The Baptism of Noah and His Family (Genesis 7:1-8:19)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.109 --> 00:00:20.269 Genesis seven and I'm going to be reading through Chapter Eight, Verse Nineteen, 2 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:27.420 so this is a quite a bit more than usual. Let us pray and 3 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:31.179 ask that God would help us to have attentive hearts that would be filled by 4 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:38.049 His grace. Please give your attention. This is God's word. Then Jehovah 5 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:41.969 said to Noah, go into the Ark, you and all your household, 6 00:00:42.409 --> 00:00:46.729 for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take 7 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:50.719 with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, 8 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:54.320 and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his 9 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:58.479 mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens, also male and 10 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:02.280 female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth, 11 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:06.670 for in seven days I will send rain on the earth, forty days and 12 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:11.629 forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out 13 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:17.310 from the face of the ground. And Noah did all that Jehovah had commanded 14 00:01:17.390 --> 00:01:22.340 him. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came upon the 15 00:01:22.379 --> 00:01:26.579 earth, and Noah and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with 16 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:32.379 him, went into the Ark to escape the waters of the flood of clean 17 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:36.370 animals and of animals that are not clean, and of birds and of everything 18 00:01:36.409 --> 00:01:40.170 that creeps on the ground. Two and two, male and female, went 19 00:01:40.370 --> 00:01:45.450 into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven 20 00:01:45.489 --> 00:01:51.120 days the waters of the flood came upon the Earth. And the six hundredth 21 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:55.640 year of Noah's life and the second month, on the seventeen day of the 22 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:59.959 month, on that day, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth 23 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.670 and the windows of the heavens were opened and rain fell upon the earth. 24 00:02:04.829 --> 00:02:08.949 Forty days and forty nights, on the very same day, Noah and his 25 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:15.340 sons, Shem and ham and JFF, and Noah's wife and the three wives 26 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:21.020 of his sons with them, entered the Ark. They and every beast according 27 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:23.860 to its kind, and all the live stock according to their kinds, and 28 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:28.939 every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every 29 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:32.810 bird according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark 30 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:37.849 with Noah. Two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath 31 00:02:37.889 --> 00:02:42.250 of life, and those that entered, male and female of all flesh, 32 00:02:42.729 --> 00:02:46.759 went in as God had commanded him, and the and Jehovah shut him in. 33 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:53.560 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore 34 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:59.310 up the Ark and it rose eye above the earth. The waters prevailed and 35 00:02:59.469 --> 00:03:02.830 increased greatly on the earth and the ARC floated on the face of the waters. 36 00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:07.349 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains 37 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:13.259 under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering 38 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:17.259 them fifteen cubits deep, and all flesh died that moved on the earth, 39 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:23.419 birds, live stock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth 40 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:30.050 and all mankind, everything on the dry land and whose nostrils was the breath 41 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:34.409 of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face 42 00:03:34.449 --> 00:03:38.330 of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. 43 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:44.280 They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those 44 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.000 who were with him in the Ark. And the waters prevailed on the Earth 45 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:54.479 one hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and 46 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:59.349 all the live stock that were with him in the Ark, and God made 47 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:03.949 a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided, the fountains of the 48 00:04:04.069 --> 00:04:09.189 deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens 49 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:14.180 was restrained and the waters receded from the Earth continually. At the end of 50 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:17.300 a hundred and fifty days, the waters had abated and in the seventh month, 51 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:21.180 on the seventeen day of the month, the Ark came to rest on 52 00:04:21.339 --> 00:04:28.050 the mountains of error at and the waters continued to abate until the tenth month. 53 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:30.050 In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the 54 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:34.769 tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of forty days, Noah 55 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:39.600 opened the are the window of the Ark that he had made, and sent 56 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:44.040 forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up 57 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.040 from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if 58 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:51.279 the waters had so side subsided from the face of the ground. But the 59 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:56.550 dove found no place to set her foot and she returned to him in the 60 00:04:56.629 --> 00:04:59.829 Ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. 61 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:03.389 So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the Ark 62 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:09.019 with him. He waited another seven days and again he sent forth the dove 63 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:12.420 out of the Ark and the dove came back to him in the evening and 64 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:17.060 behold in her mouth was a freshly plucked alive leaf. So Noah knew that 65 00:05:17.339 --> 00:05:23.089 the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and 66 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:28.089 sent forth the dove and she did not return to him any more. In 67 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:31.529 the sixth in the six hundred and first year, in the first month and 68 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:35.839 the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth 69 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:41.160 and Noah removed the covering of the Ark and looked and behold, the face 70 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:45.240 of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty seventh 71 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.240 day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to 72 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:53.870 Noah, go out from the Ark, you and your wife and your son's 73 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:57.949 and your son's wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that 74 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:01.110 is with you of all flesh, birds and animals and every creeping thing that 75 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:05.139 creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful 76 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:11.019 and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out and his son's and his 77 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:15.540 wife and his son's wife's with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, 78 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:20.449 every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from 79 00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:34.800 the Ark Ay. God bless his word to us. The first thing that 80 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:40.879 I want to say about this passage is we need to be careful how we 81 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:46.079 read it, and that is, if we read it like we're merely looking 82 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:51.269 for a list of events, a series of facts to describe exactly what happened, 83 00:06:51.670 --> 00:06:56.550 you're going to find yourself asking a lot of questions like why does he 84 00:06:56.629 --> 00:07:00.860 keep saying winged creature or creeping thing over and over again? Or why all 85 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:06.060 of these dates or or why does he keep why does? Why does he? 86 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:11.459 Why do we keep hearing about Noah and his wife and his sons and 87 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:16.649 their wives? It's said several times over from why the repetition? Well, 88 00:07:16.649 --> 00:07:19.410 if we if we ask that kind of question, if that's all we're looking 89 00:07:19.449 --> 00:07:24.089 for from the SCRI picture, is just a list of events, then we're 90 00:07:24.129 --> 00:07:28.889 going to find ourselves a little bothered by repetition and by details and by the 91 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:32.720 pictures that are created. But if we hear the word as God gives it 92 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:39.399 to us, is this amazing story of God's judgment and salvation, then these 93 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:45.470 details end have the have the effect of heightening the story, of making it 94 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.990 have gives us this impression of Noah, for example, as a hero. 95 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:53.670 These dates do that kind of thing. On such and such a date, 96 00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:57.350 on such a such a time, this person did this thing. That kind 97 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:01.579 of specificity about dates is something that's typically given to kings and Queens, and 98 00:08:01.779 --> 00:08:07.660 here Noah is is hit. The story of Noah and the ARC is told 99 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:13.370 with this kind of frame. And so what we have here is the story, 100 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.129 as I say, this account of Noah enduring and passing through the floodwaters 101 00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:24.529 of Judgment Unto Salvation. But it's not just a story about Noah, or 102 00:08:24.569 --> 00:08:28.519 even ultimately a story about Noah. As with all of scripture, it's about 103 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.679 God first and foremost. Throughout this entire account of the flood we see God's 104 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:39.440 great sovereignty. Noah doesn't make an arc because he sees the clouds forming. 105 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:45.669 He makes an arc because God tells him judgment is going to come. Likewise, 106 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:48.789 Noah doesn't leave the ARC because the drought ground has dried and he figure 107 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:52.350 as well it must be over now. He leaves the Arc because God has 108 00:08:52.470 --> 00:08:58.419 instructed him to leave the ARC. I'm you see God's sovereignty in the way 109 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.899 that I'm in the beginning of this and the way that he judges the earth 110 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:07.779 for these things, the way that he opens up the heavens themselves and the 111 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:13.769 waters fall down. The waters from the deep are brought forth by him his 112 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.129 this is not an accident, a natural disaster. It is a divine disaster. 113 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:26.320 Saw Gone God's sovereignty over at all is seen throughout. It's no accident. 114 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.559 It didn't just happened that Noah survived this. Yes, he had a 115 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:33.679 boat, but it was a got, a boat of God's own instruction. 116 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.159 God described the boat at told he told him how to make it. And 117 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:41.470 just because you have a boat on the water doesn't mean you're going to be 118 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:43.909 okay either. There's a lot of you who won't ride in boats for that 119 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:50.830 very reason. Noah, Noah survived this flood because God preserved him, not 120 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:54.340 only by instructing him to build an arc, not only in giving him the 121 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:58.820 instructions for the arc, telling him specifically when to enter it when to leave 122 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:05.259 it, but enduring him and his family throughout. Have you ever been on 123 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:11.730 the waves in a storm? Have you ever seen the ocean when it's rocking 124 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:18.490 and rolling and moving and twisting and churning? Can you imagine what it would 125 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:24.360 be like to be riding on the waves, above the mountains, above all 126 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:30.960 the world and not only having the waters bursting up from the bottom but crashing 127 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:37.389 down from the top. Everywhere you see is water, and even after it 128 00:10:37.509 --> 00:10:43.190 stops raining and the sky appears again, water, water, water. There's 129 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:46.230 no waiting, there's no going far enough and hoping to hit dry land. 130 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:52.740 There is no dry land. God is preserving Noah through all of this. 131 00:10:56.139 --> 00:11:03.179 Now I want to make an extreme pivot and ask you a question. What 132 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:13.889 is baptism? What is baptism? Think about baptism today because of two things. 133 00:11:15.529 --> 00:11:20.200 One, I'm connor and Kelsey Batty are being baptized and many of you 134 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:26.639 you are have likewise been baptized. But we also think about baptism because the 135 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:33.230 scripture explicitly points us to the flood to teach us about baptism. The Apostle 136 00:11:33.309 --> 00:11:35.789 Peter does this in first Peter Chapter Three. Will come to that in a 137 00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:43.830 minute. And what we'll see is that all of these descriptions, this great 138 00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:50.820 account that the Holy Spirit gives us of God persevering Noah in the judgment. 139 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:56.259 One of the things it does it points us to our own baptisms. It 140 00:11:56.259 --> 00:12:03.250 teaches us about our baptisms. It instructs US and helps us to understand them 141 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:09.049 in a way that should strengthen our faith and will, by God's grace, 142 00:12:09.649 --> 00:12:15.129 do exactly that. So let's think a little bit about baptism and think about 143 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:20.080 how exactly it connects to this account of Noah and the flood. Now, 144 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.200 if you never heard about baptism before, you saw it for the first time. 145 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:28.480 Maybe you'll see it for the first time today. My guess is that 146 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.549 you would assume three things. One, you would assume that it's religious. 147 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:37.990 It's happening in a church service and there's a minister and those kinds of things. 148 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:46.940 You would probably assume that it's symbolic, given the the liturgy that's going 149 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:52.019 on around and given the water I'm you would probably assume that it has something 150 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:56.179 to do with cleansing. With all these things, you would be right, 151 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:01.409 but you'd also be fairly limited in what you could say about baptism. You 152 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:05.090 wouldn't be able to say a whole lot about what it exactly means. What 153 00:13:05.450 --> 00:13:09.570 is symbolized there. With the idea of cleansing, you're sort of taking a 154 00:13:09.090 --> 00:13:13.120 guess, a stab at what it might mean but no real certainty there. 155 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:22.240 Water can illustrate and symbolize all kinds of things. So in order to understand 156 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:26.789 the symbolic value of baptism, you have to learn not just from the things 157 00:13:26.950 --> 00:13:31.309 that go on in it itself, but you have to learn from somewhere else 158 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:35.429 what is meant. You need some kind of explanation, and that's true of 159 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:39.350 any symbol, isn't it? They're explained, they're filled out somewhere else. 160 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:46.419 Well, that happens in God's word. Sometimes you'll hear me say about the 161 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:52.860 Lord's supper or about baptism that they are signs and seals of the Covenant of 162 00:13:52.899 --> 00:13:58.529 Grace. What does that mean? It means that they are pointing to something 163 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:01.289 else, they're attached to something else. If you imagine, for example, 164 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:07.850 a seal on a document, that seal. If you see a seal on 165 00:14:07.850 --> 00:14:13.480 a document, you understand exactly what it means. But apart from the document, 166 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.200 it doesn't really communicate very much. If you see a piece of wax, 167 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.720 for example, just laying on the ground, it's just a piece of 168 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:24.230 wax, right. Even if somebody said that's a seal, that's a sign, 169 00:14:24.389 --> 00:14:28.269 you would say of what I can see that. I can see that 170 00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:33.389 it was a seal on something, but it has to be attached. This, 171 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:37.350 by the way, is why it's okay for the word of God to 172 00:14:37.429 --> 00:14:43.379 be preached by itself without being a connected with a seal, the seal and 173 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:46.779 sign signs and seals of the sacrament, but it's not okay to administer the 174 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:52.299 sacraments without the preaching of the word of God, because otherwise they just be 175 00:14:52.419 --> 00:14:54.409 a piece of wax, so to speak, a seal lying on the ground 176 00:14:54.649 --> 00:15:01.929 that has to be connected. That seal confirms and validates it contents. It's 177 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:07.679 a way that the author of the document says these things are true. It's 178 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:13.360 an extra level of pledging and confirming and in that, when they are attached 179 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:18.960 in that way, they can stand in for the document themselves. This is 180 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:24.429 why a Peter Says Baptism saves you. I'm not because baptism removes dirt from 181 00:15:24.429 --> 00:15:30.669 your body, and not even because baptism in itself is automatic somehow, but 182 00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:35.580 in there he's using language that it's standing in for that thing. Another example 183 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:41.539 would be the way psalm twenty three says the Lord sets a table for us. 184 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:46.179 Well, we automatically assume that means a feast, right, food and 185 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:50.570 maybe silverware and things like that. It's the table that thing stands in for 186 00:15:50.929 --> 00:15:56.809 the whole that's what Peter says in First Peter Three. He says baptism saves 187 00:15:56.809 --> 00:16:00.889 you in the sense that it's standing in as that sign and as that seal 188 00:16:00.529 --> 00:16:06.480 for our salvation that comes to US through Christ. But if you detach it, 189 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:12.799 then it doesn't do anything, it doesn't mean anything. So what is 190 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:18.110 baptism? What does it sign and signify? What does it seal? What 191 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:23.029 does the Bible say? Well, the Bible has a lot to say about 192 00:16:23.029 --> 00:16:30.110 baptism. A thorough study of it would include lots of different things. Adams 193 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:34.580 being created in the garden, levitical Washings, the crossing of the Red Sea, 194 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.740 a prophetic announcements about the coming of the spirit, Jesus's own baptism. 195 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:47.210 You would also have to include his crucifixion and Resurrection, Pentecost and the examples 196 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:52.529 of baptism that we see in the New Testament. But one of the things 197 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:55.250 in this great list of things that you would have to include in the thing 198 00:16:55.289 --> 00:17:02.000 we're going to focus on today is the flood. You have to include in 199 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.960 the flood because of First Peter, three, twenty through twenty one. There 200 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.799 we read that in the days of Noah, eight persons were brought safely through 201 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.670 the water, these eight persons being noah his sons. Is what the son's 202 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:22.630 wives and Noah's wife. In the days of Noah, eight persons were brought 203 00:17:22.670 --> 00:17:29.309 safely through the water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you 204 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:33.619 not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to 205 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:41.500 God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus. Chris Fist Peter points 206 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:47.609 us to the flood and he says here this flood was purposed by the Holy 207 00:17:47.650 --> 00:17:52.529 Spirit of God to teach us something about our baptisms. And what we'll see 208 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:59.519 when we look at the flood is that baptism symbolizes God's judgment and his salvation. 209 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:07.640 Baptism pictures God's judgment and his salvation, and baptism is a promise of 210 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:11.910 God's such judgment and his salvation. It's a picture and a promise, a 211 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:18.029 sign and a seal. The symbol, this seal, this sign, will 212 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:22.589 affect you in different ways, depending on who you are and how you stand 213 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:27.819 in relationship to that Covenant Document, to the Bible and God's message of salvation. 214 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:33.059 there. To the one who believes in Christ, baptism is a picture 215 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:37.660 and promise that you will pass through the waters of judgment and enter into the 216 00:18:37.700 --> 00:18:42.130 newness of life. But to the one who has refused rescue, who has 217 00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:45.970 refused to listen, as the people did in the days of Noah, it 218 00:18:47.170 --> 00:18:55.130 is a picture of salvation lost and of Judgment Guaranteed. So let's think about 219 00:18:55.130 --> 00:19:00.519 this a little more deeply now, about this corresponding line that the spirit draws 220 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.599 for us between baptism and its connection to the death and resurrection of Christ and 221 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:11.630 to the salvation of Noah and his family through the flood of judgment. What 222 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:18.150 can we learn by looking at the flood, judgment and salvation? First, 223 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:25.259 judgment. Baptism corresponds to the flood as a symbol of Judgment. Perhaps you 224 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:27.940 haven't thought about baptism very often in that way, but it's true. That's 225 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:33.339 what the flood is about, isn't it? It's about God's judging sin, 226 00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:37.339 about God looking out on the world, as we considered last time, in 227 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:44.170 seeing it as corrupt, corrupt, corrupt, as filled with violence, Adam's 228 00:19:44.210 --> 00:19:49.009 sin in the garden spread, infecting all of the world and inherit an inheritance 229 00:19:49.089 --> 00:19:55.079 sin which is brought the world not to the glorious state that it was supposed 230 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:03.680 to be, but to corruption everywhere. The flood was not just a big 231 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:08.190 reign, it was God's judgment. As I said earlier, Noah and his 232 00:20:08.269 --> 00:20:15.109 family didn't survive a natural disaster. They survived a divine disaster. They didn't 233 00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:21.269 survive just a flood, but a judgment for sin. Baptism corresponds to this. 234 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:26.779 No and his family were brought safely through the waters because of Noah's righteousness. 235 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:32.460 He was different from the rest of commandkind and his family benefited from that. 236 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:37.089 He was godly where the other there's were not. He was righteous in 237 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:41.289 his generation. Compared with all the others, this one, this noah, 238 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:45.690 was different. Now we know, of course, that this is because of 239 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:51.960 God's grace. Like all righteousness after the fall, Noah's righteousness was given to 240 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:56.680 him by faith, through the grace of God, by virtue of the promised 241 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:03.759 seed. But as such it was true righteousness. Noah's righteousness was capable of 242 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.150 justifying Noah because it was a righteousness that was from God and it made him 243 00:21:08.150 --> 00:21:12.630 worthy of salvation. And, as it was the righteousness of God, it 244 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:17.950 was the kind of righteousness that produced more righteousness. That's what God does. 245 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:23.539 He makes things godly and they produce more godliness. This account of Noah's great 246 00:21:23.579 --> 00:21:29.220 faith and trust in the promises of God is a is a and as an 247 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:37.569 account of his trusting particularly in God's promise of judgment and salvation. So we 248 00:21:37.690 --> 00:21:42.170 see as in the flood waters of Judgment and God safely bringing through him baptism 249 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:48.440 corresponding to this, we know not only in its connection. We know that 250 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:53.200 baptism teaches us about God's judgment of sin, not only from the story of 251 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:59.400 Noah, but also from other connections, like the pictures of its cleansing sin 252 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:04.789 or its connection to circumcision and the Old Testament. Circumcision, like baptism, 253 00:22:06.430 --> 00:22:11.789 pointed to salvation through judgment. It told the people of God that the flesh 254 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:15.539 had to be cut away if they were to be holy. It was performed 255 00:22:15.619 --> 00:22:21.900 also on males, as a constant reminder that this salvation through judgment would come 256 00:22:22.140 --> 00:22:30.529 through the promised seed. Paul connects the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision. This 257 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:36.809 sacrament that taught about judgment or salvation through judgment. He connects it with baptism 258 00:22:36.930 --> 00:22:41.609 and Colossians to eleven through twelve, where he says that, having been buried 259 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:48.480 in Baptism with Christ, we were circumcised in him. He says this in 260 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:55.079 him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting 261 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:59.670 off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been 262 00:22:59.789 --> 00:23:03.390 buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through 263 00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:08.390 faith in the powerful working of God. What I'm trying to say is I 264 00:23:08.470 --> 00:23:11.980 do when I'm trying to give as yet another proof. Not only do we 265 00:23:12.099 --> 00:23:18.819 have God's judgment of the world in Noah to show us that baptism is corresponds 266 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:25.740 and symbolizes judgment for sin, but we also have circumcision. Paul connects baptism 267 00:23:25.819 --> 00:23:30.650 and circumcision, another sign that also symbolize the cutting off, the putting off 268 00:23:30.009 --> 00:23:37.369 and even the death of Jesus Christ himself, a death that happened in judgment 269 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:44.279 for sins. And so the point is this. Our so our baptisms are 270 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:51.319 not just a picture of salvation, but salvation from something, through something namely 271 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.390 judgment for sins. What saved Noah from his sins and you from your sins 272 00:23:56.869 --> 00:24:03.789 is the same thing, namely the promises of God to bring us judgment or 273 00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:08.069 to bring us through judgment in the safety of our Savior. This is the 274 00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:12.299 hope that we cling to, and we have to cling to, because Peter 275 00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:17.140 goes on to say in his second lay a letter that in the same way 276 00:24:17.259 --> 00:24:22.539 that the earth was once judged for sin by water, one day be judged 277 00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:30.089 for sin by fire. Judgment, Peter says, is coming just as it 278 00:24:30.210 --> 00:24:36.170 did for Noah, or rather in an even worse way than it did for 279 00:24:36.329 --> 00:24:41.000 Noah and his generation. Judgment, Peter says, is coming for our sins. 280 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:47.559 Our baptisms teach us that only in Christ will we be saved from those 281 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:52.150 sins. We must be brought through judgment, our sins must be taken care 282 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:57.869 of, and they are taken care of through Christ on the Cross. so 283 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:03.710 that's how Noah points US and teaches us about our baptisms. He teaches us 284 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:08.500 about the judgment that must come for sin, but he also teaches us of 285 00:25:08.619 --> 00:25:14.859 the salvation that comes. The fact that Jot God would judge the world for 286 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:19.299 sin I'm should be motivation enough for us to cling to Jesus. But the 287 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:25.170 God, in his never ending depths of grace, not only tells us what 288 00:25:25.369 --> 00:25:29.609 we are saved from, but what we are also saved to. He not 289 00:25:29.730 --> 00:25:33.769 only tells us what we are saved from, but also what we are saved 290 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:38.759 to. So just as our baptisms picture the judgment we escaped, like Noah 291 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:44.759 escaped this judgment, they also picture the salvation that we gain. And that's 292 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.960 why we read both halves of this story, not only God's bringing judgment on 293 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.309 the world for sin, but the salvation that comes on the other side of 294 00:25:53.390 --> 00:26:00.630 that. Again, consider the flood as you imagine, as you might imagine 295 00:26:00.710 --> 00:26:06.859 the horrors of being pulled under the wrathful waves of God. Consider also what 296 00:26:06.900 --> 00:26:11.660 it would feel like to step out of the Ark after all that, onto 297 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:17.740 the dry ground of what is essentially a new earth. When the flood is 298 00:26:17.819 --> 00:26:22.410 finished, Noah enters in many ways a new world. It's the same physical 299 00:26:22.650 --> 00:26:26.809 world, but there's a lot of things in the scriptures that points us that 300 00:26:27.049 --> 00:26:33.440 this is a new epoch. This is a new age, a new beginning 301 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.920 that is in many ways parallel to the way things first began not exactly the 302 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.359 same. Will consider this more next week, because sin is still in the 303 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:48.750 world. So God's main work here is is along the lines of preservation rather 304 00:26:48.789 --> 00:26:55.589 than consummation. But nevertheless we see that as Noah steps out of that Ark, 305 00:26:55.670 --> 00:27:00.990 he enters not the old world but a new one. Consider, for 306 00:27:00.109 --> 00:27:04.500 example, how the latter half of this story sounds a lot like genesis one 307 00:27:04.579 --> 00:27:10.220 and two. Perhaps you noticed it. I'm perhaps you. For example, 308 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:12.380 I'll give you just one, and there are many, many ways. But 309 00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:21.250 the order of events that happen there correspond and lay over exactly the seven days 310 00:27:21.289 --> 00:27:26.730 at the beginning of creation, except for the first and fourth day, because 311 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:32.000 the heavenly bodies are still there. But those aside, if you sort of 312 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.960 if you take the seven days and you drop the first and you drop the 313 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:40.359 fourth, all the others lay over exactly right. So, for example, 314 00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:45.549 and this is true even of what we might call precreation, we read, 315 00:27:45.829 --> 00:27:49.430 before all of this happens, before Noah exits the arc, that there was 316 00:27:49.470 --> 00:27:55.869 a wind going over the waters, this wind that were their Ruok. Is 317 00:27:55.950 --> 00:27:59.660 exactly the same same word that is used at the beginning of the Bible when 318 00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:04.299 it says the spirit the Ruok of God was hovering over the waters. It's 319 00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:08.220 the same word in both instances. What we have then, is the spirit 320 00:28:08.299 --> 00:28:12.609 of God, the Wind of God, being present there at the beginning of 321 00:28:12.809 --> 00:28:19.250 new creation. We read also of the sky appearing as it's separated from the 322 00:28:19.369 --> 00:28:25.210 waters on the second day. We read of the dry ground being separated from 323 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:29.079 the waters, as the tops of the mountains begin to appear, as happens 324 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:33.640 on the third day, skipping the fourth and going to the fifth, we 325 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:37.559 read of the sky being filled with the birds, as on the fifth day. 326 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:41.230 Then we read of the creatures and the livestock and the animals and the 327 00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:48.109 things that move along the ground, plus the appearance of mankind stepping out, 328 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:55.819 coming in crowning this new creation on the sixth day. And soon after that 329 00:28:55.940 --> 00:29:00.700 will come the commands to be fruitful and multiply and even an implicit command to 330 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:07.420 have dominion over the Earth. If the language there in Genesis Chapter Eight sounded 331 00:29:07.579 --> 00:29:15.009 familiar, it's because it is familiar, because God is using the same sequence 332 00:29:15.089 --> 00:29:18.529 of events, the same language that we heard in genesis one and two to 333 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:23.880 show us that something new has happened out of all of this judgment and salvation 334 00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:33.799 has come. Baptism, which corresponds to this, is the same. WHEN 335 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:41.430 WE RISE IN JESUS CHRIST, we rise from judgment to something, to resurrection. 336 00:29:42.029 --> 00:29:47.309 Listen to Romans three. Do you not know that all of us who 337 00:29:47.309 --> 00:29:52.380 have been baptized into Christ, Jesus, were baptized into his death? That's 338 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:56.940 the judgment part. We were buried, therefore, with him, by baptism 339 00:29:57.140 --> 00:30:03.180 into death, that crucifixion, in order that, just as Christ was raised 340 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:07.730 from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in 341 00:30:07.849 --> 00:30:14.369 the newness of life. You see what salvation leads to. It's not just 342 00:30:14.609 --> 00:30:19.130 to an empty state or a blank slate or a or a sort of abstractly 343 00:30:19.289 --> 00:30:25.559 new beginning, but salvation leads to the newness of life, a new order. 344 00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:30.160 Now, if this was true of the flood, consider how much greater 345 00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:34.990 this is true of who we are in Jesus Christ. The judgment was greater, 346 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:38.670 and it is an eternal judgment for all of our sins, not just 347 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:45.349 a temporary judgment on the earth. And it's a salvation that's greater. We 348 00:30:45.509 --> 00:30:48.990 don't simply walk out onto the earth that is now dried and new life is 349 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:55.740 beginning. We walk as those that belong to this Kingdom of God, citizens 350 00:30:55.819 --> 00:31:00.619 of Heaven, even the new heavens and the new earth. When we come, 351 00:31:00.140 --> 00:31:06.210 we rest not on the old mountains but on Mount Zion, the new 352 00:31:06.289 --> 00:31:11.170 Jerusalem. We enter into a newness of life that is characterized throughout the scriptures 353 00:31:11.210 --> 00:31:19.680 as eternal life, blessed life, complete life, full life. So let 354 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:26.119 me speak directly to you now. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is 355 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:33.589 therefore the pivotal moment on which the whole world turns, a thousand times more 356 00:31:33.710 --> 00:31:37.829 than the flood with Noah. It speaks of judgment and salvation, complete and 357 00:31:38.029 --> 00:31:45.789 final judgment, complete and final endeaverlasting salvation. This first judgment and first salvation 358 00:31:47.029 --> 00:31:52.019 point to the greater such judgment and salvation that comes in Christ. And so 359 00:31:52.259 --> 00:31:56.180 you stand in the same position as the people did in the days of Noah. 360 00:31:57.099 --> 00:32:01.329 Will you ignore this as they did, or will you believe? Will 361 00:32:01.369 --> 00:32:07.170 you hear the promises of God that salvation comes through him, or will you 362 00:32:07.569 --> 00:32:14.730 be swept away in the waters and fires of God's judgment? You must believe. 363 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:20.640 There is no other way. There was no alternate, third path for 364 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:24.359 the people, and as day, there is no getting around it or finding 365 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:30.190 your own way or building your own boat. Salvation only came through this chosen 366 00:32:30.309 --> 00:32:36.109 one of God. You had to be on the boat. And the same 367 00:32:36.349 --> 00:32:38.430 is true, and even more so, we might say, to an even 368 00:32:38.470 --> 00:32:44.339 greater degree, in Jesus Christ, Jesus and in him alone, do we 369 00:32:44.420 --> 00:32:52.500 have salvation from judgment. Do we have salvation through judgment? You must believe, 370 00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:54.900 you must put your faith in him, and when you do, the 371 00:32:55.099 --> 00:33:00.089 promises that we've been reading in scripture, not only to Noah but in Paul 372 00:33:00.490 --> 00:33:07.009 and in Peter, the promises are true that when we are those who believe 373 00:33:07.170 --> 00:33:10.930 and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are those who die in Him, 374 00:33:12.329 --> 00:33:16.920 going through judgment and will be resurrected, and even are, in a 375 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:24.000 sense, already resurrected, to walk in the newness of life. Today you 376 00:33:24.039 --> 00:33:30.549 are going to hear the professions of faith, professions of faith of those who 377 00:33:30.549 --> 00:33:34.910 do believe, of those who have heard the word of God and have not 378 00:33:35.190 --> 00:33:42.700 turned away from him but, by His grace, have turned towards salvation through 379 00:33:42.819 --> 00:33:50.859 judgment and, Unto Salvation in Christ. As we consider baptism and later on, 380 00:33:50.940 --> 00:33:53.180 the Lord's supper, you might think of them like a wedding ring. 381 00:33:54.420 --> 00:34:00.009 Baptism confirms a promise. Like a wedding ring confirms a promise. It signifies 382 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:06.329 and seals this thing that it represents, but it only does so for those 383 00:34:06.490 --> 00:34:10.519 to whom the promise belongs. I mentioned finding a seal on the ground. 384 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:15.280 Will Imagine finding a wedding ring on the ground. If you find a wedding 385 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:16.920 ring on the ground and you put it on, you don't become married. 386 00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:23.389 You don't become married simply by having this thing applied to you. You have 387 00:34:23.630 --> 00:34:28.710 to have a real connection, it has to be based on something that is 388 00:34:28.949 --> 00:34:34.349 true and real. And when this is true of the Lord's supper and of 389 00:34:34.429 --> 00:34:38.739 Baptism, how do you put on the wedding ring? How does the promise 390 00:34:38.900 --> 00:34:45.619 actually become for you? By believing, by trusting in faith, through the 391 00:34:45.699 --> 00:34:51.340 grace of God, that Jesus Christ died for you, that his offer of 392 00:34:51.420 --> 00:34:55.650 salvation is genuinely meant for you and that no matter how awful your sins are, 393 00:34:55.690 --> 00:34:59.969 no matter how corrupt you are, no matter how many regrets you have, 394 00:35:00.210 --> 00:35:07.039 that you can have salvation through the judgment of Jesus Christ. This is 395 00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:14.239 what happens in baptism, not by mere power of symbolism, but by the 396 00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:17.960 act of God and according to his will, and this is why we are 397 00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:22.230 called to look to our baptisms and, as you see the baptisms that happen 398 00:35:22.349 --> 00:35:28.030 today, perhaps if you partake of the Lord's supper with us, you think 399 00:35:28.110 --> 00:35:31.510 of them in this way and we can even improve on them, not improve 400 00:35:31.630 --> 00:35:37.500 on what God has given, but benefit more greatly from them. Again, 401 00:35:37.619 --> 00:35:40.300 thinking about a wedding ring, and I'll close with this, if God has 402 00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:45.059 given us a wedding ring, if he has given us a sacrament to strengthen 403 00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:51.329 the bond of our marriage with him by way of confirming our promises with him, 404 00:35:51.329 --> 00:35:54.929 let's not be holier than God by putting our wedding rings in the drawer 405 00:35:54.969 --> 00:36:00.050 and saying I don't need that. Instead, let's put them on, embrace 406 00:36:00.210 --> 00:36:04.960 them by faith and say thank you, Lord, thank you not only for 407 00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:09.199 giving me your promises, but giving me symbols of your promises, signs which 408 00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:15.239 point to these things, these realities, seals which confirm them in our hearts. 409 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:23.150 Kelsey and Connor, as you are baptized, you can be thankful to 410 00:36:23.230 --> 00:36:30.349 God and where your baptisms with pride and thankfulness and joy, and the same 411 00:36:30.389 --> 00:36:34.260 as to all of you who are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus 412 00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:38.980 Christ and the father and the spirit of God. Let us all give thanks 413 00:36:39.019 --> 00:36:45.099 to God, who gives us salvation through judgment. Let us pray