Your Boat Will Stay Afloat

Steve Bowyer

Genesis 1-11; Why it's true and why it matters • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Genesis 7–8

The Flood

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Think about some of the long-term promises you make in your life, and have been made to you.

Maybe some of them didn’t start out to be long term, or we didn’t expect them to be long-term.

Back in April I shared a story about replacing windows in our house.

Quick recap.

In December of last year I ordered and paid for replacement windows and a sliding door.

Needed to get them on last year’s budget.

We were given an install date of April 4. 4 months. Ok. Sign of the times.

They came and installed them, all but 2. 1 window and the sliding door did not fit.

We had to talk to 10 different HD reps to get to the point where our new window and door were ordered. We were told they would arrive August 23. 8 months after I ordered and paid for them.

This week, I confirmed an install date in August. We’ll see. Needless to say, I’m skeptical.

Time has made me question whether or not I can trust them to do what they promised.

Currently, we are rebuilding our deck. Hence why I needed to pay for the windows last year. I’m paying for a deck this year.

Everything is going well. I have a good guy working on it. He keeps getting called out to do other things by his boss from time to time. But the deck is progressing. He’s working on a re-designed front stairs right now.

What we are waiting on, is the permit for the back deck. I’m enlarging it so we need a permit from the county.

Once again, I’m waiting. And, I’m just a little skeptical that the county will come thru in a reasonable amount of time so my deck can be finished so we can actually enjoy it this season.

Please, before it snows.

Things like this, I promised to pay, in one case already have. They promise to install and build what they promised to do.

The longer it takes, the more doubts arise.

It’ll probably happen. But the doubts exist regardless.

You want to buy a house, the house of your dreams. Maybe, it’s the cabin in the mountains of your dreams. You go to the bank, they promise to give you the money to buy that dream house and you promise to pay them back, over time, plus interest.

You promise to give the seller the money the bank gave you and they promise to give you the keys to the house. And promise everything works, doesn’t leak, isn’t broken, no dead bodies hidden in the walls or under the deck.

We once had to deal w/ the bodily fluids of a previous owner who died in the living room of a house we bought and his daughter didn’t replace the pad under the new carpet which was still full of said dried bodily fluids. Until a torrential rain that leaked into the sunken living room bringing those stains to the new carpet.

If you’ve applied for a mortgage lately, you know your hand cramps for all the pages and conditions you have to sign besides the basic contract. It’s 2 inches thick now.

Each signature represents a lawsuit somebody else filed when somebody else didn’t fulfill the promise they made.

The big question in each of these situations is, “Will they keep their promise?” Or, is everything as promised?

The longer it goes, do you feel better about their promises, or worse?

Can I keep mine? Doubts creep in.

I’ve been a Xian since August, 1977. 45 years.

Like all of you most of my frustrations come when I don’t get what I expect.

From Sara, my kids, from God.

Am I expecting the right things? Am I expecting things never promised?

And, not just what I expect, but when I expect it.

Do we expect to avoid tough situations? Do we expect God lead us around them, not into them?

Certainly what we want. But should we count on this?

Or, should we expect tough situations?

Jesus led the disciples into storms, twice, on purpose.

God led Noah and his family directly into a very tough situation that took more time than you and I might expectBut, He did it to save them.

When we find ourselves in a tough situation the temptation is to stop trusting God and take matters into our own hands.

The frustration of unfulfilled expectation can cause us to question if our faith is in the right place.

No matter how long it takes, you can trust God to do what He promised, and it will be good for you.

If life is rocking your boat, you can have faith that God will keep you afloat.

Imagine what it was like for Noah and his family.

The toughest situation you and I will probably face is the situ that takes us from this life into the next. It might go fast, it might take time.

Noah’s family didn’t leave this life, but everyone else did. And, they must have wondered how this was going to play out. They may have had their doubts. But, God kept his promise to them and fulfilled it in His time, not theirs.

Tough Times

Genesis 7:1 NIV

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

Genesis 7:16 NIV

The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

God invited them in then sealed the door behind them. Their fate was sealed. What would happen to them?

That moment. Locked from the outside.

Exciting? Exhilarating? Fear?

The animals and the family all inside. It’s not raining yet. Are we crazy?

What would the ppl outside have been thinking, saying at that time?

Noah and the family were the only ones who believed in God and believed God when He said this would happen. He believed so he obeyed.

John 10:27–28 NIV

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Noah had faith so he walked thru the door. He trusted God. How long would it take? No promises about time.

Sealed in, waiting...

1st day, no rain. 2nd day, no rain. 3rd day, the only sounds besides the animals in their cages must have been the jeers of the ppl on the outside.

But, on the 7th day, the sounds changed.

Genesis 7:7–10 NIV

And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

Noah had been given a 7-day warning. He knew. But no one else did.

The flood came just as God said it would. Even if you knew it was coming, how would you handle the storm?

You think you’re too old to handle big projects and change...

Genesis 7:11–12 NIV

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

600 years old. I’m 62 and I struggle w/ stuff.

For the first time, water fell from the sky. Boy did it ever. A torrential downpour for 40 days and 40 nights.

The floodgates opened in the ground and the underground aquifers unloaded up, onto the earth.

Genesis 7:17–24 NIV

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits., Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

The upheaval and volatility of the shifting ground beneath the water. The aquifers exploding from underneath. Rain pounding down from above. The waves rocking the massive boat as it lifted off the ground.

Had they made a mistake? Would this thing even float?

It did. But, no sails. No motors, inboard or outboard. No steering. Completely at the mercy of the current. No control. All they could do is trust that God was at the wheel taking the Ark in the right direction and keeping them safe.

They didn’t know where they were going or if they would even get there.

God promised they’d survive. Would they? How long would this take? What would be left when they come out of the ark?

But, God had them in the palm of his hand.

Matthew 11:28 NIV

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

I’ve been thru plenty of storms. A couple of times on cruise ships that are huge, have massive diesel engines and stabilizers. I can sleep well w/ the rocking of the ship.

Many of my friends, can’t.

If your life is like this rocking boat, you can trust that God will keep you afloat.

While it’s rocking and rolling, we can question our faith and question God.

Faith, by definition, is resting in a storm, confident God is at work in good ways and future will be good.

What proof did they have that this was going to work out?

What proof do we have that these events ever happened?

Are the lessons and the applications we get from this a certainty?

Proof?

Genesis 8:1–5 NIV

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

God promised it would be a temporary event. The water would recede. It did. He kept his promise. But it took time for everything to clear out.

The mountains of Ararat. Not just one mountain, but a range. It’s in eastern Turkey, outside Ankara.

The highest peaks are almost 17K’. The water receded enough that the ark would come down and rest on a peak over 16K’ above sea level.

This was not a regional or local flood. Enough water to raise the ark over 17K’.

You can imagine, it took time for the water to recede enough for them to be able to come out.

Time?

Genesis 8:13–16 NIV

By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

Noah is now 601 years old when God called them out.

The timeline for the entire event. These are approximations, but close.

7-day warning.

Day 0, it began to rain.

40 days, it rained hard.

150 days, for another 110 days, the rain let up and eventually stopped. The water began to recede.

224 days, mountain tops began to be seen at 17K’

264 days, Noah sent out a Raven and it returned w/ no signs of life.

271 days, Noah sent a dove out and it returned w/ no signs of life.

278 days, the dove returned w/ an olive branch. Plants had begun to grow on dry land.

285 days, the dove never returned. It found a place to build a nest and make its home.

314 days, Noah removed the cover of the ark. The rain had stopped. The sun was shining. The ark rested on dry ground in the mountains of Ararat.

370 days, The earth was dry and God called Noah, his family, and the animals out.

About a year on the ark. God may not work on your timeline, but He will fulfill every promise He makes on His timeline. Patience for us is an asset. God is patient w/ us. We need t/b patient w/ Him.

How encouraging would it be if we had evidence of the ark? What if we could find, photograph, and display samples of the hull of the massive boat?

Truth? People still would’t believe it. It’s not a factual problem, it’s a faith problem. There are spiritual issues that get in the way of everyone believing what’s true.

If this domino fell. Then, others would have to fall. Like, God judges, even takes the life of those who don’t believe. So, those who don’t believe, don’t want to believe a loving God would do this.

Not a new problem. PPL made fun of Noah. Peter wrote this in c.1.

2 Peter 3:5–7 NIV

But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Follow the science. Follow the evidence. The problem we have today is scientific evidence seems to be skewed and biased according to the political and spiritual position of the scientist evaluating the evidence.

Objectivity, black and white, has been replaced by subjectivity and shades of gray.

If a committed evolutionist is shown evidence of the flood, they find ways to explain it according to their paradigm and evolutionary perspective.

Pharaoh didn’t believe in God, or believe that God was going to lead Israel out of Egypt even though Moses showed him iron-clad proof.

Jesus showed the ppl proof of Who He is, yet they refused to believe. In fact, the religious leaders tried to kill Lazarus to keep him quiet to eliminate the evidence of Jesus’s power and a resurrection.

The Paul Meier story. DTS chapel service in the late ‘80s.

The USAF apparently has pics of the petrified ark on mountain top but they are classified and cannot be released.

35 years ago. Who knows what the Kurds and Turks have done to the remains since.

As the water receded, land started to appear. But, so much had changed.

So much death. Imagine, over the course of a year, everyone you know outside your immediate family is dead.

But even in death, proof emerges of the flood.

Dr. Ham;

“If there really was a a worldwide flood, then you’d find the fossilized remains of billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by the wait of the water all over the earth. Fossils would be discovered all over the earth.”

Guess what?!

Besides the mass casualty event, so much more changed as things came back to life.

So Much Changed

Genesis 8:18–19 NIV

So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

At creation, God made one continent. One land mass.

Now, there were 7. N. & S. America. Europe & Asia. Africa & Australia. Antarctica.

Because of the volcanic activity that allowed the water to rush out of the aquifers underground, mountains grew taller and valleys grew deeper.

All my life I had been told the Grand Canyon formed as the Colorado River cut it and eroded the land thru the region.

2 problems came up. First, there is no sediment down river. There should be a lot of sediment.

Second, when Mt. St. Helen’s erupted, it created a canyon. Much smaller, still a canyon was created almost instantaneously.

Now, the belief is the G.C. formed quickly as a result of volcanic activity in the region.

Dr. Ken Ham shows evidence that coming out of the flood, the conditions caused an Ice Age. The earth, covered with water, receding and interacting with the lava flows that allowed the water to escape, created steam and a massive dust storm, blocking the sun’s rays, cooling the earth’s surface.

Ocean levels dropped lower than they are now creating land bridges for animals, who move on land, to travel spread out.

For instance, the short distance between Alaska and Russia would have been dry ground for animals to cross and populate all continents and land masses.

Antarctica, to N. & S. America. N. America to Asia to Europe to Africa, and Australia. All connected by land bridges that disappeared as the earth warmed, ice melted separating the continents.

With all the change, one thing remained the same.

One Thing the Same

Genesis 8:20–22 NIV

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

God didn’t change. The same God that created everything in the first place, gave Noah the plans for the ark, brought the rain, dried the land, and called Noah out.

He worshipped God when He came out.

The same God confused the languages at Babel, chose Abraham from among every person on earth, chose Joseph to save Israel, chose Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt Chose Joshua to lead Israel into the PL the first time, chose Ezra and Nehemiah to lead Israel back into the PL the second time, chose a teen-age girl to be the surrogate mother for the Son of God, chose you and me to believe and be part of His family.

God never changes. We still have 4 seasons every year. Light and dark every day. Cold snowy winters, hot dry summers, wet monsoons, chilly falls when the leaves turn colors.

These will never cease until God brings it to an end.

B/C this boat remained afloat, you can be sure you boat will, too.

The seas will calm, the storm will pass, maybe not on your timeline, but it certainly will on God’s timeline.

He never promised an easy life. In fact, He promised trouble. But He also promised peace and rest in the midst of the trouble.

It’s a promise. Be patient. Your boat will Float.

Applications

Be like Noah

He did what God commanded him to do even though everyone else was making fun of him.

Little support.

He had the courage. He heard from God. He did right even when everyone else was doing wrong.

Heaven

It will take your entire life, but eventually you’ll get to heaven.

Probably, the most volatile time you will ever face will be your last moments in this life.

You may question, or have doubts about God keeping His promise to get you to Heaven.

It will happen in God’s timing, not yours. But you can be certain that God will keep that promise, if you have faith in Jesus to save you, He will.

On your deathbed, you can rest and know you life is about to get much better.

Float

Your boat floats.

Jesus may be so relaxed that he is sleeping in your boat while it’s rocking and rolling. He’s not worried. Your boat will stay afloat.

Don’t panic. The same God that saved Noah, calmed the storm and saved the disciples, and will keep your boat afloat.

Ask for what Jesus offers. He will give you rest in the midst of whatever storm is raging around you.

Most of our frustrations are the result of unfulfilled expectations. What do you expect of God?