The chance to start over again is one
of the greatest blessings God grants to men. The Bible story from its
beginning is one of man's fall into sin and God's gracious call to
repentance and beginning again. But it is vitally important for men to
realize that God's gracious mercy in giving man a second chance is not
of eternal duration.
When God looked upon His creation in
the days of Noah He was sickened at heart over what He saw. Man’s
thoughts and actions had declined to the point that he had given himself
over completely to evil. When God saw how that which He had made in His
own image had deteriorated He said, "I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth ... for I am sorry that I made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
(Genesis 6:7-8)
When God opened the floodgates of
heaven the earth was deluged with water and for one hundred fifty days
the water prevailed upon the world. God poured out His divine judgment
against sin by destroying every land dwelling creature which he had
created. Only Noah, his family, and those animals in the ark with him
were saved from God's wrath against sin. By God's grace Noah was saved
because he alone was faithful to God in a world of wicked men.
Our world today is filled with
wickedness and sin. Men are inclining their hearts more and more toward
evil, embracing that which is abominable to God and calling it good. All
of us have sinned and rebelled against the Lord who created us. We are
hopelessly lost in sin and doomed to eternal destruction. Yet our
gracious God, not wanting any of us to perish, has by His marvelous
grace provided the means of our forgiveness that we might be cleansed of
sin and begin again. Peter wrote that "God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was being prepared, in which few, that is eight souls,
were saved by water. There is also an antitype which now saves us,
baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' (1
Peter 3:20, 21)
Noah and those who were with him were
shut up in the ark for just over one year. When the flood waters had
receded and they finally stepped out onto dry ground, they stepped out
into a world that had been washed clean of wickedness. The waters that
had washed away those who had walked in sin had saved Noah by lifting
the ark above the sinful world and separating him from it. Noah, as the
apostle Peter wrote, was saved through water from that sinful world. And
just as Noah was saved through water, we too can be saved from our sins
by being buried with Christ in the waters of baptism. Baptism, according
to the scriptures, is what puts us into Jesus Christ (Galatians
3:27). In fact, baptism is the
only thing which the scriptures teach can put one into Christ. Just as
Jesus was put to death, buried, and raised by the power of God, in
baptism one who has sinned against God has symbolically crucified his
old way of life and died to it. That one is then buried in the watery
grave of baptism and raised by the power of God to a new life as a
Christian (see
Romans 6:3-5).
Through baptism into Jesus Christ God gives us the chance to begin
again. That's why Peter said that baptism saves us. It's not the washing
of dirt off the physical body that enables us to start again, but the
fact that by faith we have trusted God's grace in sending His Son to die
for us and have submitted to Him by obeying His will. God saves us
through the blood of His Son when we respond to Him in obedient faith.
And just as Noah stepped out of the ark into a clean world with a chance
to begin again, so we are raised from the waters of baptism forgiven of
sins and with the opportunity to begin a new relationship with our Lord.
But it is vital that we understand that
God's gracious invitation for us to be saved is not of eternal duration.
Just as He rained His wrath upon sinful men in the days of Noah, God has
promised to destroy sin once and for all in a final judgment upon His
creation. Some mock the idea of the Lord's return. They were doing so in
Peter's day. Some were saying, "Where is this Jesus whom you say is
coming to judge us? The sun came up this morning just like it did
yesterday and the day before, and we still see on evidence of His
judgment!” But Peter said that those who say such things have forgotten
that God did destroy the world in the time of Noah
(2 Pet. 3:5-10).
And God has said that the present heaven and earth will also be
destroyed by fire. Jesus will come as a thief in the night in judgment
against sin. At His coming time itself will end, the world will cease to
exist, and God will no longer grant men an opportunity to repent. Those
who have walked wickedly before the Lord will be eternally lost, while
those who have walked by faith will have a new beginning in heaven with
God. Learn from Noah's example. Walk by faith so that when Jesus comes,
you can begin a new life in heaven that will last throughout eternity.
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