Humanity in Sin Part 8 - God's Judgment: The Flood
20.05This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev.Dr.Stephen Tong on 25th March 2007 in GRIIS. It was preached in Indonesian and I personally translated to English. Newton Life has it preached in Mandarin with English translation.
Passage: Genesis 6:8-22
Note that I did not include some of the content of this week's sermons because it overlaps with the previous week's transcript.
God is merciful and God is righteous. These two attributes of God are parallel and never clash eternally. They are harmonious in a paradoxical way. There is mercy in the midst of judgement and there is judgement in the midst of mercy. If we understand this, we will enjoy God’s mercy carefully in fear of Him.
In one generation, only one man, Noah, pleased God. The Scriptures said that Noah walked with God. What does it mean to walk with God. Micah 6:9 says to act justly, to love mercy, to be humble and to walk with God.
A person who walks with God must walk at His pace, not to rush ahead or to be late behind. With the same lifetime, the same resource, there are those who just walk around in empty dreams and there are those who work hard and partake in God’s eternal plan.
Noah worked on the ark for 120 years. He preached for 120 years without any soul repenting. God had given him a very tough work to do. In order to do God’s will, we need to have a sacrificial heart. We need to learn the attitude of giving all to God when He wants it.
The annual spending for military use worldwide is enough for mission work for 250 years. Men use up so much resource to kill and wage war. The money used for cosmetic in a year is far more than the money used for evangelism. If we say we love the Lord, that is nonsense. We can use a lot of our resources for ourselves but we are very stingy when it comes to God’s work. But Noah has a right heart. He gathered all the necessary resources to do God’s will and persevered to the end. Not only did he need to bring all the animals in, but he had to provide the food needed as well. How long would they be in the ark? He was not told. The Scriptures later showed that they remained in the ark for 1 year and 10 days. Imagine the hard work Noah had to put in. Doing God’s will is not easy.
The Scriptures say it was God who closed the door of the ark. Opportunities will not always be there. While we still have opportunities, we need to make full use of them. All our time, talents, youth, etc. should be surrendered to God. Once God’s mercy has been withdrawn, man has no more power to create another chance or another beautiful day. Opportunity is the grace of God.
The ark represents salvation. In the midst of the sinking world, there is a place where people will not perish. That is the salvation of God in Jesus Christ in this sinful world. The Church is God’s redeemed people who escape damnation through salvation in Christ and led by the Holy Spirit to fulfil God’s eternal will.
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