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Bob Davis: From the day that God shut them in to the day they finally left the ark, they had been in the ark approximately a year and ten days. That's a long time to be in a boat. They spent a lot of time.

And that's what we're doing right now, isn't it? We're trusting God, we're walking, we're serving, we're trying to learn things, get through things, learn how to work with one another, learn how to deal with one another, learn how to show grace and mercy the way God shows to us. That's a long trip.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply it within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. As our study of Genesis continues in chapter 7, Noah and his family go through the flood. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: And the Lord said to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation." Oh, a couple of firsts! This is the first time the Lord God says, "You come." I'm inviting you, literally, this is an invitation to you. "Come into the ark."

It is God's invitation to Noah. It's the first time in the Bible he's ever invited someone to come. It is God's invitation to Noah for Noah and his family, that they are all true believers, to come into the safety and the protection of God's provision. Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites anybody: "Come unto me, you come to me." It is the same language. "All you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That's the first time in the book that's called the Bible that God invites someone into his rest.

So, God invites Noah and his family into his protection, into his safety, into his provision for them. How do you enter that, everybody? You already know, don't you? By God's grace. It is God's grace that he invites you and calls you, and you either RSVP, you say yes or no, right? And this is also the first time we see someone called righteous. We see someone called righteous. The Lord says to Noah, "I have seen you righteous. You are righteous."

What made Noah righteous? Well, we've already been told, but I'll read it to you again in Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, being warned of God things not seen as yet, moved with fear, reverence, he prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

God calls Noah righteous. Why? Because in faith, God said build a boat and Noah said, "I'm on it." And for 120 years, he built a boat in a place where there was no water and never rained. Faith. That's how every one of us does it. You are not going to do it, I'm not going to do it by being good and always being right and being the best. If it's all you, it's not God. If it's all God, it is not me and you, and we've got to get that through our heads and into our hearts. We're not doing this. He is.

Listen to Genesis 15, verses 3 through 6. And Abraham, he was called Abram then, said to God, "Behold, to me you have given no children, no seed. And lo, one born in my house is mine heir." And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, "This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of your own body shall be your heir."

And God brought Abraham forth, they came out of the tent, out, and he said, "Look toward heaven." It was nighttime. "And count the stars if you are able to number them." And he said to him, "So shall thy seed be. So shall thy seed be." Verse 6: "And Abram, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and God counted it to him for righteousness."

Noah, we read the same thing. Noah and Father Abraham both put their faith in the Lord, and it was counted to them for righteousness. And I'm telling you now the scriptures have told us, it's the same with you and with me and anyone who will put their faith in Jesus Christ. We are counted as completely righteous by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

So, let's go to verse 2: "Of every clean beast thou shalt take these by seven," we talked about that last chapter, "male and his female, and of the beasts that are not clean by two, male and female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, in other words, from seven days from now, seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." In chapter 6, we heard that everything that has the breath of life will die.

And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. We call that faith. We're trusting and we're walking. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of the waters came upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Okay, they headed into the ark, and they've got seven days to go.

Of clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean and of fowls and of everything that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark. How did Noah collect them? It says here they came to Noah. They went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female as God commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

So, here you go. In seven days, rains are going to come. You've taken 120 years to build this. That's faith. And the whole time he's building it, he's telling everybody why he's building it. He's giving them the news. Was he saying they could be in his boat? I don't think so. I think what he was saying is, "I'm doing this because the Lord told me to. It's going to rain. Build yourself your boat." And how many people built a boat? Nobody else in 120 years, right?

Verse 11 says this: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep," that was underground water, "they came up. And the windows of heaven were opened." You've got water coming up and overflowing, you've got rain pouring down for 40 days, heavy, nonstop rain.

And the rain was upon the earth forty days, forty nights. Verse 13 says: "In the selfsame day entered Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them to the ark. They and every beast after his kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and every fowl, every bird after his kind, every bird of every sort."

And they went in to Noah in the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. They went in, went in male and female of all flesh as God commanded, and the Lord shut him in. Who closed that door? So, if you were going in, you should have been in there. True. Nobody else is getting in. God's closing that door and rain's coming, and no one else gets in.

And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, that means they rose and they rose and bare up, lifted up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. Now it's floating. Now it's moving. And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. Okay, they're out, they're on their voyage. Here they go. Seven of the clean, two of the unclean animals of each kind, Noah and his family. All the rest that has the breath of life will be dead.

So, verse 19: "And the waters prevailed exceeding above the earth, and all the high hills," and in the Hebrew here means all of them, "the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered." How much? Under the whole heaven. The whole earth is now under water. And people still want to say it was a partial flood or just a one section of the earth, but God's word is too clear, we can't cheat God's word.

I'll read it again: "The waters prevailed exceeding upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of the fowl, of the cattle, of the beast, and of the every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth and every human being." Everything that wasn't inside the ark, gone.

"All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died." It's not confusing language at all. And you say, "Is that fair?" 120 years. And it's never rained before. And the preacher is saying it's going to rain. "Why are you building a boat?" "What for, we're in the desert out here?" "I know, God told me to." "And you believe that junk? You guys are so weird!" God said it's going to happen. I believe it's going to happen. So, he builds a boat.

And verse 22 says: "And all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died." Every one of them made that choice for themselves. Nobody's doing this to you when you say, "Well, if God's a God of love, why would he send me to hell?" God would never send you to hell. He's inviting you to come to heaven, and he's made a way that would cost you nothing, nothing at all. He's not sending you away. He doesn't. He invites you to come.

You saw the language, "Come into the ark." "Come," Jesus says, "come to me, come straight directly to me." That's God calling us. And verse 23: "Every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things and the birds of the air, and they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained alive, and they were with him in the ark." And the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days.

The water rose to about 15 cubits higher than the mountains. Okay, 15 cubits is about 20 to 25 feet. And here's what people say: "Well, how could Moses know that?" Because Moses is the one that penned this. No, Noah took some notes. How would he assume that? Because the boat is half out of the water, and he built it 30 cubits, so it's around 15 cubits. And he's telling you the mountains are under the boat.

The water continued to rise after it stopped raining because you've still got water coming from below. The water continued to rise for 150 more days. And the ark is now just floating where it's going to go, wherever it's going. And they're not steering, they don't know. It's just floating. Everything that has breath of life has now died except what's in the ark, those that are hidden and protected by the Lord God Almighty by God's grace inside that ark.

God said build it. I've got an idea. Build it. And in faith, they did it. And they entered in by faith, and they're protected and guided through it all. Isn't that what's going on in my life and yours right now? We entered into Jesus Christ by grace through faith. We now have eternal life, and we're walking with him, sometimes not even sure where the journey's taking us. I didn't, how about you? How long have you been saved? I've been everywhere, and I didn't plan any of this, did you?

And God remembered Noah. Let me say up front that doesn't mean God was really busy checking out what he was going to do after the water went away and thought, "Oh, Noah!" No, the language means he's watching him the whole way. "And every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark, and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters started to roll back, assuage as the Bible puts it. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and rain from heaven was restrained."

And the waters, verse 3, returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of 150 days, so you've got another 150, the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains, one of the region of Ararat.

And the waters decreased continually till the tenth month, and in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains starting to show. You could look out there and you could say, "Look, these are the tops of the mountains." Don't know where, not sure they don't, but it's the region of Ararat. And if you'd like to look it up, Bible scholars do argue about exactly where that might be. Some suggest Iraq, some suggest Afghanistan. It's the area somewhere in that area.

Came to pass at the end of 40 days, verse 6, Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, unclean bird by the way, which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. It never came back. It just flew. Also, he sent forth, verse 8, a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the earth. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot. The dove couldn't find any place to stay.

And she returned to him in the ark for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. The whole earth means the whole earth, right? There was nowhere this bird could go. Then he put forth his hand, and he took her back in, pulled her in to the ark, that little dove.

And he stayed, he stayed yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And verse 11: "And the dove came in to him in the evening and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off." The bird had torn off an olive leaf. Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. So what did he do? Well, you could look outside and still see it's not safe to get out there, water's still too deep.

So he stayed yet another seven days and sent forth the dove, and the dove never came back. That found herself a place. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and he looked and behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month and seventh and the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

And God spoke to Noah saying, "Come on out," I paraphrase, it says, "Go forth the ark, you, your wife, your sons and their wives. Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, both the fowl and of cattle and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth." And listen to what he told Adam and Eve: "And they could be fruitful and multiply. Go on now. We're starting over with eight of you and all kinds of animals. Let's do this."

And Noah went forth, his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. Every beast, every creeping thing, every fowl, whatsoever creepeth from the earth after their kind went forth out of the ark. Everybody get off. So, here we go. Noah and his family and all the critters entered into the ark seven days before the flood. Rained forty days and nights. It was 150 days till the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Only rested there. It was the mountains you could barely see the peak, so it stopped, but water's still high.

150 days it took for the waters to now recede. 40 days when the mountains' tops were seen till Noah sent out the raven. So there's another 40 days. Seven days from sending out the raven till sending out the dove. Seven more days till the dove is sent the second time. Seven more days till the dove goes out and doesn't come back. From the day that God shut them in till the day they finally left the ark, they had been in the ark approximately a year and ten days. He's now just a bit a year older, a full year older. That's a long time to be in a boat.

They spent a lot of time. And that's what we're doing right now, isn't it? We're trusting God, we're walking, we're serving, we're trying to learn things, get through things, learn how to work with one another, learn how to deal with one another, learn how to show grace and mercy the way God shows to us. That's a long trip.

Verse 20, they all got off the boat, probably kissed a couple of the cute little animals goodbye, and Noah built an altar to the Lord. Who told him to? Nobody told him to. That's what worship is. Watch. He built an altar to the Lord, and he took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Well, he learned about offering to the Lord from Adam and Eve and etc. and so forth.

And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, "I will not again, literally never again, curse the ground anymore for man's sake, because of man's heart." In other words, for the imagination of man's heart, this means mankind, not just Noah, but men and women, people. The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. If you're a Bible underliner, you probably should have that underlined so it shows up every time you go past it.

"Neither will I again smite anymore every living thing as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not stop." Noah, everyone, was so grateful to God for his mercy and his grace, for his protection, his love, his kindness, saving Noah and his family and all those animals.

Who could do that? Only God. And Noah just wants to worship. Think about this. Dr. Wiersbe wrote this: "When it comes to saving faith, every one of us must trust Jesus Christ personally." Noah's wife, their three sons, and their three daughters had to be believers also or they wouldn't have entered into that ark. They wouldn't have trusted God. It took faith and it had to be personal faith for each one of them.

And they proved their faith by standing with Noah while he worked, while he witnessed, and then by entering into the ark in obedience to God. I mean, we can call ourselves Christians all day, but we need to begin to live, walk in it. When it's real in our hearts and lives too, it has to become real. The first thing that he did because he was so grateful to God, he offered to God. That is worship.

He and his family worshipped the Lord. They built an altar, sacrificed to the Lord, and it was a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Something from their hearts by faith. Now, when they did it in those days, before the law, when they did it in those days, they offered the whole animal, nothing held back, nothing taken. Now, the law, God requires certain ways it's got to be done, remember? But the law hasn't been given yet, that's not till Moses coming up a long time, right?

So, they just when they did worship in those days, they offered everything to God. All of it's his. You don't hold anything back. You're just giving everything to the Lord. Worship is giving God of the best of what he has given to us. It's all his. He gives me my health, he gives me my abilities, he gives me everything I have. So, worship is actually giving God of the best of what he's given you.

So when you, you know, people say, "Do I have to tithe?" Okay, already right there, your heart may not be in the right spot because everything I have is his, and he's given it to me to use. And right what blesses God's heart is if I do it willingly and cheerfully. So you might give a million dollars and I might give two dollars, if it's from my heart, God says, "God bless that young fellow."

The Lord was pleased with the worship of Noah and his family. He smelled a sweet savor. And the Lord said in his heart, "I'll never again curse the ground anymore because of man, man's sake, sin, in other words. For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." An American, the human heart is evil from its youth. The flood destroyed the wicked, but the flood didn't change the human heart.

Noah's still got a human heart. His boys, his wife, his daughters-in-law, they still got human hearts. But God is blessed by the faith and by the sacrifice, the offering, the worship. And God said it. They need mercy, they need grace, they need sacrifice, and they need forgiveness. And God is going to provide every one of those: mercy, grace, sacrifice, and forgiveness. God will pay the price himself, in full, for sin. And God provides all of that.

But he makes a promise never to curse the ground again with a worldwide flood. He didn't say there won't be floods, he said there will not ever again be a full-on, completely all-world deluge, the whole world involved. And he promised to keep the seasons going. I know some of you are glad. Day and night, seasons, as long as the earth endures. That's mercy. That's grace. That's kindness.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is the radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies.

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