Sunday School - Roger Phipps - After the Flood 01

[0:00] Okay, Genesis chapter 7, if you would, please. We'll just quickly rehearse. Because we began, then we took off for two weeks, now it's kind of like we're hitting the road again.

[0:16] So we'll just rehearse a little bit. So, how many people are going into the ark? Eight.

[0:26] How many animals are going into the ark? A whole bunch. Okay.

[0:38] Why? So? So why are they going in the ark?

[0:53] I'm sorry? Okay. Preservation. Preservation. I like that. God said, get in the ark. Well, first of all, he said, build an ark.

[1:08] Now, at 500 years of age, God told Noah, hey, build an ark. So, he says to preserve seed.

[1:23] Now, I've wondered at times, the God who created from nothing, is he able to recreate?

[1:36] So, he still decided to save these people, didn't he? He's able to do it.

[1:48] He's not restricted in power. But he has a purpose, doesn't he? Now, he doesn't reveal the whole purpose. I may not even be able to understand his purpose.

[2:01] There are a whole lot of things that happen in life that I don't understand. You've encountered someone who has said, well, I don't believe that.

[2:22] I don't believe, usually talking about Christianity. I don't believe that because I don't understand it. I don't believe it because nobody raises from the dead.

[2:33] I don't believe it because there's, science tells me that evolution is the way we came about. Now, which, by the way, isn't necessarily true.

[2:48] The science didn't tell them that evolution happened. Their presupposition told them that there was no God. And then the scientists started developing a way to rationalize around God.

[3:04] But realistically, well, I don't want to digress too much, but what we commonly call the Renaissance and the age of science, modern science as we understand it, think Galileo and Kepler and Newton and those people, that would almost be impossible with an atheistic mindset.

[3:34] Because those people explored specifically because they believed in a creator. And they said, an orderly God created an orderly universe.

[3:47] Let's go explore and figure it out. If you started with an atheistic perspective, you kind of stay back with pantheism, don't you?

[4:01] Or something akin to that. Anyway, be that as it may, in God's plan, he decided to preserve seed on the earth, he said. Now, in that preservation, though, God did give a type or a type of what's going to happen later.

[4:27] Can you think of any types that it represents? How about my hope of salvation? Number one, if I don't get on the ark, what's my hope?

[4:48] Destruction, right? Those without Christ are without hope in the world. Okay.

[4:59] Okay. What about, do you remember what Jesus said about Noah? Okay.

[5:15] Jesus used Noah as an example of the coming of the Son of Man. As in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

[5:29] That is, they aren't going to be looking for me. But, but I'm going to come anyway. Right? Peter uses Noah as an example.

[5:45] When he says, look, in the latter days, people are going to be saying, well, where are the signs of his coming? You know, just like it has always been, it is now.

[6:00] Just because it's taken long, Peter says they forget something. Just because it's taken a long time doesn't mean, at least as far as we're concerned, a long time. Just because it takes a long time doesn't mean that God won't do it.

[6:14] Dad used to tell of the neighbor that came in and said, well, the milk cow did something she's never done before.

[6:31] And his wife said, what's that? And he said, he died. Just because it's never happened to you before doesn't mean it's not going to.

[6:45] Just because the Lord Jesus has not returned, Peter says, doesn't mean that he's not going to. Just because he hasn't judged the world again doesn't mean he won't.

[7:01] He is. So, there are a couple of pictures there, at least, that I can get from it. Now, why is God destroying?

[7:12] Now, this I need to remember. Why is God judging the world? With the flood. Okay, whose wickedness?

[7:23] Well, mankind's disobedience brought destruction on the whole creation, didn't it?

[7:36] But he says, all flesh have corrupted their way on the earth. So, he's going to also kill the animals. Now, this isn't the only time, by the way, that God says, judge the animals.

[8:00] The animals are not necessarily thinking. But all of creation is going to be subjected to futility until the day of the Lord, right?

[8:14] Until when Jesus Christ takes up the saints and displays the church. Romans chapter 8. But, what about when we're going to jump way ahead to Mount Sinai?

[8:35] And God says, I'm going to descend on the mountain. What is Israel supposed to do? They're supposed to stay away.

[8:47] What else? They're supposed to purify themselves. What else? Set boundaries around the mountain.

[9:02] Why? So that, he says, so that no one, lest anyone break through, and I break upon them. I destroy the people.

[9:15] He said, the mountain's holy right now. You're not coming. You don't come in. We're just the people barred from the mountain? The animals as well, weren't they?

[9:29] What did God say should happen to the person who broke through? Who crossed the boundary? They were to be killed.

[9:41] What happened to the animals that crossed the boundary? They were to be killed too. So, this isn't the first time. But, at the very least, my lesson should be, or is to me, be careful.

[10:01] Because, sometimes, Roger, your life and what you do has consequences that go far beyond just you.

[10:14] They have consequences that may affect generations later. Now, that does two things to me.

[10:24] It makes me a little afraid, as far as the responsibility. But, it makes me so grateful for God's grace.

[10:38] To recognize that the Lord, in this time, has provided a way of escape.

[10:50] He's provided that way of escape. Okay, so, how many creatures are going on? I have no idea.

[11:03] We know how many of each kind are going on. So, what's that? A male and a female of each kind of unclean.

[11:26] And, seven, I don't know whether to read that, seven pairs or seven animals. I'm not really sure. I don't know.

[11:39] Of each of the clean. Now, this is the first time God says, clean or unclean. He's going to make, we are going to see clean and unclean animals after they exit the ark.

[11:58] But, we won't see it again until when? The law of Moses.

[12:10] We won't see it again. The clean and unclean until God gives that to Israel at the mount.

[12:24] That will be part of the law. Now, we'll get more about that. That's going to come up again. Now, anything to throw in before we keep going?

[12:39] Yes. It says, by sevens, male and female, so I would take it as pairs. As pairs. I suspected that.

[12:51] I suspected that. But, I'm not positive. Okay. Well, the male and his female.

[13:04] And, seven, that's going to be hard, isn't it? By the way, that's only half, right?

[13:15] That's only half of the pair. If you... And, it's important, this establishes, or reinforces, I should say, what God said in the beginning.

[13:32] The help me. The pair. The pair. The mate. There's really no equivocation here to be made in terms of perversions that we see in society.

[13:50] That are so flaunted today. Those perversions have been around since the Canaanites, at least. But, they are...

[14:02] They have not been flaunted, at least, flaunted so badly in our lifetimes, as we see it now.

[14:14] But, they've been around all that time. For a long, long time. Okay. We know how old Noah was when the flood came.

[14:28] We know that he didn't round up the animals. Who did? God sent them to him. That was the easiest loading that I've ever seen.

[14:40] I know you've put animals through chutes and onto trailers. They don't always like to go. And, they're a lot bigger than you are.

[14:54] So, in verses 10 through 16 of chapter 7, we see that God was very specific in his recording, through, I believe, Moses, in his recording of when this flood began.

[15:21] Right to the day. This isn't... This isn't... This isn't so much an imaginary thing. I read...

[15:36] Nah, it was something else. I'll... You know that there are flood stories all over the world in most...

[15:48] Amongst most people groups. Or, at least, amongst a whole bunch of people groups, at least. In the Americas, there were flood stories in...

[16:04] Amongst the Aztec and those natives. Of course, the famous one is the Gilgamesh epic in...

[16:16] In Mesopotamia. Yeah. Those critics of Christianity would have you believe that this is one among many.

[16:37] But it isn't. And, just because other people twisted around the original, doesn't mean the original didn't happen.

[16:52] So... It's very specific as to the beginning of it. We know that the fountains of the deep burst.

[17:05] The windows of heaven. Or the floodgates of heaven. Now, the next time you sit and you sing that song about the floodgates of heaven on us, throw open wide.

[17:20] Think about this. So... I know that's metaphorical. Okay. I get that. But, still. The floods...

[17:34] There's a huge amount of water in a short period of time. So... We know that... We know that Noah closed the door when he was told to.

[17:50] You... You... You just had to do that to me, didn't you, John? What?

[18:03] God closed the door. God closed the door. Typically... Typically...

[18:21] When we... When we use this as a picture of my salvation... The door's open.

[18:32] But there's going to come a day... In this dispensation... When God's going to close the door... To this dispensation.

[18:43] He's going to close it. I want to be in before that, don't you? I'm thankful...

[18:56] That we have access now. I'm thankful for that. Okay. Let's begin in chapter 8 then, if you would, please.

[19:17] If we don't have anything else for the preliminary. Chapter 8, verse 1. Verses 1 through 12 we'll look at right now.

[19:28] I've got another one. Okay so... Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[19:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[19:55] Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, chapter 7, the last one of you are going to read. The last verse of chapter 7 tells us how long did the waters prevail?

[20:06] That is the flood. 150 days. Okay. Now we get the description of the abatement.

[20:19] So, as we've read these 12 verses, describe that. Okay. I'll start it. God made a wind to what?

[20:43] Passover the earth. What's that doing, by the way? It's evaporating the waters. Okay. What else?

[20:54] Okay. The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed.

[21:10] And the rain was stopped. It was restrained, he says. About this time, what else happens? The rain was stopped. It was restrained, he says. About this time, what else happens? The rain was stopped. It was restrained, he says. About this time, what else happens?

[21:22] About this time, what else happens? You are alwaysalling. You have to bear the d вкус, opacity rising to the flavor.

[21:33] Whatever the heat as you are going cold literally equals nothing. You arefold. Otherwise, the rain's getting on right. Too many people were up high if you've started to broccoli up. Never. You're up to you. I have to bear the sea sc fav. dlm nick of believe in getting you every andra bagוא�f.

[21:44] Under красив arm nelle t ethics rule. That thing come out of breath and the same Greek Egypt, one of the other tenen Cause This is even worse.

[22:07] Okay. Now, how does Noah discover that the ground has dried?

[22:29] He sends scouts. Now, what did he send first? The raven.

[22:40] And the raven came back with what? The raven did not return. That was a trick question. I'm glad you're... This is just to get us to read for detail right now.

[22:54] Okay, then he sends out a dove. And what happens with the dove? Thank you.

[23:09] So, the dove returns. Then what happens? He waited another week and...

[23:25] Are you counting the days, by the way? Okay, so he sends the dove out again and then what? So, how does he know that the ground had dried up sufficiently?

[23:42] She brought back a leaf. So, he's in there long enough for the water to abate low enough to start to allow seeds to germinate.

[24:01] And to grow. And to grow. What do you need for a leaf? And it was freshly picked.

[24:12] It wasn't a dead one. What do you need to have a leaf? You need to have a plant. It needs to germinate. And it needs to have sunlight.

[24:29] Right? You need photosynthesis. So, that's how he knows. The dove returns with the olive leaf in verse 11.

[24:40] Right? Now, did he jump right out? He waits another week.

[24:54] Now, let's continue our reading then. These questions will come from 13 through 22. Okay. Verse 13 is pretty specific too, isn't it?

[25:27] See, the beginning is marked on the calendar. And this is marked on the calendar. Okay. Describe what happens.

[25:49] The water's dried up. He gives the specific time. Then what does Noah do?

[26:02] He removes the covering. And he looked and behold, the surface was dry.

[26:15] Okay. And now in verse 14, what do we have? We have another specific date, don't we? What does he do?

[26:28] What does he do? Okay. What does God say? Verse 15. Now it's time to leave.

[26:44] Now it's time to leave. So, God told him to get in. And now he's telling him, it's time to leave the ark.

[26:58] Now, if you've been counting up your days and months, how long have they been in the ark?

[27:14] I just wondered if anybody had done that already. As near as I can see, almost a year. You see, when I was a little tyke, and we were singing the songs, I kind of pictured they were in the ark for 40 days and 40 nights in the rain, and it dried up in a hurry, and out they came.

[27:43] Now, they were in that barn a year. How long does it take me to get cooped up? How long does it take me to get tired of that diet?

[28:05] How long does it take me to get tired of that diet? No internet, no phones. Well, some of us might think that might not be a bad idea.

[28:17] But anyway, it made me think, though, how impatient do I get? Does patience serve a purpose in my life as a Christian?

[28:33] Yes or no? Are we called to be impatient, or are we told to be patient?

[28:46] Okay. Here's the part I don't like. What works patience? Testing. Tribulation worketh patience.

[28:58] Now, I want the patience, but I don't want to tribulate. I'll confess even if you won't.

[29:10] I don't want to tribulate. When I pray, and God knows our hearts, doesn't He? It's not like I can fool God when I pray.

[29:20] So I may as well be honest with Him. When I pray, I'm usually praying for relief. Whether it's for me, or for Mike, or for...

[29:35] I want relief. I don't really want the tribulation. In Philippians, I know I'm supposed to do that, though. I'm supposed to make all my requests known unto God.

[29:49] Not like I can conceal it. He knows it better than I know it, doesn't He? He even knows my motives better than I know my motives. What lies hidden before God's eyes?

[30:05] Says the psalmist. Everything's open. Everything. He knows me. The heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked.

[30:23] Who can know it? God can know it. Now, once again, is grace not just a wonderful thing?

[30:35] Because God knows every motive, even if I can lie to myself. God knows it better, doesn't He?

[30:45] Okay. Back to... Back to this. We do know, though, in Romans 5, I think it is.

[31:06] Yeah. Romans 5, we see that we glory in tribulations. Well, Paul did, but not so much. Because we know what?

[31:18] The tribulation works. Patience, but does it stop with patience? No. What else? Patience brings a long what?

[31:33] Experience, he says. Or kind of a long, a long obedience, right? A long obedience.

[31:46] And that brings about hope. And hope does not disappoint. So, if I want to have joy in my Christian life, I need to stop my thinking selfishly and start thinking, you know, these hard places are good for me.

[32:18] Now, I don't feel that way emotionally. But God tells me, look, this is going to work patience. And the patience is going to bring perseverance.

[32:32] And that perseverance is going to carry you through when the days get dark. And I want to learn that when the days are light because they will get dark.

[32:48] And I don't want to forget in the darkness what I know to be true in the light. It's easy for me to say it now, isn't it?

[33:00] In good health and comfort. But there's going to be days when that's not going to be there.

[33:14] And then it'll stand me in great stead. Roger. I can see my guilt in the struggle of that. That's the hard thing. What it's all about.

[33:25] What it's all about. Why can't I do that? Yeah. And we sing the song that is so very true.

[33:39] And really, good hymnology should teach me good doctrine, shouldn't it? Yeah. Too many people meeting today are going to be singing trashy stuff.

[33:54] It doesn't, it teaches a man-centered theology, man-centered doctrine. Anything that's man-centered is to be avoided because God always glorifies whom?

[34:12] himself. He can do no other. He cannot deny himself, he says. He cannot say, well, I'm not really the supreme being.

[34:27] Can he? There are some things he cannot do. He cannot lie, he can't deny himself because of his nature. So, we sing the song, the arm of flesh will, will fail you.

[34:47] Ye dare not trust your own. Our hope rests on the work of God, not on ourselves.

[35:01] but I don't want to stretch it too far, but the accuser of the brethren is not supposed to be the brethren, is it?

[35:11] It's supposed, the accuser of the brethren is Satan. And we will be tempted in those hard times for a things like, have I done enough?

[35:31] have I failed the Lord? Have I or maybe why is it happening to me?

[35:46] Or you know somebody like this, you've met them, you have somebody in your family probably, well, not you, but some people do, who have said I prayed to God for this and he didn't come through, so you ever met him?

[36:16] Now, that might not be the time to give the hard saying, which is now to the church when I say, God doesn't say that it's about you, Roger.

[36:30] God says it's about him. Even salvation is about him. He is gracious, he sets his love upon us, but it's for his glory, not my own.

[36:45] and so there will come a temptation, well, a temptation as though they'll only come once, right?

[36:59] When I'm going to be tempted about why me, why this, well, or like Peter, well, okay, so people are going to bind me and take me where I don't want to go, but what about them?

[37:15] You know, why me and not them? To which Jesus replied, they aren't your concern.

[37:27] That's my concern. That's not your concern. So, there will come a time when we are, we will be tested on that. What did Noah do then what did Noah do upon vacating the ark?

[37:54] Tell me about that sacrifice. This is the second time this is mentioned. The clean animals.

[38:07] I don't know because we are not told that Noah was told I presume he was because God said take seven of the clean.

[38:21] So, he probably knew how to differentiate at that point. But we don't know. God did not choose to reveal that. So, he sacrifices, he sacrifices, he builds an altar and he sacrifices the animals.

[38:45] Why? Why? We don't know why, do we?

[39:04] We're not really told. God doesn't say that you need to know this, Roger. We presume, or I presume, I should say that.

[39:16] I presume that either he was told to or he understood that the sacrifice was, that the extra cleans were for sacrifice. But that's an assumption I'm making and no doctrinal teaching can be derived therefrom.

[39:36] Okay? Because it's not revealed. but we do know that he offered it. If you go back earlier, Cain and Abel offered sacrifices and we weren't told that they were told to.

[39:55] We're just told that they did. So, but here, Noah, the first thing he does is builds an altar and he makes a sacrifice to God.

[40:14] And I'll end with this. Can I learn something from that? Especially when there's a great deliverance, like the deliverance, like propitiation.

[40:33] I can't think of a bigger one for me. when I am delivered from God's wrath by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, what should be my response?

[40:56] Praise to God. Thankfulness for what he's done. God's love. And incidentally, for those of us who, and most people, I think, probably know the person, for those of us who know that person, who said, God doesn't love me because grandpa died anyway, the cross tells me he does love me, doesn't it?

[41:36] It's the cross that tells me he does love me. Because I only look, I see everything this much and God sees eternity.

[41:51] And he said, you can't see it now. But what I'm giving you, the apostle Paul described it, no man can conceive, no ears, you know, you haven't thought of this, of the glories that await the redeemed, right?

[42:17] We don't really understand. But I'm thankful for it. I don't have to understand everything to believe it.

[42:28] I don't have to know everything thoroughly to know some things truly. And with that, have a great week.

[42:39] God Thank you.