Sermon
God of Mercy and Judgment
November 21, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you take your Bibles. You'll need a Bible today because so much of our message is the reading of Scripture. And I want to talk to you about a subject that is not a popular subject in the pulpit. When Paul was making his final visit to the Christians at Ephesus, as they meet with him he reviews the experience that he had as their spiritual leader, and then when he is about ready to leave they already know this is the last time they are going to see him. In fact, when he makes his departure they weep. But he was able to say this to them before his departure, I have never shunned of declaring unto you the full counsel of God.

My prayer is that when this voice is silenced from this pulpit and I go to my eternal reward, may it be said of this preacher that he did not shun to preach the full counsel of God. And again I say it's a subject not popular. It's a subject seldom preached on today, but it's a subject that's deep on my heart. I want to talk to you about the God of mercy and the God of judgment.

Would you take your Bibles and join with me in an Old Testament passage, in fact it's near the front of your Bible. And I pray that every one of you have a Bible in your hand because I'll tell you the pages to turn to as we read the story about Noah, the flood, and the ark.

We begin our lesson today reading from Chapter 6, but prior to chapter 6 there are five chapters, Genesis 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Hebrew historians tell us that in that five chapter span approximately 2000 years of world history took place. And when you look at the verses just prior to chapter 6, in chapter 5 we have the genealogies of many of the families and we realize that some of them lived very, very long lives, in fact, in verse 27 it says and all the days of Methuselah were 969 years; and he died. The oldest living man.

We ask the question, What caused those antediluvian people to live such long life spans? And we can be informed that the world at that time was surrounded by a canopy, by a blanket, a thermal blanket that wrapped the world. And thus, those that lived in those days were shielded from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Besides the fact that it was God's new creation and many of the illnesses that we know today after generations and thousands of years were not existent then, and so you had longevity.

And so now we come to Chapter 6. Nearly 2000 years have gone by since the days of Adam and we read: Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Now immediately we are confronted with one of the great problems of theology. The question is always asked, Who were the sons of God and the daughters of men? Now again when we go back into Hebrew writings, they felt that the sons of God were the fallen angels that had come, taken upon human form, and became involved with the human race. That's somewhat difficult for me to handle because in the New Testament when Jesus is talking about heaven, He says, like the angels, they do not marry and they are not given in marriage. And so if we take that position we have a violation I think; we have the Old Testament and the New Testament out of harmony.

Others say, no, what it was, the sons of God were the Sethites. They were the godly people and the daughters of men were from the descendents of Cain. They were the Cainites. And here you have a picture of godly people marrying ungodly people. The result is that you have a world that has gone totally corrupt.

Now when you come to the bottom line we do not know exactly what Moses was referring to when he talked about the sons of God and the daughters of men. We do know one thing; whatever happened in that coming together, the result was a very sinful world, insomuch that God said I'm done. My spirit will not always strive with men. I'm done trying to help these people, and God purposes in His heart, as we read on, to destroy them. Whatever it was, it created a very evil world.

Look at verse 5: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

God looks upon His world and sees a world that is totally violent, totally anti-God. Then we have that bright ray of sunshine. Look at verse 8: But Noah, Noah found grace (that's the first time that word appears in our Bible); Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's His unmerited favor.

Now this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. The word for perfect means uncontaminated; he did not allow the world around him to contaminate him. And Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits."

A cubit is 18 inches so 300 cubits would be 450 feet. Its width fifty cubits (or 75 feet), and its height thirty cubits (or 45 feet).

"You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks." It's going to be a three-story ship.

"And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters." I think if Noah was listening he said, just a second God. What are You talking about, floodwaters? Here is a totally new subject. You say, why? Well go back in your Bible to Genesis chapter 2. Floodwaters is something so strange in the ears of Noah because look at what it says in verse 4 of chapter 2. "This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground."

So for those first 2000 years, possibly, of mans' existence there had never been a drop of rain fall from the skies. God watered His earth with moisture that came up from the earth beneath. When He says to Noah, I'm going to bring floodwaters on the earth, that something totally new to Noah.

And He says: "to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark--you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives 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; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten." In other words, make sure you've got plenty of food in storage, not only for the animals but for yourself. "and it shall be food for you and for them.

Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth."

So now they are in the ark.

"For after seven more days..." And they are sitting there in the ark for seven days. "I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made." And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Now that is a very fascinating verse, verse 11. He says that when God started this flood, the earth, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. I went to one of my study Bibles and here was the explanation of verse 11. The writer says: A worldwide rain of this length of time is impossible in post-flood atmospheric conditions, but not then. The canopy that covered the whole earth, a thermal water blanket encircling the earth, was to be condensed and dumped all over the world. The subterranean water sprang up from inside the earth to form seas and rivers, which were produced not by rainfall, since there was none, but by deep fountains in the earth. So the celestial waters in the canopy encircling the earth joined with the terrestrial and subterranean waters and covered the whole earth. This ended the water canopy surrounding the earth and unleashed the water in the earth; together these phenomena began the new system of hydrology that has since characterized the earth.

Now the sequence of this verse, indicating that the earth's crust breaks up first, then the heavens drop their water, is interesting because the volcanic explosions that would have occurred when the earth fractured would have sent magma and dust into the atmosphere, along with gigantic sprays of water, gas, and air-all penetrating the canopy above triggering its downpour.

You've probably traveled in parts of the world. You only have to go over here to Pacifica and go down Highway 1, and right up at Devil's slide you see as they've cut away to make for the highway, you see those rocks as they lay on ledges all the way up. It's indicative that sometime in the ancient past there was a convulsion and the world became fractured and all of the subterranean waters came out from beneath the ground, and this is the picture that is painted for us here. It says that in that day God broke up all the deep, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.

So now what you've got is you've got this water gushing up from the ground from all these explosions that come out of the earth, and you have this canopy that has shielded the earth all of these years, it breaks forth and pours forth. So you've got water coming down and you've got water coming up, and it isn't very long you've got a deluge.

Look at what the Scriptures say. It says, reading at verse 17, Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah, only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Now these days included the 40 days and nights of rain. The flood rose to its peak at that point. It then took over two and a half months before the waters receded to reveal the mountain peaks, and over four and a half months before the dove could find dry land, and almost eight months before the occupants could leave the ark. That was a long boat ride - eight months.

Now go with me to chapter 8. God stops the rain. Verse 2, The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

Now Ararat is located in what we know today as Turkey. And if you follow your National Geographic and some of the expeditions, there is a general feeling that they have located the ark near the top of Mount Ararat. And when you go to your geography book you'll find that Mount Ararat is 17,000 feet high, and if it says that the waters covered all the hills of the world, we had a worldwide flood. And you can talk with those who study in the fields of science, that's why we find fossils clear up in the high mountains, even to this day.

So now we come to chapter 8 verse 13: And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.

Now I've tried to imagine what that moment was like for Noah and his little family. They had been inside this boat with all of these animals for eight months plus, the rains have stopped long ago, and now God said it's time to leave. Can you imagine what it was like to open that ark, walk upon a world where everything had been destroyed, and you knew that only you and your family were the only inhabitants on the face of the earth.

It was such an eventful moment, even for God Almighty. Look at verse 11 in chapter 9: "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." As God Almighty looks upon the scene of devastation, He's moved to such depth that He said never again, never again will I do this to the world. God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

Ladies and gentlemen, when the rain has stopped and you walk out and you view the beauty of a rainbow, God has remained faithful over the generations and that rainbow is one more statement from God Almighty; it's My covenant He says, I will never again destroy the world with a flood.

Now there's the story of Noah. Now the interesting thing - let's take this Old Testament story and see how it reappears in the New Testament. First go with me to Matthew 24. Now here we have Jesus Christ to discussing with His disciples the closing events when the world will come to an end, because He's been asked the question, How will all these things, speaking of this world, come to an end? And Jesus has gone over these various aspects and now He comes to verse 37. Look at what He says: But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.

What He is saying is that suddenness - the world was going on, life was in its general pace and what Jesus is saying, just as that day came and (claps hands) suddenly...water started shooting up from the earth and water started coming down from heaven, and it wasn't very long they were dead. Suddenly, He says, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in that closing day of time, the coming of the Son of Man.

Now let's go to another place where Noah is mentioned. Go with me to Hebrews chapter 11. We're seeing how the Old Testament story carries into the New Testament doctrine of the end of the world and the Day of Judgment. Look at a verse 7 of Hebrews 11: By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. So we're finding here that here God tells Noah it's going to rain. Noah has never seen rain before, but God has said it...that settles it. God says build an ark. He does it. Foolish, yes; 120 years in its building, yes; mocked, surely - building an ark out in the middle of the desert when they didn't even know about water coming from the skies.

It says by fear...he was divinely warned of things not yet seen. He moved with a respect for God, godly fear, prepared the ark, and saved his household. So Noah did something that he took by faith because he had never seen water before.

No go with me to 2 Peter chapter 2. We're finding these various references where that Old Testament story is carried into the New Testament. Look at 2 Peter 2:4, here's what it says, For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.

Peter is saying, listen, God has done it in the past. He cast the angels out of heaven that sinned, He spared not those; He didn't spare the ancient world. He judged the ancient world for its sin and the day will come where again He will judge the ungodly. Well how will it take place?

Go with me to chapter 3 of 2 Peter. This subject is heavy on his heart as he writes. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle [in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder], that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets.

Pause - what did the prophets have to say about this day? Well hold your finger there in your Bible and go back with me to Isaiah chapter 13. What did the old prophets have to say about the end of time, how God was going to judge the ungodly? And look at what Isaiah writes 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 13:6, Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man's heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames.

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.

Peter said, listen, the old prophets have talked about it. We can go through all the prophecies. It would take us hours. They talked about the end moment of time. So Peter goes on, verse 3, I'm at 2 Peter 3 now, chapter 3 verse 3: knowing this, the scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

So Peter is saying, look at, you start talking about God's judgment and you're not going to get many listeners, and then some of them will be scoffers and they will say, look at, it's been a long time and God's not going to do it again - just scoffing.

But Peter said, look at, verse 5: But this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

When we talk about the Day of Judgment, just remember, there was a day when an earth was here and it was flooded by water, and what Peter is saying, they forget that. Verse 7: But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word. In other words, God has kept His word. All these thousands of years there has not been the destruction of the world by a flood. He has kept His word.

Look at the next sentence: they are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The second destruction is a destruction by fire not water.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You scoffers you say look at, God's not going to do it. Look at how long it's been. You can say, just remember, God's timetable is not like ours on earth. We measure time by calendars, years, hours, and minutes. God is an eternal God and His is an eternal timetable. A thousand years are as one day with God. In other words, you can't make any comparisons. Just because you can say God, it's been a long, long time since the flood - God isn't going to do it again.

Just remember, God's timetable is different than ours, and He has a reason because He's a God of mercy and He wants all men that they should come to repentance - that none should perish. That's why God delays the closing climax of world history as we know it.

He goes on to say, look at, that the day of the Lord, now that was the day, that was the marking day. If you were a Jewish person sitting and listening or reading this and Peter was your preacher, you would know that in the Jewish mind they divided time in two phases: the world as we now know it, and the world which is to come, the world of the blessed. But the day that splits the two time frames is known as the day of the Lord, and here is what he says: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

So the next destruction that God brings because of sin, this world will be dissolved with intense heat and fire.

On Saturday night after our evening service I meet with the elders that join with me for prayer. One of my elders who meets with me works in the missile department down in Lockheed. He's an engineer - brilliant. And as I read this...we were reading it and we were having prayer afterwards, he said, you know pastor as you read that passage of Scripture this evening, he said, I was thinking. He said I go back in the study of science, and he said, do you know what the greatest fear was before they split the first atom? The fear was that if they split that atom they would create a chain reaction that would absolutely explode the atoms of the world. They didn't know. But he said the scientists had that tremendous fear - What will happen when we split the atom?

I said, let me ask you a question. In that there is a great deal of concern worldwide for nuclear proliferation, is it possible that proliferation would be so great as it circles the world, would there be a possibility of a nuclear event that would absolutely burn the world in a moment of time? And he paused for a moment and said, Pastor, I can't answer that question for you, because it's that question we do not know.

I think it's interesting, in our world we sit on the brink of nuclear proliferation and we do not know what it will take. God knows. But Peter says (claps hands) that quick, just as when the rains started coming, the waters beneath and the waters from above, and in just a few moments of time the people drown. He said, in a moment of time (claps hands), suddenness, the end will come. Wherever we are just (claps hands) that quick. And do know what is the next moment? Every man, woman, boy, and girl who have ever lived will stand before the judgment seat of Christ; every one of us. Just as sure as we are sitting here today on this beautiful Sunday, we will some day (claps hands) that quick, be in the presence and at the judgment seat of God. What's it going to be like?

Go with me to Revelation. The last book in your Bible, chapter 20 verse 11. Look at what it says: Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Notice there are the books, and then there is the Book. So God Almighty is keeping record, not only of the sins of the saints, or the fact that the saints names are going to be written in the Lamb'S Book of Life, but He keeps track of the sins of the sinners because they are judged out of those books.

Look at what happens. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

You see what happens, when you and I put our trust in Jesus Christ, the Savior who went to that cross, who died to pay the penalty for our sins, and we say, Jesus, we receive You as our Savior and as our God and we want You to be the Lord of our lives, something wonderful takes place in heaven - our name is written in the Book of Life. (claps hands) And on that day when we stand in His presence, the books will be opened and if your name is in the Book of Life, He will say well done thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joys of my Lord.

But if your name is not there, He will say depart from Me ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you. And that person will be forever banished from the presence of Almighty God to suffer his judgments for sin. I didn't say it...the Bible does.

You say, well pastor, in that it's all going to come to an end like that, how should we live? What should be our concern? Well, let's go back to 2 Peter again and he'll tell us how to live. Look at what he says.

Verse 11 says: Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be? How should we live? We should live holy lives, and conduct ourselves in godliness. If we are living our lives sincerely trying to please Jesus Christ and making Him the Lord of our lives, that moment will come and we will be wafted eternally into His presence.

Look at, he says another thing: looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, and being on fire the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. At the moment we will be wafted into a new heavens and a new earth.

Our last verse is John 14. Look at what it says - these are the words of Jesus - chapter 14, the Gospel of John. "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

That's the hope, that's the joy we have as Christians. Whenever the end (claps hands) comes, at that moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we'll be in His presence forever. What a hope. We have nothing to fear if we belong to Christ. Amen? Let's bow our heads.

Lord Jesus, we've gone through the Scriptures and they are very clear. There will come a day...the suddenness will be much like the rain that fell from heaven on those ancient people in Noah's day: suddenness, and then it will all be over, except eternity, and every one of us here will stand before You, O God, and we will be judged according to our sins, our works, and what we have done for Jesus.

With every head bowed...you're thinking through what we've have read from the Scriptures and probably these thoughts are going through your mind - you know Pastor, if that day, if that moment that you described comes with suddenness, if that would happen, I really don't know for sure that I would go to heaven. I've got some doubt in my own mind. In fact I face the very possibility with a lot of fear, and I want to get that matter cleared today. I want to give my heart and life to Jesus Christ and receive Him as my Savior. I want to do that now.

You're making an eternal decision and that decision is - dear God I lift my hand and in so doing I'm telling You I want to receive Jesus as my Savior. Just say this very simple prayer, Jesus, I need You. I am a sinner and I do want to come to heaven, and thus I confess my sins, I repent of them, I want to turn from them, and I'm want to serve You, dear Jesus, as a follower, as a disciple of You. I want to be a Christian, and I want You to be my Savior, and I thank You for hearing my prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.

God bless you folks, God bless you.