Dennis Bevans - Noah - Saving Your Family in a Dark World - Class 2 - All that God Commanded Him

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   This is the Mid-Atlantic Christadelphian Bible School for 2022. Our third class will commence. Our third speaker this morning is Brother Dennis Bevans from the Austin Leander Ecclesia in Texas. The theme for Brother Dennis’s class this week is Noah Saving Your Family in a Dark World. Today’s class is entitled All That God Commanded Him. Genesis chapter 6 verse 10 to 22. I get to open with a confession.

2. 0:42

   I mean, Jason started this so it’s his fault, but I have a much more recent infraction to confess. Yesterday I said we would solve the math dilemma by the end of the day. And those of you that were waiting for some magical information to happen during the day, sorry if that would, if this was a study weekend, you would have got it by the end of the day, but it’s not, which means you get it the next day. So we’re going to open with the math solution. So those of you that have really had trouble since I said that, I’m hoping to earn the relief right now. We’ll pick up where we left off.

3. 1:18

   And we left off with Noah finding grace in the eyes of the Lord. We see he was given a warning of 120 years. What was going to happen? And that he had three kids mentioned by name at age 500. So that’s the little math lesson we’re going to talk about right now. Verse 10, Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. So let’s add a few details to this. Shem, his name means name or renown. We saw that in verse 4.

4. 1:52

   So Shem, the name Hem means hot or desert, and Japheth is open or expanded. Chapter 10 verse 21 tells us he was the oldest of the three. So the oldest of these three is Japheth. And that Chapter 11 verse 10 tells us Shem was two years younger, which makes him 98 when the flood happened. So our note from chapter 5 verse 32, because he’s 500 years old. So let’s put some math to work in Chapter 7, verse 6, which we’ll talk about more tomorrow.

5. 2:32

   He’s 600 years old when the flood happens, so we’ll talk more about that tomorrow. But today we’re going to focus on the math. How many years of warning? 120. What is 600 -, 120, 480 How old were was the oldest of the three children when they got on the ark? 100 So Japheth is 100, Shem is 98, Hem is somewhere thereafter. So they’ve got 120 years of warning, which means 20 years after they were told by God we’re going to destroy this planet.

6. 3:21

   They looked at each other with loving eyes and said, honey, the world’s a mess. The ecclesia is gone. God’s going to wipe it all clean. Let’s make some children, shall we? Now I want you to put that in perspective. This is the last days and the thought of raising children in a violent, godless place was what was happening in their life.

7. 3:49

   This is a very dramatic detail in the story we’re going to look at. So we’re going to have some fun. But there’s a very serious undertone at the beginning of this class, and that is, if they had children after they were told that, and she’s not noted as barren, is it possible they had other children before the three that went on the arc?

8. 4:16

   I will argue it’s not only possible, it is likely. Now have you ever wondered why Missus Noah’s not mentioned in this story? Ever wondered why is she not mentioned? She deserves to be mentioned. Well, the root of that goes back to Genesis chapter 5. In Genesis chapter 5, the 1st 2 verses of the book of Death, because this one ends with and he died and he died and he died and he died. So everybody in here dies the book of the generation of Adam, which makes sense as an Adam, all men die. So we’ve got a good warm up.

9. 4:52

   The day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him male and female created he them, he blessed them and called their name Adam in the day they were created. The first genealogy in Scripture makes this point for us and we’re going to carry it throughout the rest of the Bible. In the naming of the husband, we have the naming of the union as these two have become one calling their name. Adam tells us when we read about Noah, it is not Noah the loan shark, it’s Noah and his wife embedded together in the story. We’re going to talk more about their story and how it relates to genealogy is at the end of this class when we get to Matthew 1.

10. 5:41

    So we’ll hold that thought for a minute. But this faithful couple who’d been married for a few 100 years decided to have children when they had no doubt that God was going to destroy the planet they were having these children on. Now, how many people were saved on the Ark? 8, the oldest of which would have been 100.

11. 6:09

    Well, let’s look at how long it took people to have children in Genesis chapter 5. Adam’s 130, before we have the name, before we have Seth. We know we had other children before then, Cain and Abel at least. But these guys all got married. Girls had to be somewhere. So we know they had other children, but the one mentioned in the genealogy was at 130. Then we have Seth, who’s 105 when he has E Nos 90, has Kanan, 70, Mahalil 65, Jared 162.

12. 6:44

    So he’s the one that was the slow starter. Enoch at 65. Now we’re going the right way again. Methuselah, 187, he’s trying to top Jared. And then we have Lamech, who’s 182. So let’s put that in perspective. They all had sons and daughters. In fact, we know Seth had at least two other older brothers.

13. 7:04

    So if Noah’s 500, that makes him almost three times as long as it took Lamech or Methuselah to have the named child in the genealogy and almost 8 times as long as it took Enoch translation. Noah and Mrs. Noah likely had other children, possibly grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren for sure. They had aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, lots of cousins. So when we talk about them saving their family in the darkness of the world, this is where it gets very somber for us.

14. 7:48

    Not only do they know what it takes to rescue their children from the world, but they intimately know what it’s like to lose them to the world. If you have ever felt alone, when you look at your children and your grandchildren, think, how could the world suck this precious life away from me and take it away from the Father? And we long for them to see the things of God and come back as a parent should.

15. 8:18

    And we feel alone in that aspect. And we don’t have to go any farther than Noah and misses Noah to know it is absolutely understood how you feel because you are not alone. It’s been this way for thousands of years. Imagine hearing the taunts of their own children, friends, family, neighbors while preaching repentance. And then for a moment imagine their cries for help as they drown in the waters of judgment.

16. 8:48

    It becomes a very different topic when we look at we don’t tell our children this in the Sunday school songs. Just probably a good thing, but from an adult perspective what they were asked to do. The hard part was not building a boat. The hard part was walking away from the family that had no interest in the things of God.

17. 9:12

    We are not alone in our struggle. The scripture is loaded with examples to show us that others have gone through what we are that we can be related to in scripture. And there are a lot of them that are quite easy to see, but I would argue none may be as profound as this one. Now our topic by its very tone takes on a somber tone itself just by its nature.

18. 9:35

    But there is a a good piece to this too. The struggle before the glory or a New Testament turns the cross before the crown. So we get to see the glory, which is where we want to focus. But before that glory, there is tragedy. OK, so chapter 6, verse 11, the earth was corrupt before God and was filled with violence.

19. 9:59

    So again, this is the world we want to have live it, we want to have children in. It’s corrupt, it’s violent, there’s zero ecclesia. Let’s make some children. I love that thought. So the word corrupt is the same word that’s going to be translated destroy in verse 13 and verse 17 in this chapter. So the earth now has been destroyed before God. This means in Hebrew spoil or ruin. So really literally the earth is spoiled now. This is not soil contamination.

20. 10:32

    This is the flesh running wild as the planet and its inhabitants have chosen to follow. The less of the flesh, the less of the eyes and the pride of life rather than the way of God. It’s an immoral population that God has inspected and judged. This is not an environmental study. God looked upon the earth.

21. 10:54

    Behold, it was corrupt and all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And there is the point his way going God’s way. Here is the path that leads to life. And we’re told Noah walked God’s way. But then they’ve chosen their own way, a way that was better, a way that might have matched what they would term is modern sensibility.

22. 11:18

    It it fit in better with the thinking of the age, but it was not God’s direct path and therefore it LED to death. Surrender and control are very difficult things for human nature. And this is not just for us. Our Lord Jesus struggled with this too in his prayer in Gethsemane. He was praying that God give him the strength to endure something he didn’t want to go through.

23. 11:44

    Father, if there’s any, I’ll paraphrase. If there’s any other way to make this happen, I’d like that route because I know what this one is, shameful, painful, but if there’s no other way, I’ll do it your way. Even Jesus had that struggle. So for us to not recognize it’s a problem for us, we have to be careful because we want to have control. We want to control the dictate the terms of our life. That’s not how our God works.

24. 12:19

    He’s given us an opportunity to be part of His glory, but His glory is going to happen with or without all of us doing things God’s way gives us an access to that glory. Surrendering what we think is right to do what God thinks is right is hard for our nature. It’s so much easier to convince ourselves we’re right and God’s on our side.

25. 12:40

    You probably don’t have any trouble doing that. I don’t. We got to hit the pause button and say, wait a minute, is this Dennis’s way or is this God’s way? Well, they had corrupted their way and this goes back to Genesis chapter 3. He drove out the man placed in the east of the Garden of Eden, Caribbean and a flaming sword turned every way to keep the way to the tree of life. Access was denied when they followed the flesh, access invited, if they followed God’s way. This comes up again in Revelation verse 11 a Chapter 11, verse 18.

26. 13:17

    The nations were angry. Thy wrath has come, the time of the dead, that they should be judged, judged. That’s nice that thou should US give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the Saints and them that fear the name, Thy name small and great, and should US destroy them that destroy the earth, and we compare it to our day.

27. 13:37

    What’s destroying the earth now? It’s not pollutants. It’s not. Was it light pollution? Food. It’s not water pollution. It’s not trash. What’s destroying the earth today is the human beings on it that have lost an interest in doing things God’s way. They’ve left God out is the missing ingredient and as a result have corrupted the land.

28. 14:03

    Now, this verse is popularly used to talk about taking care of the planet in an environmental manner, and it’s totally out of context. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to save the planet, recycle stuff. That’s not bad. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. That is not what the Bible is saying.

29. 14:16

    Oh, sorry, I looked thirsty. I have a little one here, though. I love you, honey. Thank you. I can’t not do it. She brought it to me. All right, so not bad idea to take care of the planet. Fine, I’m nothing, nothing wrong with that. But the most dangerous environmental contaminant on the Earth today is a population pleasing itself. Now bringing it to our day, let’s add a few things like let’s give them isolation and let’s only funnel news that matches what they think because that’s what your phone does. By the way, you notice that all the stuff you get on your phone has got already got a filter, so you’re only getting information that matches what you would like to see. So you’re isolated in your own thinking, supporting your own thinking, and you’re wondering whose path am I on? The path of my thinking or the path of God’s thinking? Because if we’re not intentionally trying to override that, we are following the thinking of our own flesh and getting all the support we need to do it. Every news article, every advertisement. You ever noticed that?

30. 15:18

    It’s not really a mystery to most of you. Maybe I’m slow, but you’re on your phone. You might be looking something up. Maybe you’re shopping for shoes, I don’t know. But then amazingly, you get a random e-mail from somebody that talks about a shoe sale and then you start checking a sports score and by the way, there’s a shoe sale going.

31. 15:36

    Does that happen to everybody? It’s not magic, it’s by design. The world is trying to penetrate your thoughts, to steer you the direction of self pleasure and it’s going to work. It works more than we wish it did. The only way to avoid it is to recognize it and to combat it. Now, let’s keep that in mind as we put this in our day.

32. 15:58

    In verse 13, God says to Noah, the end of all flesh has come, for the earth is filled with violence put through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. And this is an important piece to remember. There’s always a focus on the remnant. There is always, always, always a note of mercy and the tragedy of God’s judgment. He displayed patience in allowing the oldest person that had ever lived to die a month before the flood. So that’s Noah’s grandfather, Methuselah, and Noah’s father Lamech, who died five years earlier. They died of natural causes before the flood began. So the preservation of the grandfather and the father, so he didn’t have to witness the loss of their life in the flood. Or perhaps there’d be a few more rooms in it to preserve them. Our God has thought this out.

33. 16:48

    There’s more math if you want it in Genesis chapter 5, but the time has come. The warning of God had been ignored. The message of Noah’s preaching had been endured long enough. Verse 37 and now here, and we recall Jesus warning us to put it to our day.

34. 17:06

    Now we looked at this verse already, but I want to focus on the last one. So eating, drinking, marrying, given in mirrors. We tied that nicely to today and the day of Noah. But it says they knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

35. 17:21

    And so we’ve made the connection. But the part I want to focus on is that they knew not. That is the intimate knowledge word in Greek. It’s not that they’d never heard the message before. Oh, they’d casually heard it, probably to ad nauseam. Oh, yeah, I know. The flood’s coming. The waters are falling from the sky.

36. 17:41

    OK, here comes Noah. We’re going to hear more about the water. I’m stayed. It’s not that they didn’t hear the message if they had disregarded it, they didn’t intimately understand what God was trying to do to get them to change for their own good because they were not interested in God’s order for their lives and therefore had no need for salvation.

37. 18:00

    They were too busy satisfying themselves by eating, drinking, and marrying to be distracted by the promises of Almighty God. And that’s what Jesus says. Watch out, because that’s what it’s going to be like when I come back. And so we look today and can we see that in the world, in the meeting, in our families? And when we see that note of tragedy, there’s a reminder to us that there is hope in that the redemption of the remnants is drawing.

38. 18:32

    Not so, he says. Make an ark of Gopher wood rooms. Thou shalt make of the ark. Pitch it within and without, with pitch. And this is an interesting detail. Why are we told what kind of wood to use and to use pitch on the inside and outside? I mean, God didn’t say we got to rescue somebody on this planet. Let’s pick the guy who knows how to build a boat. That’s not what happened.

39. 18:54

    He was picked because he was following God’s path. But he’s a guy who lives in a desert. This is not a Yacht Club that he’s raised in. He lives in a region where there’s water around it. But this is not like, hey, let’s go on a leisure cruise together. They’re not boat builders by trade.

40. 19:10

    So Moses ice, Noah is told, here is how you do it. Now the good news is, everything that God told Noah he did, well, good thing. What if he decided to know? I’m not interested in this Gopher wood stuff. Maybe I’ll use balsa. Probably a bad idea. So it’s good that God said Noah, this is what you need to do is OK, we’ll do that. And so the word ark, the only other use of this in Hebrew is actually Exodus chapter 2 where we’re talking about Moses. So the word was on my page.

41. 19:45

    It didn’t just come out of nowhere talking about Moses and his ark. So the connection between the salvation of Israel and the salvation of the family of Noah is made for us in Scripture. And then we have the use of wood, which of course now is being used to save the family, a type of salvation which we can connect right to the cross of Jesus, which we will when we get to chapter 8.

42. 20:10

    The word rooms in the Hebrew really means nests. So it was intended to be comfort to the animals by God. So he’s been given direction on how to take care of the animals. Now we just looked at this in the last class so I I won’t read it again, but just note there are abundant ties to the Lord Jesus as we start looking at the ark and the calling of the animals to the ark and the preparations of the ark, the ark itself, the water around the the ark, you’re going to go on and on to see even some of the animals called out by name are direct references to the work of our Lord.

43. 20:51

    And by the time we get to Chapter 8, hopefully I will have that statement proved. So they’re told to put a covering, which is what the word pitch really is, completely within and without, which ties US directly to immersion and baptism with waters all around, a protective covering on the wood. So the covering of sin requires the shedding of blood. So we’ve got the covering that’s been provided by God in order for us to have hope.

44. 21:15

    The symbolism of what’s being brought to this family is astounding. Now this is the fashion which you will make it. The length of it shall be 100 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, the height of it 30 cubits. So we’ve got specific detail, wood type, nest pitch, dimensions. They’re following the instructions of God, which is an exhortation to us. If we are constantly reading and studying the Word of God, we get the opportunity to get what He wants us to do. Do we then take what He wants us to do and try to make our life match it?

45. 21:47

    Because the natural inclination of all of us is to take what we read in His Word and try to see if we can make our life fit it. There’s a difference trying to justify what I want to do with the support of Scripture versus letting God tell me what I should do and changing my life as necessary to make that so.

46. 22:06

    So the approximate dimensions then. Well, it gives us, since we like feet here, 450 feet, 75 feet by 45 feet high. So that’s approximate dimensions using about 18 inches for a cubit. This is a more modern ish version of that if you will. Basically you’re looking at a giant wooden box about the size of a football field. If you add the track around it, maybe the first row or so of the stands.

47. 22:34

    So put in your mind this picture. Giant wooden box about the size of a high school football field in the desert. He wouldn’t have looked crazy at all, I’m sure. No, it’s funny because there was a phrase said about this ship. This should have been haunting to anyone who walked on it. Remember what that phrase was?

48. 22:55

    Yeah, unsinkable. In fact, the actual quote is even God himself couldn’t sink this ship. Boy, you asked for it. You almost said, all right, God, let’s see what you got. That’s a bad decision, as we know, but so explain that one. How do the best engineers that humans on the planet have to offer with 4000 years of boat building experience come up with something that can’t make it pass? A chunk of ice and God and a couple people in a desert with some wood can make something that saves the earth. It’s not about us, it’s about our God. Our God’s in control.

49. 23:34

    The ark would never have worked if it was up to Noah and his family to figure out how and what but to follow the plan of God. That we can do. And if we follow the plan of God, we can be saved. The message rings true to today. Now what he’s told, put a window in the ark, a cubit and in a cubit thou shalt finish it above the door of the ark. Thou set in the side, lower, second, third stories, thou shalt make it.

50. 23:59

    The RSV says it this way. Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above. So the word window is a different one than we’ll see in chapter 8, verse six in a couple days. This particular word is used 24 times in the Old Testament. I told you before, I get excited about things divisible by 7 and 12/24 times in the Old Testament. This is the only one translated window. The other 23 are all translated noon or noonday. So what we have here is not what you and I would call a window, but what we have is an opening across the upper layer of the arc for ventilation.

51. 24:33

    That makes sense. You have a floating zoo. Think about this for a minute. Animals don’t always smell great, let alone when they’ve been hanging out together for a year or so and he’s providing food and you know what happens after they eat. So God thought of everything. He had a plan and he had orchestrated it to the tee.

52. 24:55

    Now, as we look at this, we get to see the example of God knowing where this is going and us trusting our God. And we’re going to talk about that in detail later. I want to touch it right now. This is one artist’s rendition. The reason I like it is because it’s the shape of a box, not the Pretty Little, you know, boat with like 7 animals on the top, which would not quite work. And we see the giraffe and we wave. It’s not the one that’s going to fit. A giant floating box of three stories and roof on a window line on top for ventilation is effectively what we have. But here’s the part that’s just remarkable to me. He’s told to build the door.

53. 25:38

    There’s only one way in. There’s only one way in. And that way is God’s way. You make a hole in the side of this giant boat that I’m going to make float. I’ll take care of the rest. I want you to notice for just one second, there’s no education here for him to build a pulley system to close this door. And I want you to, for a moment, think when the rain starts coming, God’s going to close this door. There’s a faith that God will because that faith that God will close the door.

54. 26:08

    If he doesn’t, then that boat is just becomes your grave. But there’s also a mercy because if God’s closing the door, you’re not the one doing it. For those that might be running, going, wait, we should have paid more attention before now. I’m not trying to suggest that Noah and his family lived in the suburbs and there were 800 homes around them, but the odds of them having family in close proximity are quite high.

55. 26:34

    Let’s look at John 14 so we can tie Jesus to the door as well. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. Two specific instructions let light in, and there’s only one door. And that lesson lies to us today. So let’s keep going back to Genesis. Behold, I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein there is breath of life from under the heaven and everything that in the earth shall die. So water from the sky is what he’s being told is going to happen.

56. 27:07

    And you and I go, hey, it’s supposed to rain today, but is anybody here really nervous that we’re all going to die today? I mean, it might mess up the afternoon plans. I recognize that. But at the end of the day, we’re not in peril. Water’s coming. We don’t have that fear because water from the sky is normal to us. But it was not normal to them, Not yet. Rain was new.

57. 27:33

    And that changes the dimension to the story. Go back to Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis chapter 2 we have every plant of the field, verse 5 before it was in the earth, every herb in the field before it grew the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was not a man to till the ground, but there went out a midst from the earth and the and watered the whole face of the ground.

58. 27:57

    Does anyone read that and think that’s God’s way of telling us a weather report on some unknown day in the Genesis creation account? The. Reason that verse is there is to add emphasis to the story of Noah. At this point, the ground was being taken care of by a midst provided by our heavenly Father.

59. 28:18

    It was not being taken care of by water falling from the sky. The first actual occurrence of rain on the planet is actually the story of the flood, and that changes this dynamic a lot. See, that’s why when the rainbow was given as a token, it’s so when it rains again, you’re like, oh, we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t have another boat ready. Oh, it’s going to be normal after this. And suddenly, if you start thinking about just going with the scientists for a minute here, the age of everybody gets a lot smaller too, doesn’t it?

60. 28:48

    Oh, you mean the cloud cover is coming and going and not a constant protection of the radiation from the sun? That couldn’t have anything to do with it. I’m sure it’s coincidence, but the point here is that now we’re being told water is going to come from the sky. And when it does, you’ve got to be ready.

61. 29:04

    And in fact, if you want to reinforce that Hebrews 11 verse 7, which we’ve already looked at half a dozen times, don’t worry, we’ll do it 5 or 6 more. It says he’s warned of God, of something not seen as yet. He is about to be told this is new, Get ready. So to put this in perspective, I want you and I to just a moment think of what would happen if an Angel came and talked to you tonight.

62. 29:32

    I’m not suggesting this, Will. I just want you to imagine and play along and said, OK, you guys are hanging out in Pennsylvania. There’s a giant volcano you’re not aware of. It’s about a mile outside of Shippensburg. What we’d like you to do is build a giant bomb shelter, concrete and steel. We’ll give you a couple weeks to do it because there’s more than 8 of you and you need to tell everyone why you’re building it so that you can be preserved because when the lava flows, it’s going to kill everything that’s not in your bomb shelter.

63. 30:06

    I’ll give you the directions. I’m not going to set you up for failure. And then, by the way, just explain to everybody why you’re doing this. Would you not look and feel crazy?

64. 30:17

    You, if you wouldn’t, then you’re much better than me. I’d feel like a nut. And you would look like 1. By the way, even if you didn’t feel it, you’d look nuts. Hey, the volcano in Pennsylvania is going to erupt. Oh, yeah. We’re all nervous now, aren’t we? We need we need to go.

65. 30:30

    Let’s move the Bible school. No, we’re not worried. We’re not afraid. But that would be new. And if you were told something that was new and you had exclusive information and everybody else didn’t know, they would just think you were crazy. And now you can understand how no one misses Noah would have felt when they said, well, we need a couple extra shipbuilders.

66. 30:47

    We can’t can’t get anybody else on this planet to help us. Let’s make a few, behold, I even I do bring a flood of waters to destroy all flesh, wherein there is the breath of life from under the heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die. So the special note at the end of this verse, everything that is in the earth shall die, is letting us know the fish are excluded from this. And that’s where we have to be careful. Let the Bible tell us what it’s saying. Let’s not try to pin God into a corner so small that we can explain it.

67. 31:17

    So he’s given us the detail. The focus is not the animals. So the fish, they’re going to be fine. Their little apartments going to turn into a mansion, Lots more water to work with. So it’s an interesting thought that the only time this word in the Hebrew translated flood is used outside of Genesis 6 through 11 is actually Psalm 29, verse 10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood.

68. 31:43

    Yeah, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto His people, and the Lord will bless His people with peace. So the blessing of peace comes to those that choose God’s way. It’s a grand and direct contrast to the way of the flesh and the turmoil and destruction that comes when we choose our own way.

69. 32:02

    With Thee I will establish my covenant. Thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. So the first time the word covenant is used is right here. Remember Numbers 14 and 21. God’s purpose is to fill the earth with His glory. This is the reset button He is hitting right now, but his goal did not change. He is still going to fill the earth of His glory, and he’s invited this small ecclesia to be a part of the rebuild effort. There’ll be more numerology in the next class, maybe so much that you won’t want to hear it by the end of the next class. But we’re going to hold the number 7, which by the way, next the next class, Genesis Chapter 7 is called Sevens, so brace yourself.

70. 32:39

    Just like Christ, Noah had to save himself in order to save others. Jesus had to lay down his life to give you and I hope if he had decided at Gethsemane, I’m out, that’s not for me. He could not be the offering for our sin. So he had to save himself before he could save others. There’s a representative example for this. How many of you came in on an airplane to get to the school? So there’s a few of us.

71. 33:05

    You remember the announcement that says, you know, if you’re travelling with children and the masks fall down, put the mask on yourself before you put it on your child. And if you’re traveling with two children, pick the one you like the most. You remember that one? OK, so the point is, if our natural inclination is no air, I need to get air to my kid. But if you have no air, you can’t help your kid get your air.

72. 33:30

    Help your kid get their air. That’s a better plan than they get air. And then they watch you suffocate. So it makes sense. So the concept, save yourself before you save others. That’s not selfish. That’s the same concept of ecclesial life. If all I’m trying to do is fix you and take no regard for fixing me, I’m not helping you.

73. 33:51

    I’m not helping anyone. But if I can focus on fixing my life and then help hopefully be an example in your life, now we’re working together and that’s the ecclesial family. So a focus has to 1st put in order the things of God in my life and then export it for all of us.

74. 34:07

    To save our family in The Dark World is to personally dedicate our lives to the service of and surrender to our Almighty Father in such a way that I. Even our closest contacts see us as a blessing and we think of. This word murmuring. Murmuring is something that’s very easy for human beings to do. We’re all designed with it.

75. 34:28

    In fact, in the wilderness, ecclesia in the wilderness, there are two words used interchangeably to describe murmuring. In fact, it’s all translated murmuring. But there are two different words. One of them, well, that means murmuring or complaining. That’s easy. The other one, up all night. So the ecclesia was up all night complaining about who? God and his provisions, the ecclesial leadership, the lack of provisions let.

76. 34:58

    Me. Think about this for a second. It’s not really going the way it used to be, better my way. We used to have a better option. And I’m sure none of that has ever happened at your dinner table, has it? If we ever had a conversation around the dinner table and we start talking about what brother or sister so and so said or did or you know what the the person in the ecclesia who said something that hurt your feelings or did something, you can’t believe it. Now if you’re going to have these. Conversations at home in front of your children. Is it a surprise?

77. 35:26

    Our children grow up and go, I don’t know that I really want to be a part of that mess. They don’t even like each other. That’s the lesson of the ecclesia in the wilderness. So here, who knows the mistakes that Noah and misses Noah made with their other possible children, but not with these.

78. 35:43

    They had an opportunity to focus on getting it right. It’s kind of somber when you think. Of it that way, doesn’t it? Of every. Living thing of all. Flesh 2 of every sort thou shalt bring into the ark, and keep them alive with thee they shall be male and female. And I love this picture because you got more than two sheep at the bottom.

79. 36:03

    Verse 20 of fowls after their kind, cattle after their kind, creeping thing after their kind. Every source will come and keep them alive. This is an important detail. Noah is to receive, not collect. See, it’s not up to you or I to decide who deserves to be called out of the waters. Our God does the calling. But we have to be ready and prepared to receive them through the one light and God’s door.

80. 36:32

    That’s the message God isn’t sending Noah to go out. Hey, I’ve got a checklist of species you need to find. Some of these you probably never even see. Don’t worry about that. You get it ready. I’ll do the harvest. I will glean from the population. Of course, we can’t help but see the calling of the Gentiles out of the sea of darkness to be drawn to the saving wood in the covering of God.

81. 36:55

    Notice there’s. No mention of sea life. We have the cattle creeping things, but there’s no aquarium on the ark. It’s unnecessary. God’s got that covered. This is actually another reference to John. John 6 verse 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him and I will raise him up in the last day.

82. 37:16

    Direct reference to the work of the of Noah in the flood. You mean lift him up off the earth? Sounds kind of like what happens in the next chapter when they’re elevated by water and preserved to convert the world to righteousness. I’m sure that’s all coincidental. Verse 21. And take thou unto thee all the. Food that is eaten, thou shalt gather it to thee. It shall be food for thee and for them. So now he’s told to go prepare, not just for your meal for the next, you know, year or so.

83. 37:44

    We got some animals we’re going to have to take care of. God brings the animals. Noah gets the food. Is that not a nice picture of Jesus feeding the nations brought to him by God? The two miracles of the feeding 4005 thousand. Oh, it’s amazing how all these things come together, the early parts of Genesis impacting so much of the work of our Lord. Now here’s some food for thought, pun intended. Either all of the animals are going to be vegetarian temporarily, like an identic state, because I’m having trouble picturing, you know, the lion and the lamb hanging out together.

84. 38:17

    Not at least that. Unless of course, God is in control and has made them all happy vegetarians, which that phrase sounds strange to me. Or all the carnivores are just going to hibernate for a while, which is also possible. And here’s the point. We’re not told how God did it, We’re just told that He did. Now, I gave you two options that would work. Could there be more?

85. 38:40

    There probably is. There’s probably one I’ve never even thought of. God’s a Dennis. Don’t worry about this, I got it. See, without God in control, this is impossible. But with God in control, nothing’s impossible. The critical point was the object lesson that when we turn over our life to God and trust His wisdom, we stopped leaning on our own thinking. Like so many other things in life, we need to focus on what the Bible says and not try to fill in the space with what it does not.

86. 39:08

    So since you guys like controversial things, here’s a good one. It is perfectly fine to have an opinion. Just don’t be. Just don’t be so bold as to think your opinion is the only one reasonable that fits with a thus say at the Lord. If you have a thus say at the Lord, use it.

87. 39:22

    Your opinion doesn’t matter, neither does mine. God’s opinion wins. But if we’re not told, rationalizing your mind to make sense, fair enough. But don’t make it God’s word when it’s not. And this is a great example of that, that we’ll talk a little bit more in Chapter 7. But whether the flood was worldwide or whether the flood was regional, here’s the great part. It doesn’t matter if all.

88. 39:48

    The humans on the planet died. God is right. So could he have flooded the entire planet, which science says is impossible? Sure, God can trump science. Could he have chosen just to flood the Middle East, where all the humans were? And maybe that explains why there’s diversity as a species around the planet.

89. 40:05

    Could have done that too. There’s a lot of things God could have done. The animals weren’t the problem. So we don’t have to argue with the science that suggests one, because you can make an argument for both scientifically, by the way, now, neither one of them is great, but they both exist. But as long as I don’t put God in a corner, I can understand.

90. 40:20

    I can say, hey, all the humans died. God wins, and now it doesn’t matter because in the Kingdom age, there’s probably an answer to that. I have no doubt that God’s going to say, hey, Dennis, here’s what I did. Oh, that’s kind of cool. But I never said God couldn’t do this or God couldn’t do that.

91. 40:32

    God could do anything, so let’s not pin him in a corner so small we can understand it. We’ll get a very profound example of that tomorrow. And so here’s our title verse thus didn’t know according to all, not most, not some, not a few of the good things that he found all that God commanded him. So he did.

92. 40:49

    And so that’s the closing statement from warning to preparation. God gives him a warning, He gives him instructions and they follow all that God had commanded. And therein lies the instruction to us. We have a Thus saith the Lord. Debate is over. That’s what we do without a Thus saith the Lord. We work together to do what we think is decent in an order. Now we mentioned earlier in this class we would close with some genealogy because I saw everybody get excited when I said Genesis chapter 5.

93. 41:16

    So we’re going to conclude our thoughts this morning in Matthew Chapter 1. Matthew, Chapter 1. The first verse says the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. This is the opening verse of the New Testament. So there’s some details that I think are highly relevant.

94. 41:36

    Remember, we keep talking about the influence of the early parts of Genesis. Let’s make sure we see them here. This phrase, the generations, appears 14 times in the Bible. Another. One of our sevens for our class. Tomorrow. But only twice in the Bible do we have a book of the generations. Only two of them are noted as a book. The.

95. 42:03

    Book of the Generations. Of Jesus Christ in Genesis chapter 5, the book of the generation of Adam, the book of death, the book of life. We already quoted this, but it’s probably worth reading. First Corinthians 1522. As an Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. And that section ends with things being put in subjection to the Son, that he would be subject to the Father, that God may be all and in all, or another way to say that that we might Tabernacle with the Father through the Son for eternity.

96. 42:41

    It ties directly to the subdue and add dominion. I have dominion part. I’m getting off topic, but we’ll circle back there in a couple evenings. Now the Matthew 1 genealogy details a line of Jesus in 42 generations, which is 14 * 3 if you’re keeping score. Now can we all? Agree that. Every time a baby is born, a woman’s involved.

97. 43:07

    Anyone arguing my premise? OK, so we’re at least. Some of you are arguing. I’m a little nervous, but no. OK. All right. So if we got 42 babies born, that means at least 42 women here are now involved. And we mentioned in genealogies that the name of the woman is embedded in the name of the husband calling their name Adam. So why then are 5.

98. 43:33

    The number of Grace women called out by name in Matthew 1? Why that makes their name redundant? If their name is embedded in the name of their husband, why then we have five of them mentioned twice, called out by name the number of grace. Now the. Clue to the Bible student. Is anytime you have a seemingly insignificant detail, that is your clue that there’s something significant there. Get out your shovel.

99. 44:02

    There’s something cool to find. And so we find a seemingly insignificant detail and we say, hmm, well, let’s look at. Those 5 because see if. I was writing a genealogy of Jesus. I might throw people like Sarah. Model marriage, maybe Eve. That’s where it all started, Leah, one of my personal favorites. There’s a number we could go and hey, that’s a great 1, Dennis, good job. But that’s not who God picks under inspiration. We have 5 women, all of which come from an obscure background. Let’s look at them.

100. 44:36

     Matthew chapter one, verse 3. Judas begat Phares and Zerah of Tamar. So Tamar, she played the harlot, but she became a mother in Israel and she was declared righteous in the process. Then we get to verse 5. Solomon begat Boaz of Rahab and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. So Rahab, Oh, you mean the harlot of Jericho?

101. 45:00

     How you like that? Every time we say Rahab, we almost give it her last name, Rahab, the harlot of Jericho. Rahab was the harlot of Jericho, but she became why a mother in Israel and she raised a pillar in the truth for one of two pillars in the temple are named after her son Boaz.

102. 45:19

     Then we have Ruth she who left that was born after the flesh because that’s what Moab means, born after the flesh to be united with the House of bread and praise, delivering probably the most beautiful recorded confession of faith in Scripture. She then becomes united to a pillar in the temple and why she becomes a mother in Israel.

103. 45:42

     Do you see a trend here? You get to. Verse 6. David. The king begat Solomon of he of her that had been the wife of Uriah Bathsheba by name, which we won’t divert the class into. Why is Uriah mentioned here? I think there’s a really cool answer to that, but I digress. Focus on Bathsheba who was taken in adultery but became the mother of a king.

104. 46:06

     She raised the wisest man that ever lived, save our Lord Jesus Christ. And in her husband David and her son Solomon, we have wonderful types of Jesus Christ, the beloved and peaceable. Oh, and how about the last one? Joseph brought up the story last night. Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, which is called Christ. And you and I read that.

105. 46:32

     And we easily accept the virgin birth. We don’t challenge it. We’re not questioning it. We accept it. It’s part of what we understand. But if you pause for just a moment and behind this wall, you’ve got about 10:00-ish women, 1416 range. And imagine if one of them came over, interrupted this class and said, mom, dad, I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m pregnant. God did it.

106. 46:57

     And. We’re all. Oh, that’s probably. Exactly what happened, We can say no. We would think she’s an apparent fornicator, which is exactly what everyone else would have thought when Mary was somewhere between 12 and 16 is now with child she’s engaged to. Oh, that even makes it more heinous. But yet she. Was handpicked by God as an early teenager to raise his Son to perfection. The clear.

107. 47:29

     Message in this genealogy. It is not where you have come from. It is not who you are, It is not what you have done, it’s not your background, your genealogy, your heritage, none of that actually matters. It is where you are going that matters. Each one of these has an obscure background, but they were all united in glory leading to our Lord.

108. 47:55

     So let us look to the great architect of our faith and be like those before us. To turn to our God is our only hope and God. And we’ll close with our last quote. Psalm 110. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. All ye lands, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing.

109. 48:18

     Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good, His mercy is.

110. 48:37

     Everlasting. And His truth endureth to all generations.