be that angry at it. Listen, we shouldn't fool ourselves. We have destroyed God's world. We've destroyed it in all sorts of ways. We've destroyed it through the ugly way that we treat others. We've destroyed it through the acts of injustice that we commit. We've destroyed it through the selfish way that we live our lives. And a thousand other ways. And friend, that includes you. You are responsible, in part, for destroying God's world. I am responsible, in part, for destroying God's world. So then why does God not have the right to destroy us, you see? He who created us in the first place, does He not have every right to do so? And would He not be right to do so? I mean, do you really want a God who doesn't care at all about evil and wickedness or at least care enough to do something about it? Friend, if you're not a Christian here this morning, no doubt this all seems a bit heavy to you. Maybe what I'm saying to you this morning about God makes it sound like God is just kind of mean and harsh. If so, maybe this will be of help to you. This is from the author Christopher Walken. He writes, we tend to think of God's anger in terms of two extremes, each inadequate. God is either presented as the benevolent granddaddy who had never hurt anyone, and who is therefore no help in bringing justice to a hurting world and stemming the tide of wrongdoing. Or he's presented as a capricious unhinged despot, liable to fly off the handle at any moment. What is fascinating, however, about the way God is presented in the flood narrative, and for that matter in the rest of the Bible as well, is that he is neither simply furious nor utterly benevolent. But he instead acts to save people out of the midst of his own wrath and settled opposition to sin. And friends, actually, you see this truth about God. both His judgment and His grace, when you compare this flood narrative with other flood narratives from the ancient world. Because the ancient world does have numerous flood narratives. I sort of alluded to that at the beginning of the sermon. But in the same way as when a few weeks ago we noted the alternative creation narratives from the ancient world, well, so too here in the alternative flood narratives, the understanding of God is so very different. And so, for example, in some of the other ancient flood narratives which you have are depictions of the gods, plural, who are really just kind of annoyed with human beings. And so what they decide to do is just kind of wipe them out for the fun of it. In fact, in one of the ancient myths, one of the gods can't get any sleep because the human beings are just too noisy. They're keeping him up at night. And so he sends a flood to get rid of all of them. Friends, you see how very different that is from what we have here, the one true living God, how different He is from the truth and history that were given here in Genesis. God doesn't send a flood because He's annoyed with us. He sends the flood because He's good, and He's just, and because He's been patient, and He's been patient, and He's been patient with our sin. But friends, that patience won't last forever. It doesn't last forever. He will judge wickedness. And listen, if we think we are in a position to judge Him for that, we really don't know Him at all. And nor do we know ourselves. Because He's better than we are. He sees the reality of sin far more than we do. And He grieves Him far more than it ever grieves us. And he's more patient than any of us would have ever have been. And so again, it's not only judgment that flows from him, it's grace as well. The very waters that drowned the human race are the same waters that carried Noah to safety in a newly created world. They come from the same God, a God of both judgment and grace. And friends, we must learn that lesson and we must keep relearning it. Because it's a lesson that shapes the whole of our Christianity. And thus, if we miss it, we'll have a Christianity that's significantly out of shape and deformed. But if you get this lesson, it'll just give you so much clarity about God in your life. It'll give you clarity about the church and the mission of the church. It'll give you clarity about the message that we're to proclaim to the world. So it's a lesson that we need to learn and keep learning. Third application. We also have here an invitation to be received. It is, in short, an invitation to enter the ark and be saved. Friends, get in the ark. That's the invitation. Get in the ark. To get into the ark is to ultimately put your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus ultimately is that ark. And so to put yourself into Jesus, to put yourself into His death and His resurrection, that is the only way that you can be saved from God's judgment. And it's the only way you can have the hope of a new heavens and a new earth in eternity. You must get into the ark of Jesus Christ by faith. You must step into that ark by faith. You must receive His grace by faith. And friends, that's why I'm so excited that we're celebrating a baptism here this morning. Because baptism is a sign that a person is in the ark of Jesus by faith. 1 Peter chapter 3 talks about how the waters of judgment that we see here in the flood, and how Noah was brought safely through those waters in the ark, that that actually, he says, that that corresponds to baptism, says Peter. And Peter says that's not because we simply need some water to wash the dirt off of our bodies. But rather we need our inner self, our heart, our conscience to be cleansed. Meaning we need the guilt of our sin to be taken care of. Because again, we're all guilty before God. We all deserve His judgment. And that's what Jesus has done by His grace for all those who put their faith in Him. Peter says Jesus, the righteous one, died for the unrighteous in order to bring us to God. In other words, Jesus went to the cross and on the cross he experienced the flood of God's judgment against our sin. He paid the price for our sins. He metaphorically went under the waters of judgment so that we wouldn't have to. And then he rose again out of those waters into new life. And therefore, when we put our faith in Jesus and believe that he's done that for us as a free gift of his grace, not something we've earned or deserved, but a free gift, when we believe that, we're then saved from God's judgment. Which is why we can say that Jesus is the ark of our salvation. And it's why baptism then corresponds to this. Because in the waters of baptism, As we go under the water and then come up out of the water, what we're doing is we're showing that we've died with Jesus. And that we've been raised with Jesus. That what He experienced on the cross was for us. That the death He's died, He died for us. He took God's judgment for us, and thus the new life He now lives, He lives for us. And therefore, you see, in Him, in Jesus, we are safe. And we're safe forever. We're safe from the judgment of God. We're safe from the corruption of the world. We're safe in being carried to a new world in which one day there will be no more sin. Because just like he did for Noah, you see, God will remember us and save us in Jesus. He is faithful to his covenant of grace. Friends, again, I think that's why God has given this to us and why he flooded the world in this way at this time, even though sin was going to resurface at the end of Genesis 9, which we'll see next week. It's because it just so simply and clearly and vividly captures for us what gospel salvation is all about. We need to be saved by God, from God, from His wrath and His judgment against our sin. And it's only by His grace that that can happen. And so the invitation is to get into the ark. Would you come into the ark? Anyone can come. Doesn't cost anything. You just get in. Get into the ark. Put your faith in Jesus and be saved. It's the invitation to anyone who will receive it. Because finally there is in all of this a warning to be heeded. The New Testament, in a couple of different places, gives a warning to us with reference to Noah and the flood. 2 Peter 3, I mentioned 1 Peter 3, this is 2 Peter 3. Peter talks about Noah a lot. 2 Peter 3, referring to those who doubt that the Lord Jesus will return one day to judge the world. Peter says, for they deliberately overlook this fact. that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the world that then existed was flooded with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. And so, you see, the flood is to be for us a warning to not doubt that the day of the Lord will come. It may seem like it's taking a long time, but it will come, says Peter, and when it comes, it'll be fierce. It was a flood then, he says it's going to be a fire in the future. And he's saying to us, don't doubt it, we must be ready for it, which is why Jesus also issues a warning to us based on what happened with the flood in Genesis. Matthew chapter 24, Jesus said, for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man, referring to himself there when he comes again. As were the days of Noah, says Jesus, so will be the coming of the Son of Man, my own coming. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving, and marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Friends, Jesus will return one day. We don't know when. God hasn't told us the day or the hour. And when He does, it'll be like the flood. It'll be a day of judgment and wrath against human sin. And the only way to be saved on that day will to be in Jesus by faith. Are you in Jesus? Are you in that ark? Friends, please heed the warning that's given to us in the flood. Again, this is Jesus' warning. As in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, meaning they lived as if they thought the day would never come. They lived as if they thought their lives would last forever. And so they didn't heed the warning that was given to them. They laughed and they scoffed and they went about life having a good old time, and they did it until the very end. But here's what I wonder. And I wonder this with great sadness. I don't wonder this with any glee. I wonder what it is that went through their minds when those first raindrops began to fall. And then they just kept falling from one day to the next to the next. And the waters began to rise. Did the horrible reality of what was happening finally penetrate their lives? Has everything they loved and valued and cherished was being swept away? And I wonder if they then looked for the ark, only to find it was too late. The ark was shut, it was drifting away. And that final moment of realization that there is now no escape. Listen, friend, I beg of you, would you get into the ark, please? Get into the ark. Put your faith in Jesus and get into the ark and be saved. There is no other way. Let me pray for us. Lord, we thank you for Jesus. We have no hope without him. We have no hope without the gospel. So we thank you for your grace. Lord, would you help us to believe it? Would you help us to embrace it? Lord, and if there are any here this morning who aren't trusting Jesus, would you give them faith to believe? Lord, would you show them their sin, would you humble them, and would you show them then the great glory and grace of Jesus, that he is a perfectly sufficient and wonderful Savior. Lord, we need you to do this. Would you put us in the ark, would you shut us in, would you keep us safe in Jesus, we pray. We ask this in his name.