268 Grace Faith Covenant Genesis 8:1 - 9:17 July 28 2019

Beginning With Moses
& the Prophets

Genesis - Grace, Faith,
Covenant - Gifts of God

Genesis 8:1 - 9:17

An opening prayer

Almighty & eternal
God, as we stand in awe of your goodness and mercy today, we ask you to be
present amongst us by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, we love you. We
thank you that you have made the way of love known through your Son our Lord
Jesus Christ. We pray that you reveal your word to our hearts as we gather to
worship You; that I not deviate from the truth of Your Word. We pray in the
wonderful name of Jesus we pray, Amen & Amen!

Introduction 

Cheap grace! Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined the phrase saying it is a
self-imparted grace. Justification of sin with-out the justification of the
sinner; Grace does everything so we can go on in the same old ways - Let the
Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s
standards in every sphere of life, not taking liberties to aspire to live a
different life under grace from his old life under sin, (The Cost of
Discipleship).

To Titus Paul wrote that
grace instructs us to deny ungodliness & worldly desires & live
sensibly, righteously & godly in the present age’ - 

A.W. Tozer said that,
“grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits on the
undeserving.”

Luis Berkhof narrows it
down a little more - “the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man,
through the agency of the Holy Spirit.”

It isn’t some kind of
ethereal blessing that’s lying around until we grab it; it is God’s sovereign
initiative to sinners - (Ephesians 1:5-6).

Let’s call it the free
& benevolent influence of a Holy God operating sovereignly in the lives of
sinners -

That ‘free &
benevolent influence from the Holy God was given to, bestowed on, Noah who
found favor in the eyes of the Lord God. The Lord God saw the direction
humanity was heading since sin entered the world through Adam. The Lord God
could have destroyed everything He created, make the earth & creatures
& man nonexistent - But He didn’t -

He could have started
over and made man different -- He did, and he didn’t - He did it the way He
wanted to. He saved one man & his family extending His ‘free &
benevolent influence’ sovereignly in the lives of sinners -

God imputed
righteousness to Noah - He wasn’t born sinless, neither his sons, their wives,
along Mrs. Noah.

In His sovereignty, He
had His reason for extending His grace; to redeem His creation - 

The
Focus

As gripping as the
account of the flood, the judgment on all mankind, inclusive the earth, that’s
not where we are to focus. It is on Noah as the kind of person God saves from
judgment. He was saved by faith, condemned the rest of the world,& received
righteousness that comes by faith - Hebrews 11:7.

Noah believed because of
the faith he had, & that faith was given to him. Because God is immutable,
does not change, what was true when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, is true today
and was true in the pre0flood age.

Faith is the instrument
God uses to bring salvation - He gives it because of His grace & mercy
& love- (Ephesians 4 -5).

To the Romans Paul wrote
that faith comes by hearing the word of God, Romans 10; faith isn’t the product
of a preacher’s compelling speech, presentation, his eloquence, articulation,
even his theological soundness- faith is given through the message about Jesus
Christ.

The patriarch’s &
the people in the pre-flood age had to have received some message heralded to
them to believe. We have Enoch who walked with God, was taken - raptured alive
to heaven.

Anyone who wants faith,
it’s good for them to ask for it. God gives freely to those who ask, (Luke
11:9-12), and it’s also good to ask for an increase of faith, (Luke 17:5; Mark
9:24), Jesus prayed for Peter’s faith to be strengthened, (Luke 22:32).

As with any gift from God
it is our responsibility to exercise the gift & not become complacent,
lazy, or apathetic, (Roman 12:1-2, 6-8).

We can find comfort
& peace of mind that our faith is from God; He has said He will finish the
work He has begun, (Philippians 1:6). He is the author & perfector of
faith, 

(Hebrews 12:2a). 

Noah then, exercised the
gift of faith given to him - Noah believed God, & righteousness was imputed
to him. His faith & righteousness produced towering obedience in him.

“Noah . . . did all that
God commanded him.” 

(6:22; 7: 5,9,16). ---
The person that God saves is the one who believes the bare words of God, so
that it changes his life - the person repents. 

Whenever we read the
story, this story, account, of the flood, we have to see above the drama and
see the rc of faith & obedience of one man. 

Noah was the only man to
experience the grace of God.

Faithfulness of Noah  

The world has been
de-created & the first verse of chapter 8 hinges the flood story, the
destruction with now the reconstruction after the flood.  

Then
God remembered Noah - This is more than just
recollecting; when God “remembers” He acts - Old Testament scholar &
professor of Old Testament @ Yale, considered one of the most influential
Biblical scholars of the 20th cntury said “God’s remembering, always
implies His movement toward the object . . . the essence of God’s remembering
lies in His acting toward someone because of a previous commitment.”

Now, God is acting to
bring restoration & recreate the flooded world- (8: 1-20). God made the
wind blow over the face of the earth. This echoes the “Spirit wind”, the same
word in Hebrew that was “hovering” over the waters at creation in Genesis 1;
Also in Exodus 14:21 when the “east wind” blew all night & dried the land
where the sea was divided.

The
voyage ends - After 150 days God
remembers Noah - Five months being locked up with all those animals & smell
and stuff; three sons & their wives & Mrs Noah - You have to wonder, I
do, if there were times that Noah wished they’d hit an iceberg!

What awesome faith!
Look, Noah not only displayed super obedience doing everything God commanded
him to do; build the boat against overwhelming odds for over a hundred year
period - Then displaying endurance & faith in the middles of confinement
& discomfort waiting patiently for God’s deliverance. There is no record of
God saying anything to Noah, no new words during that five month period - Yet
he persevered in faith, manifested by his obedience & patience - Truly,
“walking with God.”

How many can exercise
that type of faith, patience, & obedience? Don’t make a mistake of
confusing patience with apathy.

 The trip finishes
in the 601st of Noah’s life, (vv13-14). God now breaks His silence (vv. 16-19)
& in effective repetition so that the picture stays in the mind a little
longer. Noah, here can be seen almost like a second Adam as he steps off the
boat onto a brand new virgin world washed clean by judgment - The birds go
flying off happy to be free, the animals scurrying about with their noses
exploring this new land - There stands Noah & his family, in the sunlight
of a brand new world.

Can you image what it
will look like when Jesus returns ending the war and tribulation period? Also
& better still when the old earth is destroyed by fire and a brand new
earth is made - “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven
and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne,
saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and
they will be his people. God himself will be with them. (Revelation 21:
1-3). What will our thoughts be?

Noah’s first thoughts
were on God, (8:20). He built an altar, took of the clean animals & offered
burnt offering to the Lord.

This represented Noah’s
total surrender & dedication to God, (ref. Leviticus 1). It was also a
celebration of thanking God for salvation just rendered - As a burnt offering
Noah was indicating in effect “all my life is yours - everything.

God’s
response? (8: 21 - 9: 17) He
responds with Grace, Blessing, & Covenant.

Grace (21)- He will never curse the ground because of man, because He
knows man’s intention of evil is from his youth; man is born sinful, he will
gravitate towards sin - Man hadn’t changed in that respect. He still gravitates
to sin yet God will not curse the ground any further. As to the flood God says,
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest,
(v 22).

Blessing-
Multiplication - With some
qualifications due to human sin, Noah’s family was charged to multiply & by
implication exercise dominion over the earth, (9:1). The blessing is still in
effect. It is true that childrening are a blessing from God (Psalm 127: 3-5), God’s
people are charged to procreate & fill the earth. 

God, I’m sure, wants as
many people to fill His world. In the thousand year reign there still will be
children born to man. In the new earth after the thousand year reign, well I
have no idea, nothing is said, but you never know. They would be born sinless
then I would guess.

But, having been charged
with populating the earth by the creator, the Lord God, why do mere mortals,
the created ones, fancy themselves “pantomathes”, fancy word for “know it
alls”, and dictate the eradication of pregnancies because it is their “right”
to do as they wish?

Respect
for animal life

Humans do not have
wholesale rights over God’s creations, their blood is God’s possession, (vv.
2-4). Man is not to eat flesh with its life, its blood - humans don’t devour
animals like animals devour each other while the blood is still pulsing in the
flesh.

This is respect for
life, more so, respect for the giver of life - Life is the blood & God is
the giver of life; disregarding the gift of life is disregarding the Giver of
life.

Respect
for human life

Before the flood
humanity wasn’t just corrupted to the core, but the earth was filled with
violence. Now after the flood the descendents of Noah had the same potential to
descend to the same level of violence - more so as the population increases.

The Lord moves His
speech from respect for animal life to respect for human life - And I
will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild
animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must
die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by
human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. (9:5,6).

There isn’t a greater
sin for contempt for life than homicide - The animal’s blood may be shed but
not consumed, human blood must not be shed - to the point that
any animal that sheds human blood must be executed - (Exodus 21: 28-29). - If
an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its flesh may
not be eaten. . . suppose the ox had a reputation for goring, and the owner had
been informed but failed to keep it under control. If the ox then kills
someone, it must be stoned, and the owner must also be put to death.
God demands from his fellow man a reckoning for the life of a man.

Because man is created
in the image of God it therefore is of immense value & the blood is God’s
alone. To take human life is to usurp God’s sovereignty over life & death,
therefore it merits death itself.

Because life is so
precious, the one who willfully takes anther’s life must suffer death at the
hands of man. Demanding punishment is not a personal matter, it is an
obligation of society. True that we have lived & live today when there are
judicial abuses, world wide and here; many politically, racially &
ethnically motivated. Those abuses are an abomination.

Woe to a system that
wrongly administers the death penalty; woe & great distress to the society
that allows this to happen; and great woe to those judges who are deserving
blame & guilt - God is not mocked!

Yet to argue against the
death penalty on humane grounds is to argue against God’s word!

This was, & is God’s
word to a violent world. This was meant to protect human life. We call it today
a deterrent to violence. To ignore God’s teaching is to descend more & more
into a society of violence. God then closes with the words to be fruitful &
multiply - Respect life.

The
Covenant

God declares the first
covenant in the Bible - An agreement, a contract. But unlike our agreements,
contracts, which are between two or more parties that agree on what is written
- God’s covenants are unilateral, made with Himself. Between Himself &
Himself on the part of the other.

So this covenant is
universal, unconditional, & unilateral - Universal because it encompasses
not just every human being, good or evil, but every living creature on the
planet.

Unilateral because He is
the initiator, “My covenant” He says twice; It doesn’t require any assent or
ratification from mankind.

Unconditional because
there will never be another cosmic destruction by water no matter what
earthlings do -

It is the self-motivated
promise of unconditional mercy throughout all of human history.

The sign of the covenant
is described in joyous repetitions as Claus Westermann writes, “that
serves to underline the message, pealing of bells reverberating into the
future”. God called it “My Bow” twice; Holy Scripture associates a
rainbow with God’s glory - Ezekiel 1:28 - All around him was a glowing
halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the
glory of the LORD looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the
ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me.

Nothing suggest that the
rainbow was a new phenomenon. Rather it was divinely owned as a sign for future
generations.

When you see God’s
dazzling bow, you are reminded of His universal, unilateral, unconditional sign
of His grace, His amazing grace.

This is why it is
heartbreaking that Satan has deceived thousands upon thousands into usurping
God’s divinely owned sign & have it as a sign to represent what the Lord,
the self-existent, eternal God has called an abomination- (Leviticus 18:22;
30:13; Romans 1: 18-32; 2 Corinthians 6: 9-11; 1 Timothy 1:8-10).

But there is grace,
there is forgiveness - As believers we understand & we wait patiently for
all things to be made new. The rainbow reminds us that divine wrath gave way to
peace & that judgment is God’s “extraordinary” work as we
read in Isaiah 28:21 when he warns Judah, For the LORD will rise up as at
Mount Perazim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, To do His
task, His unusual task, And to work His work, His extraordinary work.

It reminds us of the
Ultimate Extraordinary Work of the New Covenant, when God’s wrath was appeased
by His own Son on the cross whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation
in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because
in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
(Romans 3:25); He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for
ours only, but also for those of the whole world- (1 John 2:2); so that
all who are in Christ Jesus find grace instead of wrath. Jesus the greater
Noah, saves His people from the waters of eternal death by His faithful
obedience & atoning sacrifice - All who believe in Him….

Let’s pray -- 

Heavenly Father, how do
we thank you for your amazing grace, for your mercy. How do we thank you for
your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? Lord our God, may we be found worthy to see
you in your glory & bow down before you in worship.

Praise Be The Holy Name
Of Jesus! 

146 Genesis 9 The Unilateral, Unconditional, Covenant July 26, 2019

God declares the first
covenant in the Bible - An agreement, a contract. But unlike our agreements,
contracts, which are between two or more parties that agree on what is written
- God’s covenants are unilateral, made with Himself. Between Himself &
Himself on the part of the other.

So this covenant is
universal, unconditional, & unilateral - Universal because it encompasses
not just every human being, good or evil, but every living creature on the
planet.

Unilateral because He is
the initiator, “My covenant” He says twice; It doesn’t require any assent or
ratification from mankind.

Unconditional because
there will never be another cosmic destruction by water no matter what
earthlings do -

It is the self-motivated
promise of unconditional mercy throughout all of human history.

The Deluge Genesis 6: 9 - 7: 24 July 21 2019

Beginning With Moses
& the Prophets

A Category 10 Hurricane
- The Deluge

Genesis 6:8 - 7:24 

An opening prayer from
Deuteronomy 32:1-3 - Give ear, O heavens,
and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching
drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the
tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the
LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!

Introduction

            Assessing the pre-flood world should astound us. In
thinking of the genocides committed in the 20th century alone and in the early
days of this century is small potatoes when making a comparison with the pre-flood
culture.  I don’t believe that anything we hear or see depicted can
compare to the violence, the evil of then. When every intention of the thoughts
of man’s heart was only evil continually.

            True that every aspect of our personalities is tainted with
sin, (Rom. 9: 9-18) - But not every ‘intention of the thoughts of every woman
& man’s heart is “continually only on evil”; for now at least. 

            Imagine how terrible it was in primeval history, during
the pre-flood age, that culture had undergone a thorough demonization. 

Violence - It had become so bad
that the creator who had said that everything was ‘good’ & then ‘very good’
decided to wipe the world clean of every living thing, eradicate humanity off
the face of the earth. 

            But there was grace for the Lord God found favor in His
eyes for the man Noah, (v8), and there ends the second generation in this
section of the generations.

            From 6:9 to the end of chapter 9 we have the longest
section of Genesis, it recounts the flood of judgment and serves as the
centerpiece of primeval history. Its a bridge between the shadowy past before
the flood & the era of the fathers following the deluge.

            It is an important key in understanding ourselves today;
how one, a soul is saved from destruction & taught in the ‘doctrine of
salvation.

            We see what kind of man noah was - before the flood he
was exemplary, but after the deluge his behavior was what many in the church
today would say a disappointment. The story ends in a rather low note, lower
than it’s beginning - the sin of his son Ham foretells the normal setting into
which Abraham was born & eventually life; sort of explains life.

            The story of the flood is in two parts, two halves; First
is the beginning and the 150 day rise of the flood; Second half gives the 150
days receding of the flood - a de-creation followed by a re-creation, sort of.

Adam & Noah

            There’s a parallel between Adam & Noah; between
Adam’s world & Noah’s world - Kenneth Matthews writes that Noah is depicted
as “Adam revived; both walked with God,” though Adam in the cool of the day;
“both received promissory blessing; both caretakers of lower creatures; both
fathered three sons; both worked the soil; both sinned through a fruit of a
tree; both father a wicked son who is under a curse.”

Noah & Moses

            Moses may have seen parallels, as he wrote this account
of Genesis & the account of Exodus, between his life and Noah’s. The word
‘ark’ in Genesis referencing Noah’s ship is used only in one other place in the
Old Testament, (Exodus 2:3-5) when it is translated as “basket” - 

A pitched covered
ark/basket preserved Moses; a pitched covered “ark” preserved Noah & his
family from watery death.

            Moses went up against Pharaoh, he witnessed God’s
judgment by water when God unleashed His judgment with the waters of the Red
Sea destroying the armies of Pharaoh, (Ex. 14:26-31).

            This all would be an encapsulation of the deliverance of
Noah, & likewise preserve a people to serve God.

Moses is given explicit
instructions on building the Tabernacle as Noah was given detailed instructions
for the building of the Ark; down to the specification as to ‘clean &
unclean’ animals. 

The parallels also
suggest Moses saw a comparison between salvation in the Ark of Noah during
forty days & nights & the salvation in the presence of the tabernacle
in the wilderness.

The way the story is
structured, with the parallels, attention should then be paid to the message.
But, let’s understand that the message isn’t the flood - Even though it’s a
pretty gripping account in Scripture.

Nor is it of judgment,
though important considering it describing the eradication of all human life -
Still, the story focuses on Noah as the kind of man who is saved out of a lost
world. The message is SALVATION. We learn WHY God saved Noah.

Noah & Mankind (vv
9-12)  

Righteous
Noah

Kent Hughes writes that
Moses gives a description of Noah as a “fully dimensional man of God.”

He was righteous not
because he was perfect, but only because he believed God. We will see later in
Genesis 15:6 that Abram believed God and that was counted to him as
righteousness. So it’s made clear that his, [Noah’s] righteousness came by
faith, by believing, (Hebrews 11:7).

Recall Jesus’ words to
Thomas & the disciples, . . . blessed are those who have not seen
& yet believe. (John 20:29).

The first mention of
‘righteousness’ in the Bible is here in (6:9). That sets the standard that it
comes by faith; the doctrine of imputed, assigned, or given, righteousness,
began before the flood. He believed, God made him righteous.

Those who believe Jesus
died, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven & sits at the right hand of
the Father, are made righteous. 

All this is made more
explicit in the Old Testament texts, and in the New Testament they come to full
bloom. In the inserts I have listed the text references.

No one could point an
accusing finger at him or even allude to any wrongdoing.  Noah’s life, his
conduct was truly transparent. He wasn’t by any means whatsoever sinless; as a
descendant of Adam, just like you and I and all mankind, inherit the sin nature
that entered through the one man Adam; but because
of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those
who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in
life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17).

But as
for Noah, then, he was blameless, made righteous. One man out of all the people
in the world 1651 years after the creation was completed.

Just as
Enoch, Noah walked with God; these two being the only two patriarchs’s to
experience the intimacy & obedience that pre-fallen Adam & Eve knew
when God walked with them in the garden in the cool of the day. Noah was a
complete man of God. He found favor (grace), in the eyes of God, (v8).

In
complete contrast, Moses describes the world as “corrupt, corrupted, &
filled with violence.” Topped off, to the brim.

But
surrounded by all this corruption & violence & debauchery, righteous
Noah stood his ground. He was really walking tall, more so than Buford Pusser,
and more so.

Peter
reveals that he was a preacher, a herald of righteousness, (2 Peter 2:5).
Nothing is recorded in Genesis what he preached; whether impassioned or
measured it more than likely not have been received  well at all in a
violent ridden pre-flood culture.

Noah
would not have survived if God would not have, as Peter writes, “preserved Noah
. . . along with seven others, 

(2
Peter 2:5).  

Is
there any difference today? Absolutely not. Paul wrote that the cross is
foolishness to the unsaved. Some may not say it to your face, but they do say
among themselves. 

I
wonder at times that if a preacher is not criticized or mocked, if he then is
truly preaching the good news of Christ.

Franklin
Graham has received his share, and even uninvited to public occasions. Billy was
not exempt either, though not publicly but privately. If you read his biography
you will see that Jaquiline Kennedy did not care for him at all but had to had
her tongue because he came invited by Jack Kennedy.

The Ark of salvation

God now
speaks to Noah, framing His instructions for the Ark with the declaration of
total  & complete judgment, 

(vv
13-17). 

I won’t
go into detail on the Ark, other than to say it was big. A football field and a
half in length, 150 yards, 75 feet in height, and 45 feet wide. You’ll find the
specifics in 9: 1-17.

You can
be sure that, even as today, people then were probably making fun of this crazy
dude preaching about some storm and building a boat. Go out and start talking
about the last days and the coming judgment. I dare ya. I double dare ya. Brush
up on the current world events and all the actors in play. You are going to get
a lot of strange looks and comments. Especially from preachers.

The Covenant of Salvation

Noah
had the bare word of God, God’s promise - 

(vv 18-21).
There more than likely more was said to Noah than what is briefly written in
this message; Noah, nonetheless, went into the Ark knowing that he wasn’t just
going to be a survivor but the “bearer of God’s promise for a new age.” This
specifics are spelled out, unfolded after the fold in 9: 1-17. 

The
promise of God’s word is what sustains His people - Do you realize that we have
an advantage with no equal? We have the vast body of the word of God! Holy
Scripture! They are all YES in Christ, (2 Corinthians 1:20) - all the
promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we
utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Every
single promise, every single promise is fulfilled in Him - So then the question
- How much greater should our obedience be? Equal to or greater than Noah’s -
rhetorical.

Obedience of Salvation

Noah
was given two things by God - detailed blueprints for the Ark & the promise
of salvation, covenant. 

We need
to latch on to one thing, a very brief statement which puts the topping on
God’s speech: (6:22) - Noah did all that God had commanded him, so he
did.

Repeated
words, statements in the Bible is what conveys the author’s message. We read
again in 7:5, 9, 16 - . . . as God had commanded.

The
refrain of obedience represented Noah’s life - A man who knew who God was, knew
who he himself was & obeyed God’s word.

This is
what it means to be righteous. That person rests everything on the bare word of
God & obeys it. 

We get
a peek at what it is to walk with God & it isn’t an easy lazy stroll in the
park; It is to go the same way in the same direction in obedience. 

The
Deluge; A category 10, or Worse Hurricane?  

7: 1-4
are God’s final instructions to Noah, just seven days prior to the flood -
Going on to verse 16 is a review and reiterates what God had said. 

Now the
taking aboard of the seven pairs of clean animals antici[ates noah offering
sacrifices at the end of the voyage & the sacrificial system that would
develop after the flood.

Seven
days then God shut Noah & his family in the Ark & locked it. - How? Who
knows? It says the Lord did it.

The universal Deluge, Flood - Let’s call it a category 10+
Hurricane.

The
language we read is of a violent, whirling, maelstrom. - violent winds, thunder
lightning, whirlpool? The atmosphere was changing, the atmospheric conditions
we have today are the same, only for us it is isolated, then it was world wide.

The
picture we have is described as, all the fountains of the great deep
burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. (7: 11). We
are described a great rending of the beds of the seas, (we know that there are
underground rivers under the oceans), and torrential rains  for forty days
& nights.

There
is a massive de-creation, going back to chaos - forty days & nights of raging
floods over the vast continents, unleashing total destruction. It was a
supernatural storm and only the Ark survived.

Universal Death 

Other
than Noah & his family there were no other survivors - total death. Now,
Noah preached for over a hundred years? He warned mankind while preparing the
Ark, (1 Peter 3:20)- when the patience of
God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in
which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

Today through the
cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has provided an ark of salvation for the
coming judgment.

Jesus has explicitly
warned of coming judgment, & also have His apostles & prophets -
(Matthew 24:36-44 & 2 Peter) - I urge you to read these passages.

Only those who enter
the Ark through His redeeming blood will be saved. This is & has been the
message in these last days - for the past 1987 years by our calender - Why so
long and He has not come? Scripture answers Scripture, Peter’s second letter he
writes to the believers, . . . Know this first of all, that in the last
days mockers will come with their mocking, . . . saying, “Where is the promise
of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it
was from the beginning of creation. . . by His word the present heavens and
earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction
of ungodly men. . . . he Lord is not slow about His promise as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance. (vv. 3,4,7,9). 

Was it a local or
universal flood? Scripture presents the flood as universal, a cataclysm world
wide - (I have listed in the insert the text references for you.) -

This is how the
writers of the Old & New Testament understood the flood & the church;
at least until the 19th century. I believe that it should be read as the
writers of Scripture, including Moses penned and read it. The text isn’t
concerned with a discourse on geography, meteorology nor paleontology.

The main, the
principal concern is to demonstrate what kind of woman or man is saved from
judgment - Noah provides the answer, by faith says the writer of
Hebrews, (11:7a).

Noah being warned by
God of coming destruction, & called to build and ark, he “believed &
became certain of what he didn’t see - a horrible mountain of water engulfing
the earth & the ark riding high on the water. Visible certitude in his mind
with a future certitude he became sure of what he hoped for, (Heb. 11:1a). That
is the promise of salvation for him & his family - Noah believed God -

Let me close with a
question. Do you believe the Lord God? Listen, not in the Lord
God but do you believe the words that are breath out of His mouth? 

Do you believe what He
says to you? Not to someone else about you, but to you?

When Jesus was asked
by Peter about John, in John 21:20-23, Jesus replied to Peter telling him, to
paraphrase, ‘it isn’t his concern,  “You, follow me!”

You will know that you
know when the Lord God calls you, when He is talking to you. He does not talk
to a person through another. He will give understanding, and you will know
without a doubt when you are hearing the truth. When He calls you, will you
obey?

If you are not saved,
if you are not sure which means that you are not, but now in your heart you
sense that tug, because He has put eternity in the hearts of mankind, that
yearning to  look for Him, to come to Him for salvation.

Will you obey? Do you
have your ears open to listen and hear from the Lord God?

Let
us pray, -- Heavenly Father inspire
our hearts to seek You in Your Word daily. Grow us both individually and
together, as we seek the peace of Your presence. Help us to walk faithfully and
fiercely after our Lord & Savior Christ Jesus, reflecting His love. We pray
in Jesus’ holy name. Amen