The Loving and Just God

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PLAY VIDEO - Listen Session 4

Noah’s Ark - perhaps the most well known story in all of Scripture… and… perhaps the most misunderstood story in all of Scripture.

As the video said, many approach the story from a fairy tale perspective:

Fuzzy animals, a pretty boat, a gentle older man and woman, sunny skies, rainbows, and so forth. Many images regarding this story look like Noah and his wife simply took the family boat out on the lake with all the animals for a nice weekend get away.

What these images fail to display are the millions that drowned, the lifeless bodies of humans and animals now littering the surface of the water, the panic as the water rose, the horror of the reality that all but Noah and his family were destroyed with an inescapable world-wide flood.

We know how devastating a flood can be! In fact, many on the east coast are dealing with this right now! Water is considered by many as the element that gives life… but it also can be extremely deadly! You cannot control the force or the evasiveness of the floodwaters.

Noah’s ark is far from being a bed-time story… it is a story of how God judged the sin of this earth, and the people of the earth realized that God was serious when He said that the consequence of sin… is death.

Tonight, we are going to talk about How God is both loving… and just. God CANNOT leave sin alone. God must judge sin for what it is. And… many in our culture and even some in the Church struggle with the truth that God judges sin.

Consider this:

Have you ever had to confront a loved one or a friend regarding something they did? Maybe it was a direct wrong regarding your person or maybe it was an activity you know they should not be engaged in. Nevertheless… why are those conversations so difficult?

Confrontation can be hard! However, when a person’s soul is on the line… the LOVING thing to do is to address the situation at hand. This cannot happen per your opinion or agenda… it must happen on the foundation of the Word.

This isn’t a “because I said so” kind of confrontation… it is a “because HE said so” accountability.

Here’s another part that can be difficult to overcome. Many people have adopted a reality that desires for others to simply overlook any and all unrighteous behavior. “Love me… but don’t judge me” is the root behind this reality.

As comforting and socially acceptable as this might be, REAL FRIENDS do not stay silent when they see someone struggling in sin!

Is it really loving someone to leave them in a situation that we know will lead them to perish?

The answer to that question is no… and this is why God moved against the earth as He did back in Noah’s day.

He LOVES His creation… but He will not allow for sin to go unchecked within His creation.

Now, let’s think about this in another way.

Imagine someone breaking into your home, vandalizing your property, and perhaps even harming a family member. If caught, that person would need to stand before a judge.

If the judge said, “I’m a nice person. I only want to love people and accept them as they are, so you can go free,” would that judge be considered good? Absolutely not! Neither would the God of the Bible be a good God if He turned a blind eye to evil and did not hold us accountable for our sin. In fact, God’s love cannot be separated from His justice.

And did you catch what I said in the second to last sentence? The God of the Bible would not be good if He turned a blind eye to evil and did not HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE for our sin!

Newsflash: God sees sin in the same way today… as He saw it in Noah’s day! God’s feeling and judgement regarding sin HAS NOT CHANGED.

What has changed… is God’s way of redeeming and ridding this world of sin. GOD STILL JUDGES SIN. God Loves you… but WILL judge you for your sins. We should not want a love-me-but-don’t-judge-me God. Never forget the reason God wants us free and clear of sin is because He knows the destruction and chaos sin brings to our lives.

IT IS BECAUSE HE LOVES US that He wants us to have nothing to do with sin. IT IS BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM that we choose to have nothing to do with sin! Love is at the center of our relationship and fellowship with God!

Looking back at Noah, as the consequences of humanity’s fallen and broken state began to work themselves out in the early chapters of Genesis, things were moving from bad to worse.

Within several generations of the first murder recorded in Scripture, horrendous violence, injustice, and debauchery had engulfed the human race.

Despite all the wickedness in the land, one man stood out in the eyes of God. That one man was Noah.

Stop and think about this: When we compare how God dealt with this godly man versus the wicked culture that surrounded him, we see God working in both His saving love and His righteous judgement.

God did not throw Noah into the lot… He did not overlook Noah’s heart. To do so would have been unjust. God saved Noah and his family because he found favor in the eyes of the Lord - meaning Noah lived a righteous life before the Lord!

God could have wiped out ALL of humanity if He wanted to… but… that was not the intent of the flood. The flood was sent to wipe out the wickedness and sin… and the people that harbored such lifestyles.

GOD DID NOT CREATE US… TO DESTROY US. GOD DID NOT CREATE US FOR SIN! But God cannot leave sin unpunished.

God saved humanity from total destruction through one man who lived for God. Tonight, I want to look at Noah’s life and why it stood out to God and… I want us to see how God is doing this again through One who is without sin or blemish.

Again, God still views sin in the same way today as he did in Noah’s day. But instead of sending flood waters to destroy, He sent His Son to deliver.

Who Exactly was Noah?

Genesis 6:9–14 NIV

9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

First off, Noah was a righteous man who was living in an unrighteous world. Noah walked FAITHFULLY with God - and that right there is the key - Noah was FAITHFUL.

What does that word mean? To be faithful is to remain loyal and steadfast. It means even if you are the LAST MAN OR WOMAN on earth living for God, you WILL NOT MOVE in your stance for Him! That is LITERALLY who Noah was!

Noah didn’t go with the cultural flow. Noah did not give in to the unrighteous pressure of his day. Noah did not accept sin as the way to go, but rather he kept his eyes on God and His ways.

God’s judgement was about to come upon the evil that had corrupted the people of Noah’s day. Yet God made a provision for saving Noah, his family, and the animals through the construction of an ark - a massive boat like nothing ever seen before - to help them survive a flood like nothing ever seen before!

First off, could it be said that our world today… looks similar to the world in Noah’s day?

Sin is spreading like wildfire. This is happening because our world is not faithful to God. Instead of standing on His Word, it instead stands upon it’s selfish desires and lust.

This world craves that which God said will destroy.

I find it really sad that… in recent days, I have seen more excitement online from believers who will post about upcoming Halloween movies… but stay silent regarding telling their friends about Jesus. I see the promotion of darkness as the lampshade is placed upon the light.

The church is to be the light of Christ… a city on the hill that cannot be hidden! It’s time to take the lamp shade off for His light to seen by all! But any and all darkness within must come under the blood before we can do that!

My point is… These worldly cravings can creep into God’s church if we are not careful. Instead of shrugging off or making excuses for it… sin MUST be recognized for what it is and dealt with accordingly!

Like Noah, we need to remain faithful in a world that is becoming more and more faithless.

Secondly, because Noah was faithful, he did exactly as God commanded him to do - as if his life depended on it!

Genesis 7:1–10 NIV

1 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

Never having seen rain or a flood like God described, Noah built a boat that could house his family and the animals. HE TOOK GOD’S INSTRUCTION TO HEART.

If Noah had not followed God’s instruction… he would have perished in the flood. His life depended on his faithfulness.

So with that in mind… I ask this question as lovingly as I can: Do you approach God’s commands and the teachings of Jesus as optional OR do you approach them as if your life depended upon following them?

Church, we do not face an impending flood… but there is coming a day of impending judgement. GOD CANNOT LEAVE SIN WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.

If we approach God’s Word lackadaisically and think we will be okay… think again! Jesus warns that there will be many “false disciples” who think they are in the right… but are very much in the wrong.

Matthew 7:21–23 NIV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Bottom line is: We need to approach God’s commands and instruction as if our lives depended on them - because our lives truly do depend on them!

God desires for us - through Jesus - to have life to the full or life more abundantly! But so many settle for far less because they do not see the value in God’s Word.

Church listen to me… SIN HAS NO VALUE, PERIOD. It will only bring destruction to your life. But God has given us the chance to come out from under the weight of our sin and to STAY out from under the weight of our sin. Choose to follow God as if your life depended on it!

Lastly, Noah operated in the blessings of God.

Genesis 9:1–3 NIV

1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Genesis 9:8–17 NIV

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

BECAUSE Noah was faithful, God did not judge him with the rest of the world. BECAUSE Noah did exactly as God commanded, he and his family found themselves on the other side of a disastrous flood. And now, because of his desires to honor God, God blesses him and establishes a covenant with Him.

The blessing comes in the same form as the blessing God gave to Adam and Eve. Be fruitful and multiply. God gives all of creation to Noah to steward and to have dominion over.

The covenant comes as a promise to never judge the world as God did in this way and the sign given for this covenant was the rainbow - a sign reminding all of creation and God Himself that a flood will never again destroy all life.

And I thank God for that covenant… for it it had not been established with Noah, Church I fear this land would have been wiped out long ago.

We often like to say that our land is blessed… but I grow more and more concerned that this is not the case anymore.

Are we blessed because we have wealth? Our nation is over 30 trillion dollars in debt.

Are we blessed because we have health? Our nation is experiencing growing numbers in physical ailments as well as mental health concerns.

Are we blessed because we have freedom? Those freedoms are being challenged and lost on a daily basis.

Are we blessed because we are one nation, under God, indivisible? Don’t even get me started on the division dangers we are facing!

I don’t want to come off as saying we are doomed… but a wickedness and rebellious spirit is running a muck in these United States!

When a nation would choose to take the sign of God’s covenant and use it for a sign of immorality… it’s like we are asking for God to send the flood rains again!

And church… judgement IS coming. The day IS coming when sin will be once and for all done away with.

But because our God is JUST and LOVING, the world will once again be saved by one man… and all who choose to believe in Him will be spared from the wrath that is soon coming.

Jesus Christ - The One Who SAVES Us From Our Sins.

BECAUSE Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, he was spared from the world-wide judgement of sin. Humanity survived because of his faithfulness to God.

The faith of one man made all the difference then… and the love of another makes all the difference now. Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to give His life so that we can be forgiven of all sin.

God sees our sin today… and it breaks His heart. God sees our brokenness today and… it compelled Him to do something… unprecedented.

If you have a phone tonight, get it out and open up your pictures.

Find a picture of your children. Find a picture of your oldest child or a group shot of your kids. Look at it. Consider the love you have for those faces on that screen.

Now… consider this shot on the screen taken from the video we watched a moment ago. (PICTURE FROM VIDEO)

In one season, God used a faithful man and an ark… in another, God used His one and only Son.

I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it would be to send my child to die for a person or a people that had turned their backs on me.

Looking at your children… is there not anything you would not do for them? Could you send that person to the cross to die for those who do not deserve it?

I bring this to our attention for this reason:

For those who struggle in the “Love me but don’t judge me” mentality… for those who wrestle with doubting God’s love for us… I want you to stop and think again. God did something for us we could not do… something beyond anything we could have hoped for or imagined.

For those who think that God does not love those He judges… think again.

God so loved you that He gave you a way for forgiveness… that cost Him His Son. How much more love could we possibly want?

Problem is… too often we take that love for granted. Problem is… too often… in a position of unfaithfulness… we accuse God of not loving at all.

Here’s the deal:

God’s love for us is without question. God is also just meaning He cannot let sin go unpunished.

IN HIS LOVE… He sent Christ to take on the punishment we deserve for our sins.

Isaiah 53:5 NIV

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Jesus took the place of all who would believe. Think of it this way… Imagine if Noah, the man who found favor in the eyes of the Lord, jumped into the flood waters and saved a person who was drowning and perishing… that person survives and Noah gave His life… that is exactly what Christ did for us.

HE TOOK OUR PLACE. He was blameless and without sin. He gives us safe refuge in place of His life.

He paid the cost - are you willing to be faithful to Him?

He took our place - are you ready to follow His commands?

He gave His life - are you walking in His blessings and promises?

Tonight, I want us to call on His name to help us in those three areas:

Prayer focus

Help me to be faithful

Help me to follow Your commands

Help me to walk in Your blessings and promises.

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