The sermon titled 'The Divine Warning of Things Not Seen' by Jason Dohm explores the biblical account of Noah as presented in Genesis 6:13-22, with references to Hebrews 11:7. It emphasizes Noah's faith and obedience to God's divine warning about the impending flood, an event not seen for decades. Noah's actions, motivated by godly fear, led to the construction of the ark, which ensured the survival of his family and a remnant of animal species. The sermon underscores the nature of God's grace in transforming Noah into a righteous man amidst a corrupt world. It also highlights the importance of obedience to God's commandments and the interconnectedness of finding grace, walking with God, and obeying Him. The sermon concludes with applications about the impact of secret sins, the dangers of living carelessly, and the transformative power of God's grace.

The title of the message this morning is the Divine Warning of Things Not Seen. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7 says this, By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. So I've taken the title of the message and pulled it right out of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7. In our text in Genesis, God warns Noah of something that will not happen to be open to confirmation by the eyes for decades or even the better part of a century. The warning is issued, but he's not actually going to be able to see a confirmation of the things that he's being warned about for decades and maybe the better part of a century.

So he has a divine warning that they're of things not yet seen. That actually happens a lot. If you look at the Bible, it really is the nature of prophecy. This is the divine warning of things not yet seen. What did Noah do about it?

Moved with godly fear, Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." To put it in terms of later in Genesis which would be attributed to Abraham, he believed God and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Noah heard God. God spoke to him and he heard. He feared God. He believed God.

He took God at His word and He obeyed God. Hebrews 11, 7 is a faithful summary of today's text. We have a divine warning of things not yet seen and things that wouldn't be seen for a long, long time. Noah took God at His word and he feared what God was saying because God was saying fearful things. So, he obeyed God.

Let's pray that God would help us as we come to the text in Genesis. God, You're teaching us week by week things that are so fundamental. We need to know them. We're so helped by knowing them. Thank you, God, for Your Word.

For this written revelation of truth that teaches us who You are. We learn about You and all these things, about who we are, and truth about so many different things. We're in great need of your word, and now we plead with you that your spirit would be here moving and teaching. May it be so in Jesus name, Amen. We're going to split the text into three subsections, so please hopefully your Bible is still open to Genesis chapter 6.

Follow along as I reread verses 13 through 17 and then I'll talk about them. Genesis chapter 6 starting in verse 13. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Make yourself an arc of go-for-wood. Make rooms in the arc and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it.

The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark and you shall finish it to a cubit from above and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I myself am bringing flood waters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die." In these verses we have the declaration of God and the commandment of God.

If you are filling in blanks on the handout, there is one and God fills in the blank. The declaration and commandment of God. Verse 13 is the declaration. God spoke, He didn't speak to everyone. He spoke to one man, He spoke to Noah.

Who was Noah? From verse 9, Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, Noah walked with God. So, We begin at the beginning of chapter 15. We see the rise and growth of evil in the world. It's spreading over all the world.

Noah is a very different kind of man. He's pronounced to be a just man and a perfect man in his generations and it said that he walked with God. How did Noah get to be like that when wickedness had become so pervasive throughout the earth? You can't find a good man. You look around, you can't find a good man.

And yet, here's Noah, so radically different than everyone else. How did he get to be like that? Well, the text doesn't say. But if we look back at this text through the lens of the New Testament will say this, if someone can be described this way just perfect in their generation, someone who walks with God, if you can describe someone that way looking through the lenses of the New Testament, you say this, that is the work of God. God did that.

You don't politely applaud for the person. Well done. Everyone else is a rascal, but you're great. You are the hero of this story. No, no, no.

God has to be the hero of the story. Before Noah is ever described that way, it's said of Noah that he found grace, undeserved, unmerited favor in God's eyes. That's what you attribute the description of Noah to, that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That person has been given a new heart and the gift of faith, the gift of believing in God, and that transforms a person. So if God decides to make you His own and in doing that He gives you a new heart and He gives you the gift of faith, you didn't figure it out, God gave you a gift, He made you willing to believe in Him.

If He does that in your life, it transforms your life. So here you're seeing a transformed man. Noah is a transformed man by the grace of God. And If God gives you a new heart, gives you the gift of faith, that transforms your life and makes you something that you never would have been unless God had come in an act of pure grace. That's just commentary on this text looking through the lens of the New Testament.

That's the only way you can explain Noah being radically different than the rest of humanity in this text. It's a pure act of the grace of God that transformed this man and made him radically different than everyone else around him. This is what it means that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Verse 8. What did God say to Noah?

Verse 13. So we get the quote. What did God say to Noah? God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. Before God it's like it has already happened.

God can talk like that. You and I can't talk like that. It's fine for God to talk like that. It's as if it already happened and it's happening a century later. The end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the earth.

There are two things from the text about the original Hebrew that I think I should mention. First, the Hebrew word translated violence. The earth is filled with violence as a range of meaning. So the translators can't give you the full range for every word, or the Bible would be five times as long as it is. They usually pick one or a couple.

But here's the range of meaning if you look at that Hebrew word in the Hebrew lexicon. Violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice. So When God looks on the earth, here's what he sees across the globe. Violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice, everywhere, in abundance. Secondly, the Hebrew words translated destroy.

I will destroy them with the earth, means to destroy, to corrupt, to ruin, to decay. To ruin, to decay. The reason I'm commenting on it is that it's the exact same word that was translated corrupt in the previous verse. Look at verse 12. So we're just backing up a single verse.

And we're encountering the same Hebrew word, only we don't get it because they made a translational choice, translated it differently in these back-to-back words and we're English speakers. So we see different English words and we don't know it's the same word being translated. That's why I'm pointing it out to you. Look at verse 12. So God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt.

Same Hebrew word. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." Same Hebrew word. Now it's used here, but translated, destroyed. Both are fine translations. You just understand it's the same Hebrew word.

So there's a play on words here that English speakers don't get because of the way the translators have translated it. And it's this. All flesh had corrupted or destroyed or ruined their way, so God will corrupt them or destroy them or ruin them. You corrupted your way, I'll corrupt you. You destroyed your way, I'll destroy you.

You ruined your way, I'll ruin you. That's the play on words here. The meaning is, mankind pursues the path of destruction, then God sends destruction. God gave us what we pursued. We pursued corruption and God sent destruction.

It's the same Hebrew word. So, in a very real sense, what we're studying in the history of the global flood is humanity being given what we pursue if we're left to ourselves. Meaning, if God just gives you what you'll pursue out of your own natural corrupt inclinations, this is what you'll get. 100 times out of 100 times. It takes the grace of God to get anything different than that.

What we actually have here in our text is actually very remarkable. The maker of heaven and earth is stooping to tell this man Noah his plans. He's letting Noah in on a secret that is really just in his own eternal counsels. He's always known about it. Now he's letting one man, Noah, in on it.

Look at verse 17. Here's what God says to Noah in verse 17, and behold, I myself am bringing flood waters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die." Now God's commandment to Noah. Oh, hold on, let me back up. God says, here's what I myself am going to do, bring floodwaters on the earth.

Here's why I'm going to do it, that everything on earth shall die. That is God's declaration to Noah. Now, God's commandment to Noah. Make yourself an ark. The declaration is, I'm destroying the earth.

I'm bringing the flood waters that everything on earth shall die. Here's the commandment, make yourself an ark." Okay, fun facts about the ark. Are you ready for fun facts about the ark? Fun fact number one, no one knows for sure what gopher wood is. Some suggest cypress or Cedar because that was commonly used for shipbuilding in the ancient world.

Good guess, but just a guess. We don't really know what gopher wood is. There was a lot of it. We know that. Fun fact number two.

The Hebrew word translated ark literally means box. That's sort of disappointing isn't it? The ark, it's a box. It's actually the same word used in Exodus chapter 2 verse 3 for what Moses' mom put the baby Moses in when she put him in the reeds at the riverside. He was put in an ark.

It's this different scale, but same Hebrew word. She put him in this box, this floating box. So that gives you an idea of the use here. Next fun fact, one cubit is roughly a foot and a half. So we're given a unit of measure, a cubit that we don't use.

What is that? It's a foot and a half. It's roughly between your elbow and the tip of your fingers, about 18 inches. So the dimensions in feet is 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high. So if you've been into a football stadium, from goal line to goal line, from where you score a touchdown on one end to where you score a touchdown on the other end, is 300 feet.

100 yards is 300 feet. So 450 feet is half again as much. So you've probably never been in a football stadium where the arc would fit on the field if you looked all around. You've probably never been in a football stadium because most don't have additional space beyond the end zones. That's enough to put in half again another time.

This is massive. You ever been into a football stadium and looked at all the field and the arc of this dimension's 450 feet by 75 feet wide by 45 feet high would dwarf all that. So I don't think ship made to navigate, we're not sailing anywhere, there's no rudder, there's no sail, We're not rowing anywhere. Think massive floating box. That's what ARC means.

This is massive. It's meant to float. And it's a box that has two jobs. Float, don't tip over. The floodwaters, a global flood, the floodwaters are going to be tremendously tumultuous.

So it can't tip over in the very rough waters of a global flood. So this just has two jobs. Next fun fact, it was covered inside and outside with pitch. What is pitch? It's a sticky substance used to seal gaps and make boats leak proof.

So when you join wood together there will be gaps. You'll take on water if you don't seal it. Pitch is something that shipbuilders used during that time to seal the gaps and make boats leak proof, and it was sealed outside and inside so it wouldn't take on water. Next fun fact, There was an opening near the top, so air would be able to circulate, and you would have light during the day. So you have at least an opening.

There's a debate about whether there's multiple openings or one. I don't think it matters. The point is you have a way for air to get in and out, and you have a way for a light to get in. All this you need. Next fun fact, the Ark had a door in the side to be able to get in and get out.

That all makes sense. It had three decks, a lower second and third deck with individual rooms in them. You need individual rooms. Many of these animals would need to be kept separate. If you watched a much enough natural geographic, you know we need individual spaces for many of these animals.

You have a lot of predators on this boat, so individual rooms is an excellent idea. How much internal capacity, how much inside space, would an arc of these dimensions provide? Here's a note from the MacArthur Study Bible says that the inside capacity would be equal to 522 standard railroad cars. So think of a railroad car that you just see going by on the tracks. 522 of them you'd have the inside capacity for that much space.

That is plenty of space for the animals in question and the food necessary to sustain them. A lot of people have done the math. They all come up and say, yep, that's enough room. So that's enough room. 522 railway cars.

That's just a tremendous amount of inside space for all these animals and all their food. How long did it take? Text doesn't say, but chapter 5 verse 32 says Noah was 500 years old and begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth, these three sons that figure into the account. And in chapter 7 verse 6, Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters were on the earth. So it is easily decades and possibly the better part of a century.

Let's say his sons are in their 20s when they start this project and 80 years they work on this thing. It could be something like that. So easily decades to do this and possibly the better part of a century. Building? Yep, building.

Still building? Yep, still building. It Takes a long time to build something that's 450 feet long and 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Here's a note from the Expositors Bible commentary. We should not conclude from the brevity of the narrative, meaning this is not a long account, especially if it's almost a hundred years.

This is a really short account of a hundred years or something like that. This is a short account of decades worth of labor. So we should not conclude from the brevity of the narrative that Noah and his sons built the ark solely by their own labor. There is ample evidence from the earliest periods of ancient Near Eastern civilization of the availability of requisite skills in architectural design and woodworking for such a structure." The text doesn't say that they used other labor for design or building, but they could have. The text doesn't rule it out either.

We shouldn't necessarily conclude that just these four men, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhat, did all the work by themselves. It certainly doesn't have to be that. That is the declaration and commandment of God. The declaration is God saying, I myself will destroy the world through a flood, and by the commandment build an ark. Alright, verses 18-21, the next section.

Follow along as I reread verses 18-21. Continuing the voice of God. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. You shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten and you shall gather it to yourself and it shall be food for you and for them." In these verses we have God's promise to preserve a remnant through Noah. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, remnant fills in the blank. God's promise to preserve a remnant through Noah. In Romans 11 verse 5, Paul writes this, even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." That's what Paul writes to the Romans.

Paul says, even now, even so then, At this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. What is a remnant? A remnant is a very small portion of the whole that is preserved. So when you see destruction all around you, you are likely to actually see a very small portion of the whole being preserved by the grace of God. We actually see that a lot in the Bible and it starts here.

Genesis is the book of beginnings and this is actually the beginning of remnant theology. God out of a big mess, God's saving a small portion to keep his grace alive in the world to show that he is gracious and reveal himself to mankind. Out of the whole earth, just Noah, his wife, his three sons, and the wives of his three sons are preserved. That's out of the whole population of planet Earth. We'll probably talk about what that population size could have been next week.

But suffice it to say that the thought that there were a few huts on the plane when the global flood came and Noah was saved and the rest of the huts were wiped out on the plane is not an accurate view of what the population of Earth could have been with the kind of multiplying that we've been seeing in the chapters up to this. I'll probably talk about that more next week. But it is a remnant. It is a small portion out of the whole. Out of the whole earth, just enough reproducing male-female couples of each kind of animals and birds and creeping things are preserved.

Just a remnant. In verse 18, God promises to establish a covenant with Noah. It's the first time that we see the word covenant appear in the Bible. There will be more covenants, but this is the first one. God says, I will establish my covenant.

It's a promise to enter into covenant with Noah. I will establish my covenant with you. That actually happens in chapter 9. I won't pre-preach the chapter 9 sermon in chapter 6, I promise. But for now it is God's promise to preserve these lives through the ark.

He's promising to preserve these lives, the lives of a remnant, a small portion of the whole through the ark. How will Noah possibly gather up all these animals and birds and creeping things? He won't. He won't gather them up at all. Verse 20.

Two of every kind will come to you. Here they come. Noah won't go out to gather up all the creatures. All the creatures will come to Noah." That's odd. Not at all, actually.

If you study migration patterns, Animals, birds, insects act on unexplained internal impulses to go to very specific places every year. What's happening in our text happens in different ways among birds and animals and insects every year. Google migration of monarch butterflies is just one example. It's amazing. Google it.

Migration of monarch butterflies. They all go to very specific places. The butterflies just at the right time of year, just up, and they all go to the same place. They all somehow know how to get there. Not one map is seen among them.

They just know, and they all know when to go, and they all know where to go, and they all go. This is nothing to God. So none of this makes sense if you paint God out of the picture. All of it easily makes sense if you keep God in the picture. It's all easy when the God who made the world created them by the power of his word out of nothing is in the equation.

Then all of our problems understanding various things in this text disappear when a god like that is actually orchestrating all of these things. We can't explain it why butterflies all go to Mexico, but even now we can observe it. Verse 21, Noah was tasked with collecting all kinds of food for all that would be in the ark. So think of all these animals in the ark and eight people in the ark and all the food demands. From start to finish it's probably a year.

They need food for a year. Imagine that food. That's another major, major thing to accomplish. Build this massive Ark 450 feet long. You've never been in a stadium that would contain it.

It would bust out of the stadiums we've been in and collect all the food needed to sustain the lives of every occupant of the ark for a year. So This is God's plan and promise to preserve a remnant through Noah. God is preserving a remnant. Out of the whole, he's preserving a very small portion. Our final verse, which does not mean that we're almost done.

Verse 22. Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did." Isn't it refreshing to read that? There are parts of the Bible that talk about our rebellion that can be so depressing to read. This is so refreshing to see a man transformed by the grace of God who will actually obey God.

Because of all the truth about what a mess mankind is, we can start to think, it's just impossible to obey. It's not impossible to obey. The gospel is transforming. The grace of God is transforming. It is not impossible to obey.

With man this is impossible. With God all things are possible. The grace of God can transform you so that you have a heart to obey. That's what's happened to this man. In verse 22 we have the obedience of Noah.

Noah fills in the blank. In this age filled with rebellion against God, Noah's age, it was filled with rebellion against God, Noah obeyed God. And not half way obedience. Noah did according to all that God commanded him. The mission undoubtedly required Decades of exhausting work.

We get the specs. We get the statement of work from God. We're building a wooden box that's 450 feet long. You think Noah didn't instantly know? We're talking about decades of exhausting work here.

But Noah obeyed God." Here's what John Calvin says, the prodigious size, children that means really really big, We're learning a new vocabulary word today. Prodigious means big, really big. The prodigious size of the ark might have overwhelmed all his senses, so as to prevent him from raising a finger to begin the work. Let the reader reflect on the multitude of trees to be felled. So let's not even talk about building.

How many trees do you have to cut down? And you haven't even joined one board to the other. You don't have a board. You just, you got to cut down this many trees for a floating box of that size. Let the reader reflect on the multitude of trees to be felled, on the great labor of conveying them and the difficulty of joining them together.

How are you going to get them from where they fell to where they have to be. Noah resisted every justification and temptation and obeyed God. Have you ever had a big task in front of you and so you talked yourself out of it? No, I didn't talk himself out of it. It's too big.

Have you ever had something big in front of you so you stayed in the planning stage forever? I just need a little more planning and then I can get started. Oh, that's such a temptation, but Noah resisted every justification, talking himself out of, obedience, and every temptation to put it off till tomorrow or next week or next month, and he obeyed God. The mission undoubtedly drew the ridicule of all who heard the report. Have you heard what's going on in this neighborhood?

All who heard the report of this great monstrosity being built. It didn't start as that, but as the work continued, and then the size and scope begins to become obvious to the people who can observe. People begin to comment. People always begin to comment. But Noah obeyed God.

It is even possible that Noah was building far away from water. This could have been built in the middle of Kansas. It would have been as good as any other place. They didn't need a shipyard because they weren't launching it. The global flood was launching it.

They weren't sailing someplace. So children, Kansas is right in the middle of the country. I know that because my mom and dad are both from Kansas. You can't get further from the coast than Kansas. Would have been fine to build the ark right in the middle of Kansas because the water will come to the ark.

We don't know where it was built, but it didn't have to be. All I'm saying is it didn't need at all to be built near water. It didn't need to be built on the water like normal shipbuilding because the water was coming to the big floating box. Matthew Henry says this, his neighbors would ridicule him and he would be the song of drunkards. Meaning, when people got drunk, they would sing about Noah and his big floating box in the middle of Kansas.

Here's the end of the Matthew Henry quote. His building would be called Noah's Folly. Folly is a foolish thing or a joke. Noah's Joke. Have you been by Noah's Joke recently?

It's getting bigger, but there's no water any closer. Year after year, then decade Year after year, then decade after decade, Noah is building. Probably work crews are building. And it's not raining. And it's not raining.

And it's not raining and the people are laughing and the people are mocking. What does Noah do? He keeps building. He takes God at His word. It will be raining.

So, he's moved by godly fear. Remember Hebrews 11? He's moved by godly fear. He takes God at His word. He keeps building.

Noah wasn't just building during this time. 2 Peter 2.5 says Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So he's a box builder, but 2 Peter 2 verse 5 says that he's also a preacher of righteousness. He was warning the world that their ruining of themselves was bringing ruin from God. God had told him, and he's a faithful watchman.

If you go to Ezekiel, it says, God says to the watchman, if You tell people the warnings that I'm giving you, and you hear from me and tell the people you will make yourself innocent. But if you won't tell them, you'll make yourself guilty. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was hearing from God the warnings and he was telling the people and he was cleansing his hands from the blood of all these people by being a preacher of righteousness, speaking of the judgment of God. And he was backing up his words with his life.

He's preaching, he's building. He's preaching, he's building. Does this man believe the things that he's saying? He's been building for decades. You know sometimes you meet a talker whose actions betray that they don't actually even believe themselves what they're saying.

Have you ever met someone like that? They talk, they talk, they talk, but because of how they live, you can tell they don't even believe themselves what they're saying. I'm not going to believe what they're saying. I can tell they don't believe what they're saying. You think they thought Noah believed what he was preaching?

You bet. He was a preacher of righteousness, but he wasn't just preaching, he was building. And he wasn't just building, he was preaching, warning the world. Noah was not that man who said one thing, but his actions betrayed his preaching. You could tell that Noah believed what he was saying when he preached impending judgment to the wicked because he would go right back to building.

By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. Hebrews 11 verse 7. Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him. So he did. God can transform us and actually give us a heart to obey.

Our hearts can be in it. Not just an external obedience where your heart's not actually in it, but he can actually give us our hearts in it because God has transformed us. That's what the grace of God does. Applications, let me give you three. One, I should never assume that even my most secret sins affect only myself.

These are secret sins. No one knows about them. They only affect me. That's such an unsafe assumption. Now where is this in the text?

Verse 13, The earth is filled with violence through them, through the people of earth, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. It wasn't just the violent people. The flood waters are going to sweep away everyone and everything. Now I'm not suggesting and don't want to be understood as saying there were innocent people who died in the flood. I'm just saying it wasn't just the most violent...

Don't think wrongly about what's happening here. It wasn't just the really violent people that got swept away by the floodwaters. Everyone was swept away by the floodwaters except for eight people. Noah three sons and all their wives. We should learn from this that others may very well get caught up in the discipline for my sin." It's secret sin.

Is it now? God doesn't know? Well, I mean, that's not what I mean by secret sin. Other people don't know. If God knows, he brings discipline into your life, that won't have any tentacles.

That won't affect anyone else. When the God who actually sees my secret sins brings discipline into my life. That's not going to impact anyone else. Oh husbands and fathers, if no one else in the room will believe this, please at least you believe it. How the discipline that God brings into our lives for our secret sins will affect our wives and our children.

But it's true of everyone. Others may very well be caught up in my spiritual decline from the compromises I'm making. You're making compromises. Maybe people know about them, maybe people don't know about them. But it affects your spiritual vitality.

Your spiritual decline will have no impact on the people around you. Do you really believe that? I don't think you believe that. I think you know that your spiritual decline will impact the people around you. Maybe in ways that you'll never know.

People will never get the gospel because you're spiritually impotent because you're making these compromises. They would have had the gospel if you had spiritual strength, but you're making these compromises. Number two, This is a great warning against living carelessly. The history of the flood is this tremendous warning against living carelessly. Noah was building.

What was everyone else doing? So we read the Genesis account, we think those wicked, wicked people, they were just a violent breed just running around and killing each other. That's what everybody was doing. The earth was filled with violence. Everybody just killing everyone.

Somehow Noah doesn't get killed. He can build for 100 years and not be killed somehow. What does Jesus say they were doing? So, tell us Jesus. What were they doing?

Luke 17, 26 and 27. Just listen to Luke chapter 17, verses 26 and 27. And as it was in the days of Noah, So it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. He's talking about when he comes back. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

They were running around killing each other. No, they were eating and they were drinking. They were getting married. They were giving in marriage. They did live in a violent world.

They lived in a wicked, violent world. That much is true. But many of them were just living carelessly. As if everything would continue as they had always known it. All of us are so prone to this.

It will always be like it's been up till this point in my life. As if world history started on the day of your birth. So it's always been like this. There's never been a global flood. There has been a global flood!

There have been cities destroyed, completely annihilated by fire from heaven. World history didn't start on the day of your birth. You can't afford to just eat and drink and get married and live carelessly. Everything is going to continue as you've always known it. That is not a safe assumption.

It's not true. Jesus is saying on the day that I come back people are going to be found just like they were found when the rain started. Just eating and drinking, getting married, being careless. Getting married, being careless. Matthew Henry says, the threatenings of the Word are not false alarms.

Amen! The threatenings of the Word of God are not false alarms. They're all true. We just don't have the timing. That's all we're missing.

Just the timing. If J.C. Ryle was here, here's what he'd say. I know what he would say. I've read all his books many times.

He would warn you that you have an eternal soul. Life is a breath, it's a vapor, it's nothing. Only it feels long to us that we get careless. We live carelessly as if I could repent tomorrow, I could repent next week, I could repent next month. The Bible says today is the day of salvation.

The Bible pleads with us to repent today, to not wait another minute. This history of the flood pleads with you not to wait another minute and act like everything's always going to go on as you've known it. This is a great warning against living carelessly. Finally, third and finally, finding grace in the eyes of God and walking with God and obeying God are all interconnected. So we're connecting different parts of Noah in the account.

So Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So finding grace in the eyes of God And walking with God, the text says Noah walked with God, and obeying God. The text says Noah obeyed God and all that God commanded him, they're all interconnected. 1 John 5.3 says, for This is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Children of God don't have to be flogged into obeying God.

They love God. So when he says something, they know it's for their good and His glory. So it's a joy to do these things. They say, your commandments are not burdensome. Here's another way to say it.

The grace of God transforms. Professions are wonderful, but they are cheap. It costs very little to say words. If you have a profession that seems pretty fruitless, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith.

On one hand we do want to have assurance and you can say those words to an over thinker and send them into a real Christian over thinker and it will send them into a tailspin for a month. I don't want to do that to anyone here. But they're all on the other side. I'm the Christian under thinker. My carelessness and fruitlessness will never make me think, are you really a Christian?

And it should. The grace of God transforms. Are you being transformed? I know it doesn't all happen at once. I know sometimes our progress is frustratingly slow.

That's true of Christians. I get that, but is transformation happening? If you can't identify that transformation is happening, you should examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith. Let's pray. Now there's so many profitable things, week by week as we work through section by section.

This is gold here. Thank you for helping us to mine out some of it. I pray that you would continue to show us things that are so valuable in these texts. In Jesus name, amen.