Fleeing the City of Destruction - Hebrews 11:7

You are in a wicked world. Keep in mind the staggering number of people who are following the standard of God who are agreeing with the gospel. By this prophet of God for relationships and marriage and morality and ethics and integrity has dwindled down to one family out of everybody one family will get on the art and the whole world. Imagine the wickedness now put yourself in the shoes of that family.

What would life be like for them to be the only voice for God in the whole earth. That was the reality for Noah and his family while building the ark.

Noah was also trying to proclaim the truth. As Stephen Davies said a moment ago the whole world was invited. This is wisdom for the heart, and, as Stephen Devi continues through his series from Hebrews 11 entitled heroes we come today to the life of know this is a lesson called fleeing the city of destruction. As we begin to give you two principles that come directly from the life and testimony. First of all know is going to demonstrate to us the principle that faith is personal profession in the midst of unbelief. So often we rush to the dramatic part of the story and often times we think that we are to do it anyway.

What slow it down a little bit and look at the setting here because that's exactly what the writer of Hebrews gives to her seven or Chapter 11 records by faith Noah, being warned by God about things not seen stuff. One of those unseen things is this coming cataclysm this coming judgment upon an incredibly wicked world you study the times of Noah and discover that demon possessed men have corrupted the godly line of Seth. I believe with the cult driven sexually obsessed violence and wickedness. The heroes of Noah's generation are going to be admired because of their strength and their power and their viciousness and their wicked domination over others, that the testimony of Noah's generation is given to us will turn her to vomit but just by way of introduction. Here's what it says.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and look at how he covers every little and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

As if to say they never had a pure thought ever just how bad is it what you look at the analogy of Scripture and what it says about the days just before that the next judgment which will be fire not water. There are these similarities, there is a preoccupation with temporary matters. Luke 17 is a rapid advancement in technology Genesis for interests are bound up only in materialism. Luke 17 there's an inordinate devotion to pleasure and entertainment. Genesis 421. There is no concern for God either belief or conduct second Peter 25 is a total disregard for the marriage covenant Genesis 419. There's a rejection of the authority of God's word.

First Peter 319 is a population explosion. Genesis 61, there's widespread violence in the value of human life plunges.

Genesis 423 evil runs rampant. The days of Noah leading up to the flight of the days leading up to that next cataclysm of fire. According to old and New Testament analogy Genesis 65 immorality vice, corruption become the norm. They become the normal patterns of human relationships. This is how life is.

These are the days of Noah. More and more like our days all the time when even the most distorted sense of human relationship is applauded. You probably notice in the newspaper.

The magazine that a new show has broken new ground they call that broken new ground to television series plot revolves around homosexual couple who in BC advertise on his website I went to see what they said about it as quote they committed, loving partnership that has everything but one thing a baby so the plot revolves around using a single mom is a surrogate mother so they can have their baby and the media world is all a flutter over this all filled with with the approval and an accolade and praise. I read one reporter saying a predicting enemies in the future by the truckload.

It's no secret that our world is is eager and ready to applaud anybody who breaks new ground in all that means it's tantamount to saying breaks ground established by our Creator God, which makes it all the more remarkable when you think about the days of Noah because right in the middle of this. This kind of evil. This kind of debauchery is this incredible testimony Moses records in the middle of Genesis chapter 6 verse nine Noah walked with God like Pilgrim and Pilgrim's progress later called Christian.

He's he's the only man willing to believe that sin is going to encounter the coming judgment of God unless you escape through the wicker gate and by way of the cross which is a picture of the ark. What you have in the middle of the darkness of this culture is one shining flickering candle.

It's a man who so to speak, as his fingers in his she faith is personal profession in the midst of on belief Noah's generation would have their list of heroes.

Noel would be one of them matter for now they're called in Genesis exposure for men that would win the enemies of his day so early on, you discovered and knowing that living faith is is is more interested in the approval of God than in the applause of mankind. You want to talk about a man walking to the beat of a different drummer. It is, is this man Noah is the man.

Second, faith is personal piety in the midst of uncertainty. Now in verse seven of Hebrews 11 you notice were given Noah's response of faith. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen the notice in reference prepared and are for the salvation of his household.

He had every reason to believe others would come to only being is by or in reference prepared for reference can be translated holy fear. This isn't a word that means that Noah was afraid of God. It means as one author noted that he had. This is a Puritans would love this word. He had sweet reverence for God. This is a word that refers to devotional all of God get a reverent heart in a wicked world 20 and I want to keep in mind that the staggering fact, the number of people who are following the standard of God who are agreeing with the gospel by this prophet of God for relationships and marriage and morality and ethics and integrity has dwindled down to one family of everybody one family, one family will get on the ark in the whole world is invited. What you start digging into the biography of Noah in the passages given to us to discover that Noah was not only given the disclosure of God's judgment. He was given the detail of God's judgment. In Genesis chapter 6 fills in the details. So let me invite you there for the remainder of our time.

Genesis chapter 6. Keep in mind that the Genesis chapter 6 represents 120 years.

Hey, that's how long we got this one chapter will take what that long to get through.

That's how long it represents the reason I've entitled this principle of faith piety in the midst of uncertainty is simply because everything that God is about the command Noah to accomplish was entirely unknown to know he's going to be asked to do things that he has absolutely no experience in doing God is going to use a farmer to build the biggest boat known to mankind.

More than likely he is never built a boat before he has certainly not built one Lord away over 18,000 tons and sit in his back pasture.

I want you to notice verse 13 then God said to know the end of all flesh is come before me. That is the summary of lifestyle. The earth is filled with violence. But hold on, I'm going to destroy them with the earth, make it for yourself an ark of gopher wood. You shall make the ark with rooms but cover it inside and out with pitch that God provides the dimensions to skip past that for a moment and look at verse 17 a hold.

I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven.

Everything that is on the earth shall perish now based on a face value understanding of God's instructions to know what your flight is going to cover the entire earth and kill everything that breathes. Which, of course, among other things, let us know the marine life will survive outside the according to these dimensions.

The ark is going to be 450 feet long 75 feet wide for stories high at the big canoe now since this is football season, you guys pull yourself away from the television to come to church tonight receiving I think that is outstanding. That's wonderful. So let me think in terms of a football game with you. Think in terms of this.

This arc will be nearly 2 ball fields long nearly 1 football field wide and it'll reach up to the nosebleed section 4 stories up the total deck would be about 96,000 ft.² and the volume total volume with directly.

Three decks built in the inside is art there would be 1.3 million cubic and Naval engineers have have studied this design and believed to be one of the most stable floating devices known to man that I keep in mind this doesn't look like the Queen Mary or Rob.

Some freighter or some titanic type but it's actually more flat bottom barge.

It was not designed to move through the water.

It was simply designed to float on top of it that gives you a good idea. This is gigantic barge with thousands of built in compartments sufficient to carry two of every species of air breathing animal in the world fact based on measurements given in the number of land species catalog today.

Half the deck space would not even have been needed.

Which means there was room in the ark. Thousands of people. People that I'm sure Noah fully expected to come on board and join him as they escape the city of destruction in the coming wrath of God one more comment on the design specs of this barge you find nowhere in Scripture reference to orders, sales and anchor a captains wheel or even a rudder God will be in charge of all of that God will do the driving, so to speak. He will be the captain of the vessel, just as he captains the vessel of our salvation today were not by our own ingenuity, steering our way in were in Christ. The ark is God's desire that were safe got to be a chargeable. There are number of objections that catalogued a few of them so would suggest that since there are more than a million insects species and what about them well. They came on board, they would have plenty of room in these compartments. Given the small spaces they would require.

However, in chapter 7 were told that the animals on board were land animals who breathe through the nasal passage. Several creationists have pointed out that insects do not breathe through nostrils, but through tiny pores or trachea in their exterior skeleton. They would've been able to survive on mats of vegetation, trees, debris, just as they had been seen to do were survived during times of modern flooding.

Suppose that you could get all 35,000 air breathing animal species on board in pairs. Now you're talking about 70,000 animals, will you take care 70,000 animals.

One year, which is exactly how long Noah and his family afloat in this part, what keyword appears in Genesis 6 at verse 14. He's told or were informed that each deck is going to be subdivided into two rooms in the Hebrew language you could translate that compartment. You could even as one Hebrew scholar translated you could translate it. Nests in other words, Noah made nests throughout the ark for the animals are not told what happened during this year-long cruise. It isn't too hard to imagine that God is one author suggested, supernaturally imposed on these animals a year long hibernation that would answer a lot of questions when it seems more than likely that Noah and his family would not of been able to feed 70,000 animals once or twice a day, much less keep that elephant from stampeding at the site of that mouse or whatever seems likely to me that God may very well put them into a restful sleep, so that they would not been traumatized by the chaos and the upheaval carried this arc as the as the earth opened and torrents of water surged up. By the way stretch of our imagination. We read the Bible and discover that that God has done a lot of different things with animals against their instinct imposing upon them. His purpose and divine will. He supernaturally shut the mouths of lions that would instinctively had a prophet dinner right Daniel chapter 6, he commanded birds to go against their instinct and not swallow that bread, but delivered to Elijah frisking 17 he commissioned literally he appointed away all to go swallow another profit in the three days later loses appetite, spit back out right. He had one fish keep chlorine in its mouth so that Peter could catch it and with that kind of pays taxes which makes me want to go fishing whenever Emma read that story. Matthew 17 got even change the mental and vocal capacities of a donkey allowing it to carry on a conversation with a rather slow profit number 22.

If God can cause animals to deliver food and carry on a conversation swallow profit and not even profit could cause animals to sleep is another piece of evidence that animals were acting somewhat differently during this year on board would be only after the animals that left the ark of God would command the animals to breed and multiply chapter 8 and verse 17, with every indication that they entered in pairs and they left. How in pairs. There were 300 rabbits coming down the gangplank at the end of the year. In other words, God at that point, when they laughed removed that supernatural restriction over their normal instinct which would have caused these animals to mate and multiply. If they had been awake and normally functioning during this year-long study. One commentator pointed out that although Noah was told he might notice in chapter 6, verse 21 to bring in food from the animals that food may very well of been enough for one meal at the end of the journey to give these animals one good meal as they awakened and departed to find their way down the mountain is what we do know and we can observe God definitely altered the normal patterns of thousands of animals so they did what they left their natural habitat and they did something against their natural instinct and they come walking in pairs eventually walking toward this huge imposing building with people around it and they walk up the gangplank in pairs and obey orders. No doubt, divinely directed to go to their nest among thousands of others. How does that happen. Something had to happen to get these animals to cooperate. I can't get my one dog to sit and to stay she she does not listen to me and she knows me.

I think she knows me back.

The only I can get her in the backyard sometimes back in the pen is to bribe her with a piece of cheese. The gun control. I got over the dog. I own God is usually doing some rather miraculous things are not only make these animals arrive, but did behave around people they don't know. Have you ever taken your dog or or cat to the vet. I mean how they act. You're taking your dog very affectionate cat to put to sleep and how they act when they see these other I met you but my dog just get all nervous.

The last thing I can ever do is put her down and expect her to cooperate with even the other animals are you getting 70,000 animals arriving were not even to the miracle yet. This is enough to cause us to take note there walking up this ramp to buy to when you read an illustration of this very issue. Recently, a film producer in Italy was attempting to depict the story of the animals and the ark, and a lot of time and effort was expended in training just a few zoo animals to walk 2 x 2 upper ramp into a model of the ark with time came for filming a water buffalo got spooked charged up the gangway crash through the set and ran away than ever caught on. That's what animals do we have the seal that our backyard and they keep efforts in and there's a ball in about about 15 and they They have the cutest cabs there's one mother one heifer with her calf newly borne out by the fence yesterday, so I walked out there just talking you know and immediately soon as I stepped up in the natural area that mother she began to walk away. She had her body between me and her little cat and I was nice and kind.

She she wasn't paying me any attention.

I thought it was Sunday morning, all over again just walked away. I have how in the world am I going to control how was no one.

Don't assume assume, for instance, that he's thinking as God gives him the details. This is no problem. What experience does he have with elephant God is asking know what to believe and obey. In spite of a thousand obstacles that he would've had no doubt he is inundated with his own thoughts of inability and experiences that must've flooded his mom. The remarkable principle of faith operated not only the start that he controlled his life. He's going to do.

Faith is personal profession in the midst of unbelief. Faith is personal, reverential, all in the midst of uncertainty and so he's gonna press on. God did not choose no because no one knew how to build boats and handle elephant. The only qualification Noah possessed was that Noah walked with God. Noah walked with God. God would prepare Noah everything else God delights trust him completely glad you joined us today here on wisdom for the heart with Stephen Devi. The lesson you just heard is called fleeing the city of destruction.

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