[0:00] Genesis chapter 6, we're going to have a special group in a couple of weeks sing the Don't Sing a Bit people, people that sit out there with their arms crossed and never sing a word.
[0:12] We're going to pull you out, we got you on camera, and we're going to bring you up here and see how you do. We'll never have all of our questions answered about historical events of history that are recorded in the Bible.
[0:33] We'll never get all the questions answered about any history, quite honestly. Biblical history is extra tough because God told us what we need to know, but He didn't necessarily tell us everything we want to know, everything we're curious about.
[0:54] But I want us to dive in this morning, look at some answers, go deep into the flood, and explore some common questions about the flood.
[1:06] Are there clear answers about it? Sometimes. Let me tell you some of what I think, but more importantly, what I know and why I know it.
[1:17] Genesis chapter 6, beginning in verse 11, says, Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
[1:34] And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.
[1:49] Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it. The length of the ark, 300 cubits. Its breadth, 50 cubits.
[2:02] And its height, 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
[2:20] For behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which it is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
[2:34] But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your son's wife, with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.
[2:50] They shall be male and female. Of the birds, according to their kinds. And of the animals, according to their kinds. And of creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind.
[3:04] Two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also, take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up.
[3:17] It shall serve as food for you and for them. And Noah did this. It's an important passage right here. He did all that God commanded him.
[3:31] Now, the story is that God told Noah to build an ark. And Noah was to put these animals in the ark.
[3:42] It goes on to tell us that he was to put seven pair of clean animals in the ark. And once all those were in the ark, God shut the door, as Scripture says.
[3:56] And seven days later, the rain came. And it rained and it flooded for 40 days and 40 nights. Scripture says that the fountains of the great deep burst forth.
[4:10] And the windows of heaven also came. So, water was coming up and water was coming down. And it stayed flooded.
[4:22] Rain for 40 days and 40 nights. The earth stayed flooded for 150 days. After 150 days, the ark landed on Mount Ararat.
[4:36] And he sent a raven out. And then he sent a dove out. And after the dove had been out for a while, it came back with an olive leaf. And he knew they were getting somewhere then. He sent it back out.
[4:47] And it never came back. And he knew then that the flood was over. So, some questions that people often ask or at least think.
[5:03] One is, was the flood really worldwide? The Smithsonian Magazine released an article in 2000 that discussed that there was a worldwide flood thousands of years ago.
[5:19] And two Columbia University geologists. You ever heard of Columbia University? Okay, you got the picture. Two Columbia University geologists took core samples out of the Black Sea and noticed that in those samples were uncharacteristic river mud.
[5:40] And there was shell hash there as well. Both of them spoke of that being salt water. And at some point, salt water and fresh water mixed together due to a flood.
[5:56] And they said with such a flood as that, that the bedrock was cut and channels were dug as deep as 300 feet deep.
[6:07] And the remains of animals were left in the bottom of that lake. Scientists also say that salt water in that same occurrence gushed in creating a waterfall 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls with enough cascading water coming forth to cover Manhattan to a depth, this article in 2000, to a depth two times the height of the World Trade Center.
[6:44] And the height of the World Trade Center was right at 1,800 feet. So in other words, 3,600 feet deep. The rush of water for such as that would have been heard 100 miles away.
[7:02] ABC News reported in 2012 that Robert Ballard, who is the man who found the Titanic, wanted to question these theories of these Columbia University geologists.
[7:16] He is an oceanography archaeologist. And he affirmed that there was evidence of a catastrophic flood that changed the shorelines and that appeared to happen about, in his words, 5,000 years ago.
[7:36] Now, you read up on that, not while I'm preaching but later, and you'll find that the science community does not like that talk a whole lot. They don't deal with that.
[7:47] So how do you trust that the flood was worldwide? Because I trust the Bible. That's why. Notice what it says.
[7:58] In Genesis 7, verse 19, it says that all the mountains were covered with water by as much as 15 cubits.
[8:10] A cubic is a foot and a half. So all mountains were covered with at least 22 feet of water. Verse 20 tells us about that depth. It continues to tell us that every living land animal and human died and was blotted out except that that was on the ark.
[8:29] Further evidence is that it was worldwide, is found in the size of the ark. Think about this for a minute. Why do you save all the animals and their species if they could have escaped because the flood was not worldwide?
[8:47] But Genesis chapter 6, verse 1, gives us indication that the whole earth was populated. And Genesis 7, verse 21 tells us that nobody was left except those on the ark when it was done.
[9:01] Genesis chapter 8, verse 15 tells us that God promises not to destroy all living things with the flood again. Listen, my friend.
[9:14] God would not have needed to promise to not destroy all living things in a flood again unless he had destroyed all living things in a flood previously. Actually, the global extent of the flood is referred to 30 times in Genesis chapter 6 through Genesis chapter 9.
[9:35] I'm telling you, my friend, it was global. Second question sometimes people ask me is, was the ark real? I mean, really? Did he really build that boat? I know there's one in Kentucky, but I mean, did Noah really build that boat, you know?
[9:48] Well, Scripture tells us that it stopped on the mountains of Ararat. That's in Genesis 8, verse 4. There have been many sightings on that mountain or in the surrounding area of what looked like an ark, none of which have been proven true or false.
[10:08] Josephus, which was a historian contemporary with the New Testament, first century, Josephus wrote that a generation after the life of Christ that Arminians would often get small pieces of the ark to wear as an amulet around their neck.
[10:25] Several other historians of that time spoke of the same thing. There was a monastery that was built. It's been destroyed by an earthquake since, but it was built to mark the spot where the ark rested and to preserve the relics there.
[10:40] And there are ancient inscriptions there of eight crosses into stones there. Now, listen, eight people were on that ark.
[10:52] Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives. For those who are slow at math, Noah. An Arminian and his father searched the area in 1856 to disprove the ark.
[11:11] They became enraged when they found evidence there. They tried to destroy it, but it was too big, and it was petrified. And his dying confession of his find was recorded in 1918 in an English newspaper.
[11:27] In 1876, a distinguished British author found a four-foot-long piece of hand-tooled timber while climbing at 13,000 feet.
[11:43] Ararat is 16,800 feet tall. In 1883, after an earthquake that caused huge quantities of rock and ice to be dislodged from the mountain, the British paper, Prophetic Messenger, carried the following story.
[12:05] It said, We have received from our correspondent of the return of the commissioners appointed by the Turkish government to inquire into the reported destruction of three cities by avalanches.
[12:21] The expedition was fortunate in making a discovery that cannot fail to be of interest to the whole civilized world, for among the vastness of one of the glens of Mount Ararat, glens of Mount Ararat, there came upon a gigantic structure of very dark wood embedded at the foot of one of the glaciers with one end protruding, in which they believed to be none other than the old ark in which Noah and his family navigated the waters of the deluge.
[12:53] The place where discovery was made is about a five-day's journey from Trebizoran in the Department of Van in Armenia, about four leagues from the Persian frontier, end of quote.
[13:09] This report, only a portion of which is cited here, was picked up and commented at that time by the New York Herald and by the world and by the Chicago Tribune.
[13:22] In 1887, an explorer discovered pieces of it. He made three climbs up there, presented his evidence at Chicago's World Fair in 1893.
[13:34] Belgian explorers got interested in it, wanted to go see it, but the Turkish government, which is common in this situation, would not allow them to obtain permits for further expeditions.
[13:48] Six Turkish soldiers claimed to have spotted it in 1916. In 1936, an archaeologist found hand-carved timber on top of Ararat.
[14:01] During World War II, two American aviators took pictures of what they believed to be the ark. And an AP article was recorded about the following in 1948.
[14:15] It said this. It said, The petrified remains of an object which peasants insist resemble a ship have been found high on Mount Ararat, biblical landing place of Noah's Ark.
[14:28] Apparently hidden for centuries, it came to light last summer when unusually warm weather melted away, an ancient mantle of ice and snow.
[14:39] While various persons from time to time have reported objects resembling a house or ship on the mountain, Turks who have seen this new find professed for it to be the only known object which could actually be taken as the remains of ship.
[14:58] George Green was a geologist that took pictures of an ark-like item in 1953 and brought them back to try to find funding for an expedition.
[15:10] He was unsuccessful with that and his pictures perished with him in a crash. Listen to this. Late last year, Popular Mechanics and the New York Post spoke of that same area, what is now called the Dura-Pinor Formation.
[15:30] And this formation is, and I quote, a 538-foot geographical feature made of laminate believed by some to be petrified remains of Noah's Ark.
[15:45] Researchers now believe they found evidence of human activity near the boat-shaped formation in the mountains from between 550, excuse me, 5500 and 300 B.C.
[16:00] This phenomenon is surrounded by soil that is filled with marine materials and seafood remains.
[16:15] This formation is not at all far from the peak of Mount Ararat. My friend, I know it's real and I know where it landed, not because of these reports, though.
[16:31] I know where it landed because I trust the Word of God. I trust the Bible. What about all those animals? What about that? Scripture says there were two of every kind of bird, animal, or ground creature.
[16:47] There were seven pairs of the clean ones. It says, according to their kind. So, what does it mean by kind? Does it speak of the modern classification of families, of animals?
[17:02] If that's the case, that's about 700. 700 families of animals. Or does it speak of species? If so, there's so much debate about how many species there are.
[17:16] One world-renowned taxonomist estimated slightly more than a million species. A million species of animals, however, a vast majority of them didn't have to be on a boat to survive.
[17:29] The ocean holds most of them. It's been estimated that there are 35 species that were needed to be on the boat. With a pair of each of those, that makes for 70,000 animals.
[17:44] Now, when you think animals, you may be thinking about giraffes and elephants and such as that. But the reality is the average size of a land animal is about the size of a sheep.
[17:57] And you can fit, not that I want to, but you can fit 240 sheep in a double-decker railroad car comfortably. They've asked the sheep and they told them they were comfortable.
[18:12] You can fit 70,000 sheep-sized animals. Remember, that's the average of all, so that includes elephants and mice. Wouldn't bother me if God wouldn't allow them to survive, but anyway.
[18:26] You can fit 70,000 sheep-sized animals in about 300 of those rail cars. The boat as described in Scripture could fit 569 of those rail cars.
[18:42] Yet it would only require 300 to put 70,000 animals which would take up really about half of the boat, leaving the rest for people, food, water, storage, any needed provisions.
[18:57] Now, is that the way it all went down? I don't know. Creation science tells us that when Scripture mentions kind, that is speaking of the family level of modern taxonomy, that would make for only 16,000.
[19:16] So, not only should you consider the floor space, though, remember that if you put animals in cages, you can stack cages. And so, you can put much more than just floor space.
[19:29] Now, I'll just be honest with you. I don't know about all those specifications. My point is this. I know it could have worked. And those that have studied it more than me and understand it better than me can tell you more of that.
[19:42] it would have worked, especially with the sovereign, guiding hand of God upon it all the time. And the reason why I know that it could is because I trust the Word of God.
[19:58] I trust the Bible. One more question. What about the dinosaurs? There are a lot of opinions, and the Bible does not state it clearly.
[20:14] I remember years ago, there was a youth group that went to a camp and I just went up for one night. I was their pastor and I just went up for one night for worship.
[20:25] I like to do that when possible. And the whole week was about creation. And that night, they sang a song called Behemoth, which is mentioned in Job chapter 40.
[20:39] Behemoth was a dinosaur and a dinosaur was he. And I was trying to think of how that song went, but every time I thought of it, I thought Behemoth was a dinosaur, a dinosaur was he.
[20:50] He climbed up in the sycamore tree to see what, so it's, so I got my songs mixed up, so I'm not going to sing it for you, but now science tells us that dinosaurs were reptiles, some kind of reptile-bird combo kind of deal is what I've heard, but they are egg-laying reptiles.
[21:14] And reptiles never stop growing. They don't have the growth inhibitors in them that humans have, nor that most animals have.
[21:26] Reptiles grow rapidly early in their life, and then their growth slows, but they never stop growing. Now, why did these different form of reptiles named dinosaurs grow so large before the flood?
[21:43] Because living things lived much longer before the flood. Methuselah lived 969 years.
[21:54] I don't believe it's a different measurement of the year. I believe the man lived in there almost 1,000. How big does a reptile grow if it lives 1,000 years?
[22:09] Well, about like a dinosaur. Let me give you an example. So, they tell me that snakes live 20 to 30 years, okay?
[22:20] I don't think a snake ought to live two minutes after you see it, personally, okay? They live way too long. Komodo dragons. You know what a Komodo dragon is?
[22:32] It's a 40-year-old dinosaur is what I believe it is, but anyway, they lived to be about 40 years old. If you want to know what one would look like that would live 1,000 years, you can look at the dinosaur.
[22:44] Therefore, it appears that Noah put small ones on the ark. When the flood came, the larger ones died. Why do we not live as long as people did before the flood?
[22:57] Well, there's an interesting passage of Scripture that theologians are split right down the middle on. I mean, guys, I trust and I read a lot. They're split right down the middle on this. It's in Genesis chapter 6, verse 3, and it says this.
[23:11] Then the Lord said, my spirit, this is before the flood, my spirit shall not abide in man forever for his flesh. His days will be 120 years.
[23:23] Now, theologians are split on what that, leave that passage up for a moment. They are split on what that passage means. Some believe that it means that from the time God told Noah a flood was coming, that he needed to build a boat, that he had 120 years to do it.
[23:42] Meaning that his spirit would not abide in man forever his flesh. His days shall be 120. He only got 120 years later before the flood's come. As well, theologians look at it and say that in reality what he's saying is that people's lives are going to be limited to 120 years.
[24:02] They're not going to live longer than that. And if that's what it means, and theologians are quite split on that, you can see that happen. Lifespans drop rapidly after the flood.
[24:14] It's not immediate. It's gradual. But it is amazing to see. Not right now, but later. Look at the genealogy in Genesis chapter 5.
[24:26] And then look at the genealogy in Genesis chapter 11 at the end of chapter 11. And you'll see folks go from 900 and 600 and 500 years down to 205 years.
[24:38] By the time you get to the end of Genesis, Joseph only lived 110 years. Moses lived 120 years. We don't hear beyond that beyond that fact. And there's very few exceptions.
[24:49] As a man who collected Guinness Book of World Records when I was a kid, I know that the oldest person, at least at that time, 30 years ago, was 143 years old.
[25:02] But nobody had a birth certificate made of stone. And nobody really knew exactly how old they were. So I believe, as some do, that the reason why people don't live as long as they did before the flood was because the atmosphere changed after the flood.
[25:22] When the, as Scripture says, the windows of heaven were poured out, I believe we lost some kind of atmospheric protection of sorts. The incubator of the earth where it hadn't rained before, but yet stayed watered.
[25:37] That canopy of sorts were torn away. And the purity of that was gone that previously allowed people to live so long. Therefore, the constant growing reptile would no longer live 1,000 years.
[25:53] Its growth would be limited to a much shorter lifespan. How big would a lizard be if it grew for 900 years? Well, you can find their fossils in the Natural History Museum in New York City.
[26:08] That explains dinosaurs, at least to me. I don't pretend to know all the answers, and I've already told you that I am science-deprived. But I know and trust the one who does.
[26:25] And I trust him even with the matters that are not directly addressed in the Bible. And do you know why?
[26:37] Because the Bible tells me that I can trust him. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
[26:54] In all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll make your paths straight. I don't know what questions you have today about the flood or about life.
[27:08] But I can promise you one thing. You can trust the Lord Jesus. You can rest in him. I want to be clear. We don't have to agree on all this.
[27:20] The details are not all given to us. Let me tell you what we need to agree on or what you need to agree with me on. And that is the authority of the word of God.
[27:35] 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 says, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for abuse and correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
[27:50] In other words, we can trust his word. And the cool thing is he'll use his word to work and move in us. Hebrews chapter 4, 12 and 13 says, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, listen, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
[28:18] And no creature, including you and I, are hidden from his sight. All are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
[28:33] God sees us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And God uses the word of God to show us what the most important thing we must do in life.
[28:44] The Gospel of John, somebody texted me yesterday and said, I want to begin to read scripture daily. Where should I start?
[28:54] And I said, start in the Gospel of John. It's good stuff. I love to watch how Jesus worked and moved and how he interacted with folks. And John gives you the theology behind why he did what he did.
[29:08] It's good stuff. John wrote that account, the Gospel of John. And when he got toward the end, he said this in John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31.
[29:20] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.
[29:38] I don't know what questions you have this morning. Whether it's about the flood, or it's about life, or it's about life, but I can tell you who has the answers, and I can tell you who you can trust in, and I can tell you who knows you better than yourself, and I can tell you who gives you the Word of God so that you may believe in the Son of God and that by believing in him, you may have life in Jesus' name.
[30:10] I have no hope greater for you today than you know the Lord Jesus personally in your life. And if there's never been a time when you've confessed your sins to God and asked him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life and to cleanse you, I want you to know Jesus Christ will save you today if you'll surrender your life to him, if you'll trust him as your Lord and Savior, if you'll say, God, I know I'm a sinner.
[30:36] I know I desperately need the salvation that's going to only come from God. He'll wash away your sins. He'll remove them, and Peter talks about the flood being like a baptism.
[30:50] It cleanses, and I thank God the blood of Christ cleanses us when we surrender our lives to follow him. Not only will he remove your past spiritually from your life, but beyond that, he'll empower you with the Holy Spirit of God to live your life abundantly for him.
[31:11] If you've never given your heart and life to the Lord, you come today, I'd love to guide you in that. Maybe you're here this morning and you have done that, but you've never acknowledged that publicly through baptism.
[31:23] You've never told anybody about it, and Jesus tells us by his example and by his commission that we're to follow that up with baptism. We'd love to guide you in that process. Maybe God's drawing you to this church.
[31:34] You want to be a part of a church that believes the word of God, that rests in the word of God, where you can invest your life and they can invest in you. If God's leading you in that way, you come. Probably beyond that, I know there's people in here who have questions in your life.
[31:53] It may not be at all about the flood. It may not be about some particular passage. It's just stuff in life. Struggle with the questions that you have.
[32:06] I want you to know today God knows more about your questions and he knows the answers beyond anything that you can imagine. And you can trust him. You can rest in him.
[32:19] And so I encourage you this morning to lay that down before the Lord. You need a pastor to pray with you, I'll be happy to pray with you. You need to come to this altar and lay it down before the Lord. Lay your questions down before the Lord. He can handle it.
[32:30] I promise you. He'll work and move in your life. You can do that right where you sit as well. I just want you to be obedient to what God tells you to do. I'll never ask you to do more than that.
[32:42] And I hope you're never satisfied with less than that. Just do what God tells you to do. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I love you and thank you for your love for us.
[32:53] God, will you guide us right now to simply be obedient as you speak to our hearts and lives, Father. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Stand together if you will. We're going to sing. More importantly, you obey God as he speaks to your heart and life.
[33:04] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.