Sermon on The Flood

By Brian Pepper

Green for go, Orange for pause, red for stop. Without these warning lights there would be chaos on the roads. Every time you come to a set of these flashing light signals you know that they are there to be observed and obeyed. Did you know that GOD has His set of lights. Yes GOD does not expect His people to rush headlong through the night, which leads to ETERNAL DAY without signals that show the way. There are 3 signals that GOD flashes that we do well to take heed of. The 1st is EARTHQUAKE.   Earthquake No human power can control it. No human power can bring about an earthquake. In a matter of moments, great buildings are shattered to ruins in the streets below. Yes in a matter of a few seconds, while the hearts of people stood still with terror. While no human hand could possibly aid them, the great concrete structures crashed and shattered to ruins in the street below. Men and women grabbed their babies and fled blindly for shelter, they know not where. No human power can stay an earthquake or even warn of its coming. It is a RED light from GOD flashing an urgent warning to the man and the woman who is living for the things of this world, who is forgetting that there is a GOD and one day every soul will have to give account of the life they have lived.   Famine FAMINE is another spectre that stalks the footsteps of man, which no human power can control. A man may plant but the results are largely out of his hands. If GOD withholds the rain the seeds will not grow. If He sends too much rain the seeds will rot. A drought or a flood can ruin the crops and cause a famine. Yes FAMINE is a danger signal from GOD. It is another warning to a world that neither cares or thinks about GOD.   Flood FLOOD is the 3rd major tragedy that man cannot entirely control. Time after time, year after year, that was a very obvious fact as the floods swept New South Wales and the towns of Maitland, Singleton, Lismore and others were under water. Hundreds were rendered homeless and many lives were lost. A flood comes from circumstances that are beyond the control of man. Dames may be built to hold back the waters but dams break. And the most disastrous flood that has come to man in recent years, was when a Dam that was called perfect broke with a sudden strain of waters from a cloudburst. Many lives were lost, homes were destroyed and live stock drowned. Floods are warnings from GOD. GOD is flashing His RED light, to men and women because the PHYSICAL voice is the only voice that men will hear. The BIBLE repeatedly states that EARTHQUAKES, FAMINE, FLOODS are acts of GOD. And I want to tell you that the Twentieth Century Insurance Companies recognize this also. All these things are sent to WARN man.   Noah's Flood Now take the case of NOAH'S FLOOD. This was the most disastrous catastrophe that ever struck the world that we live in. Genesis 6:5 says, "And God saw that the wickedness of  man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Verse 6 says, "And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air for it repenteth Me that I have made them." As GOD looked down upon this earth He saw that the wickedness of men and women was so great that their thoughts were only evil. Why it is a picture of OUR DAY. A perfect description of the time in which we are living. Strangely enough JESUS forecast that this would be the prevailing situation in the social world just prior to His return. Luke 17:26,27 says, "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all."   The Flood a Judgment The FLOOD was a JUDGMENT. It was a judgment upon men and women who had given themselves over to a life of SIN and self-seeking. But a greater JUDGMENT is coming upon man: THE DAY OF THE LORD. The terrible things that we read of in the SCRIPTURES about this fateful occasion are to WARN us. The Newspapers shriek warning after warning to a foolish world. NOAH' S FLOOD was and is a warning to mankind.   Scepticism of the Flood I have heard some people say that they don't believe in the flood. As a matter of fact there are plenty of folk who do not believe that there is a GREAT DAY OF RECKONING for mankind. Some people even say that the FLOOD was tradition. The FLOOD of the day of NOAH is not tradition, it is FACT. The SIGNS of the FLOOD still stare us in the face wherever we go. Sea shells and pebbles are found lifted high on the hills and mountains. Before the FLOOD the earth was beautiful. There was luxurious vegetation, wild life was in abundance. The whole earth basked in a semi-tropical climate. The inhabitants of the earth had never seen rain. Genesis 2:6 says, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." So when NOAH sounded out the warning "Flee from the flood, the heaven's will rain water", the people just could not understand it. They had never seen rain and they did not have an idea what it would be like. The scientists and the leaned men scoffed at the idea of a flood. They ridiculed NOAH and called him a calamity, bowler.   Scoffers in the Last Days We find that a similar attitude exists to day. In the educational and scientific worlds deliberate attempts have been made to undermine the BIBLE as the WORD of GOD. We should not be surprised at this because GOD warned us that in the LAST DAYS this would be the case. 2 Peter 3:3-6 RSV says, "First of all ye must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own passions and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation, They ... deliberately ignore this fact ... that by the Word of GOD heavens existed long ago and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished." GOD speaking through St Peter tells us that men would deliberately ignore the facts that plainly reveal the earth was once destroyed by water. This is exactly what we are seeing today. "the world that then was," The world before the FLOOD "the earth which is now," Our present earth "a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," The world to come.   Three Worlds in God's Plan You see there 3 worlds in the plan of GOD: 1st from EDEN to the FLOOD 2nd from the FLOOD to the JUDGMENT 3rd the EARTH made NEW. This old earth of ours as we know it is but a ruin of the original earth when it was made in its perfection by GOD. It was ruined at the time of the FLOOD. Before the flood there was more land than water. There was no rain. The watering system was different. Four rivers issued from the Garden of Eden and they flowed through the natural world.   Upheaval of the Flood Today the average ocean depth is 2.33 miles, while the height of the land is just under a mile. If the earth was leveled out the water would cover it by a depth of 1.5 miles. The miracle is that the sea does not overflow the land. The structure of the earth tells of a mighty upheaval. The strata of the rocks reveal that the earth's surface must have been torn up for miles down and re-laid by the action of the water. In some places evidence is that this occurred as far as 10 miles down. The BIBLE in Genesis 7:11 says, "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows (margin - floodgates) of heaven were opened," The great underground rivers burst forth. The heavens poured out great volumes of water. Genesis 8:3 says, "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated," In the margin it says "in going and returning". Great tidal waves swishing back and forth with terrific tidal power that broke up and re-laid the earth's surface over and over. Just think of that for 150 days or 5 months. The great tidal waves rushed back and forth. And as the waters went roaring up and down, huge ravines were formed in the deep mud over which they flowed. So it is that you have such marvels as the GRAND CANYON of ARIZONA. And rocks deposited in many strange positions as if some giant hand had placed them there. Why you can see for yourself, the way the waters of the English channel have steadily hewed out Britain's Southern coast until half a hill of chalk was washed away at Dover. I have stood on those chalky cliffs and looked down at the swishing water continually cutting at the base.   Evidence for the Flood In my lifetime I have seen the ocean level drop 20 ft and the land rise the same distance. In Napier New Zealand, after the great earthquake the land rose 20 ft out of the ocean and at the same time the sea level dropped 20ft. In one way the earthquake was a boom for it brought into existence hundreds of of acres of land that previously was under water. They discovered a whale skeleton 3029 ft up in the mountains by the north sea. Elephants never climb, yet their remains have been found in the highest explored parts of Tibet, right up on the roof of the world. In Siberia they have found elephants and mammoth tusks. In one place they have gathered ivory for hundreds of years. The amazing thing is this that they all died suddenly together. In Alaska gold dredges unearthed great groups of skeletons of lions, elephants, horses, bears, bison, moose, all fully preserved. In Greenland, Spitzbergen and the Antarctic as well as in many other countries of the world we find coal beds which were formed by the flood. The coal beds of the world also confirm the flood. These are the forests of the ancient world. The evidence is that these forests were suddenly overwhelmed in a giant cataclysm. Coal seams 26 ft thick are at the North Pole, and it is from the giant Sequoia trees now growing only in California. Everywhere are seen the results of enormous volumes of water in violent action. Every great mountain range contains various forms of ocean life: shells or oysters which were buried in sediment, laid down by flowing waters on a large scale. Great numbers of these ancient marine deposits are now miles high above the present ocean bed. The evidence of a world wide flood is overwhelming   Size of the Ark Of course there are some who quibble about the size of the ARK. They say that it was utterly impossible for Noah to get two animals of every kind into the boat, the size of the one he built. However according to the famous archeologist William Matthew Petrie, the ARK had the tremendous carrying capacity of 2,958,000 cubit feet. Or to put it in modern terms it would take a train of almost 1000 freight trucks (standard gauge) to carry this enormous load. The ARK was the largest vessel that ever floated prior to the building of the giant liners of the Twentieth Century: - 515 ft long - 86 ft wide - 52 ft high - 42,000 tons And because of its construction it could carry a third more cargo than any modern vessel that equaled it in size and dimensions. There was no engine  room, no crew' s quarters, control stations, lifeboats, and rounded sterns. And NOAH was not under the necessity of finding room in his ARK for every variety and specimen of animal and bird alive today. GOD gave a specific command. Genesis 7:14 says, "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 after his kind, every bird of every sort." A kind is a species, an may be generally described as those which can cross-breed with fertility. Today we have hundreds of different kinds of dogs all coming from the one stock.   Evolution or Mutation You ask "How did all this come about" - by mutation. "What!" you say, "Is not this evolution," No, it is not evolution. EVOLUTION is transmutation, that is the changing from one kind to another such as a monkey changing into a man. Such a thing has never happened in the history of man. In Genesis 1:24, "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." It would be against the command of GOD for such a thing to happen. But there is mutation. For instance, you have red dahlia's in your garden this year and you save the root clumps (tubers) to plant the following season. Now from that root clump (tubers) you will get red dahlia's. But the dahlia's produce seeds. When you plant the seeds from the red dahlia you may get a dozen different colours of that type and variety none of which will be red. Of these mutants or variants (some) will fix themselves as a new type and develop a tuber that is established. And so it is that new varieties of dahlia are added to the market from year to year. But the important thing to remember is this these new dahlia's remain dahlia's. They do not become onions or potatoes or tomatoes. Now then, if NOAH took into his ARK a pair of a strain of every available creature, the varieties would have arisen by the process of mutation. A typical case would be the bees. There are many, many different varieties of bees. But NOAH would have to take only a fertile queen into the ARK, for her progeny could in turn give rise to all the other varieties. It seems fairly evident that the giant animals did not go into the ARK with the flood but perished, for after the flood there was little if any vegetation and before the flood the whole world was covered in verdant growth. So NOAH'S problem of accommodating the creatures was not so difficult after all.   Ventilation of the Ark A lady asked this question, "How was the Ark ventilated?" Yes how was the Ark ventilated? There were all those animals and men, and only one little window up in the roof. How did they breath? Well we have the dimensions of the ARK, and the shape.    - 515 ft long - 86 ft high - 52 ft wide Genesis 6:16 says, "A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above." Or up to a cubit shalt thou finish it. Finish what? The window of the ARK. If the windows were to be finished up to a cubit it probably meant it ran the full length of the ARK, leaving a cubit at each end. That would be quite some ventilation. The overhanging eaves would keep the dripping rain out. An amazing thing was the fact that the ARK was exactly 6 times as long as she was wide. Did you know that most modern liners follow the same pattern, 6 times as long as they are wide. And you could expect that, for GOD designed this remarkable vessel.   Noah a Real Person JESUS CHRIST the Son of God, recognized Noah as a real person and the flood as a very real event. For 120 years NOAH preached his message and built his ARK, but the world mocked and ridiculed, the same as it does today with the message that the world will be again destroyed with a flood of fire. Seven days before the flood came, a divine hand shut the ARK'S mighty door with NOAH and his family inside. GOD'S people were safe. They had obeyed His commands. When the 7 days had expired the FLOOD came in all its fury. "The world that then was" perished.   Ark of Mercy Once again we have come to the very hour when the ARK of MERCY will be closed. The 7 Last Plagues will begin to fall, then "the earth which is now." will be destroyed by fire making way for "a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." My friends are you watching the warning lights of GOD? It is still on GREEN. Don't wait for it to change to ORANGE for that will be too late. When RED appears it will be STOP to this old world of ours. May GOD help each one of us to read His signs so we may know where we are in this world today.