Flooded By Grace | The Garden, The Flood & The Promise | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We are in a series right now studying the book of Genesis, and we are in chapter number six today. We are going to talk about Noah, the ark, and the flood. But before we jump in, I want to thank every person that gives faithfully to and through our church. Your giving is making a difference here in Los Angeles, across our country, and around the world. If you'd like to give today, go to our website and you can give there. But let's jump into this week's message called Flooded with Grace. We're studying the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. And we started at the creation story. We got into Adam and Eve. We talked about the first two brothers, Cain and Abel. We've been studying and journeying through.

0:54 And today we're in Genesis chapter six, talking about Noah and the ark. If you don't know anything about the Bible, one of the coolest stories in all of scripture, we're going to study it together today. I keep wanting to say Noah chapter six, Genesis chapter number six. And it's about a flood. It's about a flood. And floods are interesting to me. I was never around a flood growing up because I'm from the Northwest. I'm from Seattle. and in Seattle, rain's just like around. It's just like your friend that never leaves. It's like furniture you can't get rid of. It's just like, is it raining? I can't tell. It's just there. And so it's like, we play basketball in the rain. We raise kids in the rain. We just, it's just, I can't stand the rain. It's just rain. Okay. So rain's always around. And it wasn't until I moved to LA that I understood what floods were. Cause in LA, when it rains, it what?

1:51 It pours. And the first church I worked at in East LA, I first moved to LA in 1998. And the first church I worked at, our youth, I was a youth pastor, we had our own building. We had our very own building to reach youth. And that's cool. But you know, the youth building's never as nice as the real building. Come on, somebody. And so when it rained, I'll never forget one time it rained so bad in LA that we went to go check on the youth building. Let's just call it a youth shack, okay? And so we went to go check on the shack and this thing was flooded like up to here. And I was like, O-M-U, you got to help out. This is crazy. And it's the first time I ever experienced a flood. And I want to read together about a flood that God sent in the Bible. Genesis chapter number six, verse one, when human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, my spirit will not contend with humans forever for they are mortal and their days will be 120 years. And the Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil at all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on earth and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the earth, the human race I have created and with them, the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground. For I regret that I have made them. Verse eight, last verse, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. I want to preach a message today. Write down the title. It's called Flooded with Grace.

3:46 And I just want to encourage you today that you are sinking in the grace and the blessing and the strength of God today. That God is not going to flood you with anything but his best because of the future deliverance that he sent through his son, Jesus. Clap if you're thankful today, that you're flooded. Come on. This is the second service now. Come on. Flooded with grace.

4:13 I like that. Flooded with grace. God saw how evil, God saw how wild the world had become. God saw that every thought that the man had was wrong and bad and against his ways. In fact, write down point number one, the world had gone wild. The world, the whole world had gone wild. It's like my kids when I'm trying to put them to bed. And they were good until the world, all of a sudden, every thought, every desire, everything was bad. And did you hear what it said? And the Lord regretted that he made man. Now the regret of God here, it's not like you and I, we regret some pizza we ate at 1 a.m., or we regret not investing in the Bitcoin 10 years ago, or we regret the one time that we wore something from the Clippers or anything like that. It's not like that.

5:09 When God says he regretted, it's not like, I didn't know that was going to happen. That's not what the Bible is saying. In fact, God knew that man was going to fall when he made man. It's not that kind of regret. In fact, put it on the screen. I love this thought. Regret is the best human word to capture God's grief and holy response to sin. And even though God is grieved by sin, he doesn't abandon his plan. He redeems it. The flood he sends to judge wickedness, but he also saves Noah and through Noah's line brings Jesus our savior. Oh, I love that. It's not that it's not that he regrets the decision he made. It's that he's filled with grief over the decision that man made. And he's filled with regret. Oh, I wish you wouldn't have done that. I wish you wouldn't have gone there. I wish you wouldn't think that way. And the world had gone wild, but even in, I've been saying this, even in our mess, God makes a plan.

6:07 Even in our worst state, God finds a way to bring redemption. And we see it here in Genesis six, that God, he says, you know what? The world's gone wild. Every thought they have is evil. Their hearts are evil. All they do, they're consumed by what's wrong. But God found Noah, and Noah found favor. Oh, I like this verse so much. Write down point number two today. Noah found favor. Noah found favor. And I want to encourage you today, you found favor. That God found Noah, and Noah found favor. God's not looking for a method. God's looking for a man. He's looking for somebody that he can trust. He's looking for somebody that will love him, somebody that will follow him, somebody that will worship him, somebody that will serve him. And God was looking and he said, not that guy. He's from Rancho Cucamonga. Not that dude. He root for the cowboy. Not that man. Oh, dear Jesus. He from Inland Empire. No, but he found, he found Noah and Noah found favor. In fact, put it on the screen. I love this verse right here. It says this in verse eight and nine and Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. And he walked faithfully with God. Oh, I like that. He walked faithfully with God. In other words, God saw a man that was faithful, and so Noah found favor. A lot of people want favor, but they don't want to be faithful. You can't get favor until you're, oh, come on, I'm preaching to somebody now. You got to be faithful. Come on, clap, but you understand what I'm saying. If you be faithful, you'll find what? Favor. And by the way, you have no shot at being faithful to somebody until you're faithful to God. Faithfulness starts vertical and then gets horizontal. You want to be faithful in your career, faithful to your spouse, faithful to your children, get faithful

8:15 to your God. And out of this faithful, I'm preaching to somebody, I feel the Holy Spirit in this place. And God found Noah and Noah found favor because Noah was faithful to God. You know, faithfulness is boring, isn't it? Faithfulness ain't sexy. That's why I got a case for Steady Eddie. Forget Sexy Steve. Sexy Steve, all cool. He got the watch and the car and the house, but he, Sexy Steve. How about just Steady Eddie? He just faithful every day. He got a job. He got a social security number. He got a... He just steady Eddie goes to his workplace on time, pays his tithes and his taxes. And Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Why? Because he was a faithful man. And God said, I found a man that's been faithful. And this, this man right here, I just see the way that he's serving and the way that he's worshiping and the way that he's he, man, I could do something. God's not looking for a method. He's looking for a person. He's looking for somebody in LA that would say, I'm going to, I'm going to do everything I can to follow God and to serve the Lord and to walk in his ways and, and, and be blameless. Come on, clap if that's your prayer today. And by the way, Noah was living counterculture. Noah, the rest of the world's going this way. Noah was living upstream. Noah was living against the grain.

9:52 No, everybody else going this way, the way of the world. Noah said, as for me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord. And we're getting our eyes not on them, but we're getting our eyes on him. And we're going to just be faithful. And we're going to see where faithfulness leads us. We're going to see where faithfulness ends up. We're going to see where faithfulness takes us. It's kind of like, have you ever been on the freeway, and you're on the freeway, like four lanes, and you're just cruising, just swerving, just flying, and on the other side, they're stuck, and you just keep driving, and the further you drive, the more you see they're stuck, and you just keep going like, they're still stuck. You can drive another mile like, dang, this is going to take an hour.

10:40 See, I believe for you and I, if you follow Jesus, I'm on the freedom path. I'm on the joy path. I'm on the favor path. Oh, come on, clap and thank God. I'm not going the way of the mess. I'm not going the way of the chaos. I'm not going the way of destruction. I'm going down a path that leads to everlasting love. Give them a praise today. I'm living upstream for the glory of God. Never be ashamed to go God's way. Never be ashamed to do it God's path. Never be ashamed. The world says you ought to go this way. It's easier this way. Everybody's going this way. I'm happy to go against the grain. I'm happy to live against upstream because it's the way of God. amen? And Noah, and God found Noah, and then when God found him, Noah found favor, and he found favor because he was what? Faithful. If you get faithfulness, you'll get fruitfulness. If you get faithfulness, you get favor. Amen to that? And so God found Noah. Go, I can work with this joker.

11:44 He's not like everybody else. Everybody else going one way. Noah's a good man. We can work with Noah. We can work with this man, Noah. He's something special. And so God found Noah, and Noah found favor. Noah lived a life contrast to culture. Never be ashamed to live upstream or against the grain for the glory of God. God's favor rests on hearts that trust and obey him. Are you building what God asks you to build? Let me just read this next verse. Verse 13. in chapter six. So God said to Noah, I'm going to put an end to all the people for all the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood from Home Depot. Make rooms in it and coat it in pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it. The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make it lower, middle, and upper decks. I'm going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens. Every creature that has breath of life in it, everything on earth will perish, but I will establish my covenant with you, Noah, and you will enter the ark and you and your sons and your wife and your son's wife's with you.

13:12 You are to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, every kind of animal, and every kind of creature. This is how cats were preserved. And moves along. That was funnier than your laugh. And moves along the ground will come to you and be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Verse 22. And Noah did everything just as God commanded him. You don't think God didn't know that when he was choosing him? I'm choosing Noah because Noah is going to do everything I command him to do. And my question to you today is, are you building what God has asked you to build? Because it may not be an ark, but it might be a family. It may not be an ark, but it might be a business. It may not be an ark, but it might be a church. It may not be an ark, but it might be something that you know God's been speaking to your spirit. I've called you to build, and I'm going to do everything the Lord has commanded me to do. God's favor rests on those that trust him and obey him, and Noah did everything. Noah completed the Ikea project, and he went and got all that material, and he built, The Lord told Noah to build him an archie, archie.

14:40 Somebody went to church growing up. Clap for the one person with trauma in the service. The Lord told Noah to build him an archie, archie. Lord told Noah to build him an archie, archie. Build it. children of the Lord. And he did it, and he built, and he built, and he built, and he built. You know, I bet you some days people walking by going, Noah, idiot. Noah thinks he's better but yo it's going to rain it ain't rained in 50 days Noah you crazy you know not everybody's going to understand what you're building not everybody's going to understand the sacrifice you're making never be intimidated by the naysayers of your life never be swayed by the opinions of others I said it last week let me say it again we don't live for the opinion of man we live for the opinion of one And so Noah, here he is, building, hammering, hitting, just, I wish there was better instructions, but this is all we got, guys.

16:03 And the Lord led him to build an ark. And then while it's dry, before the flood comes, Noah brings every animal two by two into the ark. And then he brings his kids and his in-laws, his daughter-in-laws, and now they're on the ark, and it ain't raining. See, sometimes living for God will seem foolish to the world, but it's wise before the Lord. Amen? Sometimes you're going to be in seasons where it's like... Now what? and it says this in verse 7 put it on the screen i love this sorry chapter 7 verse 16 the animals going in were male and female of every living thing as god had commanded noah then the lord shut him in write down number three he was saved by the ark he was saved in the ark he was it was the ark it was ark the vehicle was the ark but it was when he was in the ark that he was saved. See, outside of the ark represented judgment. Inside the ark represented protection.

17:20 Outside the ark represented wrath. Inside the ark represented provision. It was what saved him, and the Lord shut him in. Oh, I love this thought because it's a foreshadow of you and I in the future being closed in by the grace of Jesus. See, in the Old Testament, it's getting into an ark that will save you. In the New Testament, it's getting into Jesus that will save you. Clap and praise him today if you're thankful. I didn't get into an ark. Oh, hallelujah. I got into a man.

17:52 In fact, put this on the screen. I like this. John chapter 10, verse 9. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 6, 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. This is all about Jesus. How about Colossians 3 verse 3? For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Let me just say this to you. Do you know that when God looks at you, he can't even see you? Because in front of you is Jesus, the Lamb of God. And so when he looks at you, he does not see your sin. He looks at the sacrifice for your sin, and your life is now hidden. He shut Noah and his family in the ark, and he has shut you and I into the grace and salvation of Jesus. Clap if you're thankful today. I didn't get into a boat. I got into a man. And this is the good news. This is the good news to the world that it was a boat that saved Noah and his family in the Old Testament. It was a boat that was a representation of salvation.

19:00 But in the New Testament, we don't get onto a boat. We put our belief in Jesus and we are saved in Christ. Amen to that. So this is just a, this is a typecast. This is a foreshadow of a greater deliverance. When Noah and his family were in the ark, the wrath could not touch them. When you and I are in Christ, the wrath, the judgment cannot touch us because Jesus became our sin. So when Jesus looks at us, when God looks at us, we have now become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Are you thankful for that today? And so here comes Noah and his family, and they're on the boat, and they're saved on the boat. They're saved in the boat, and they're on the boat. I wonder if they played Uno on the boat. I wonder if they had Wi-Fi on the boat or Bluetooth. I wonder on the boat, you know, like, and it had to get stinky on the boat, let's be honest. There's a lot of animals up in that thing. And they're on the boat, and they're just sitting on the boat, and they're just waiting on the boat, and they can hear the rain. You ever be in your house on like a major rainy day in LA, and you can hear the rain hitting your roof, and you're just thanking God you got a good roof. Your roof never matters in LA more than on a rainy day in LA. And they're in their thing. They're like, thank God we hammered that stuff and followed the instruction. Thank God we're in here. And it rained and it poured and it flooded the earth and everything was wiped out.

20:28 But not Noah, not Noah's family. They were saved on the boat. They were saved in the boat. and it rained, it rained, it rained, and the rain stopped, and the clouds parted, and it got nice again. And so Noah's thinking, like you and I would think, Noah's like, I think we're good. Like, I think it's time to, let's get out this thing. It's smelly in here. Some of these animals are nasty. And so he sends a bird to see, like, is it a time to get out? and they're waiting and they're waiting and they're waiting. I like that new song we sang today, the waiting, the waiting, the waiting. Because some of us feel like it's time for me to get out, but God hasn't told you it's time to get out. Some of you are in a season right now where you're like, Lord, you shut me in. I'm ready to get out. I'm ready. I've been frustrated. I've been feeling stuck. I've been feeling like I've been inside. I've been feeling like I've been wandering and waiting. And I'll tell you this, I want to encourage you today. In the same way that God remembered Noah, it's the same way God's going to remember you. Clap today if you're thankful that God has not forgotten about the plan he has for your life. In fact, write down the next point today. We serve the God who remembers. The God who remembers. Verse 1 in chapter 8. But God remembered Noah. I like that. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And he sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded.

22:08 And God remembered Noah. You think that God has forgotten about you? There are people that owe you things that have forgotten. There are people that promised you things that have forgotten. There are people that have wronged you that have forgotten about what they've done. But we serve the God that says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And I will remember my promise to my children. Clap and give them a praise today. If you're thankful, God remembers what he said to me. God remembers that moment. God remembers that deal. God remembers that agreement. Put it on the screen. God remembered Abraham. God remembered Rachel. God remembered Hannah. God remembered Israel. And God remembers you today. God is not forgetting. God has not forgot. Oh, I forgot that I told you I'd bless you. I forgot I told you I'd open that door. I forgot I told you I'd make a way. I forgot I told you I'd heal your body. I forgot I told you I'd bring you into a spacious land.

23:02 No, God remembers. And he's an on-time God, isn't he? He's never too early and he's never too late. He's an on-time God. and Noah's pacing that arc going, man, I built this thing for you, and you know how many neighbors made fun of me, and they posted on social media, and I know it was about me. It was a sub post on their story, but I know it was about me, and they hated on me, and they laughed at me, and now I'm up in here, and it smells like feces, and Lord, you told me, and you ever argue with God? You ever get mad at God? Am I the only one? And the Lord remembered Noah. Had God forgotten about Noah? Surely he had not. He was waiting for just the right.

23:59 time. And the Lord remembered Noah. It wasn't like God was playing pickleball and like, oh yeah, we're Noah. I told him, man, I forgot about that. I'm so old now. I'm 45 years old. I'm so old. I have to set an alarm for everything I do. Half of my life is Julia being like, your alarm's going off. It's 2.30 PM. Your alarm's going off. What's it for? I don't know. No clue. They should make a notes section with your alarm. It would help me out. But we are forgetful. Don't say they do. I just don't say that. Don't say that. Don't say that. I'm going to put you into a flood.

24:44 Do they for real? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. The other day, I love to wake up my guys in the morning. I love to wake them up. I was waking up one of my guys, and I love to get close to him. I was waking up one of my guys, and he's out. The kids are out. He's waking him up, poking on you. He didn't even open his eyes. First words out of his mouth, you forgot to let me listen to the chat GBT story we created. He hadn't even opened his eyes. and so i did what any great parent would do i said no i lied to him no i didn't forget your mother forgot See, we are so accustomed to being forgotten about by humans, we think God does the same.

25:33 You think, well, God must have forgot that dream. God must have forgot that plan. God must have forgot. Some of you really feel forgotten about. And I'm just so thankful today that I'm not trying to sell you a lie. he's so good, isn't he? And at just the right time, the Lord remembered Noah. And I've got faith today, God's going to remember you. If God remembered Hannah, and God remembered Abraham, and God remembered Israel, and God remembered Noah, what makes you think he can't remember you? And the Lord remembered, he remembered Noah. He's got a great memory, doesn't he? The Lord remembered Noah. And here comes Noah.

26:26 Noah gets off the boat. In verse 20, it says, Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking some of the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. See, I just want to tell you, the floodwaters are going to rise in your life. You still got to worship anyways. The floodwaters are going to come in your life, and it's going to feel like I'm sinking. But I'll tell you, my best praise has come when I couldn't even say a word out of my mouth. My best worship is when my lip is quivering. The best stuff I got to give God is a broken and a contrite heart. Anybody thankful that it's okay to worship through some heartache and some disappointment and some frustration and some pain? Come on, give them the best praise you got in the midnight hour when you don't feel like it. That's the stuff that'll move the heart of God when you say, I don't feel like praising. I don't feel like worshiping.

27:22 But I know you're good. And I know you're faithful. And I know you will remember. Give him a shout of praise today. I will worship my God. And Noah made an offering. And Noah made a sacrifice. And Noah brought his best praise to the Lord. Don't let the water change your worship. Don't let what you're seeing alter your praise. You praise the faith. Oh, I love faith people. Faith people see things that nobody else sees. Faith people hear things that nobody else hears. Faith people speak things that nobody else speaks. Why? The just shall live by faith. Come on, clap and give them a praise today. It's by faith. Noah built an ark by faith. Noah brought his family in by faith. Noah kept praising by faith. Noah got out the ark and worshiped with faith. see it's before it's during and it's after a lot of us know how to praise God before the miracle in the midst of the miracle but afterwards come on afterwards after Noah got out he gave the best praise he's ever given I feel like yelling right here.

28:31 Like, oh. this to me is what separates the Noah's from the rest because Noah's living this way and and God found Noah and Noah found what if I favor and Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do and after he did that he brought an offering of worship it was like Noah was saying I can't believe you chose little old me to do something like this. God is not looking for talent. God is not looking for capability. God is only looking for availability. God's looking for somebody that would say, I know I'm nothing. I know I'm nobody. I know I'm not that great. Come on, clap. I know I got a lot of issues, but I'll do my best to do it the God way, to do it the God way. Worship team, come join me. Write down the last one today. I love this thought. A new beginning and a new covenant. Genesis 9. This is our last scripture today. Genesis 9, chapter 12. And then we're going to go to In-N-Out, everybody together. And a connect group leader's paying. Hallelujah.

29:45 Genesis 9, verse 12. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. I love rainbows. I love rainbows because like I grew up in the Northwest and you know in the Northwest at night you can see all the stars and I grew up around really smart people that are like It's the little dipper.

30:53 See that one right there? That's the, and I'm just agreeing. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, 100%. So cool. Oh, that's so cool. I don't know what any of it is, but a rainbow. I can see the rainbow. And the Lord said, every time a rainbow appears, I will remember my covenant. So the next time you see a rainbow, just know you're partnering with God and God is simultaneously while you're watching it he is remembering I'll never do that again so I can't wait to see a rainbow I hope it's not in LA until next February because I am sick of the suffering but it's a sign of covenant it is in the bible the first covenant God makes you don't know what a covenant is it's a promise or an agreement it's what you do every time you get a new iphone you make a agreement that they can have all your photos and all of your texts so you know agreements God makes agreements in fact this is the first one God's going to make one coming up with Abraham he's going to make one with Moses he's going to make one with David and then he's going to make one with you this is the first one the covenant that he will never flood the earth and wipe out humanity ever again it's the first one with abraham he says abraham i'm gonna bless you your name is gonna be great and from you from your seed the whole earth will be blessed he makes one with moses he makes one with david then he makes one with you if you're wondering what kind of agreement am i in with god let me tell you god says in our agreement with god i will remember your sins no more he says no longer will a brother teach their brother you should know god i'm gonna write my

33:01 law on every heart in other words it's god saying i'm gonna plant eternity in the hearts of all men and everybody's gonna know them no longer will they need a parent to teach them i'm gonna teach them myself of my grace and my mercy and my love and i'm thankful today that god says literally right here. I'm the God that remembers. And later he says, I'm the God that forgets. And I will remember my promise, but I will forget your failure. And I will not remember anything you've done, not in middle school, high school, college. I won't remember what you did in LA or Las Vegas. I will remember your sins no more. In other words, you can remember them, but God doesn't. You can probably remember your friend's sin. Some spouse is like, uh-huh. But God says, I will remember your sins no more. And I will write my law on your heart. I'm just thankful today that we are studying the first covenant. The rainbow represents the mercy and the faithfulness of God. So when I look at a rainbow. And the next time I see one, can't wait.

34:16 I'll have a moment where I can remember God and I are recalling this plan, this covenant. And I don't know where God is in the cosmos, but I know that him and I are having a moment. He's remembering what I did with Noah, I'll never do again. And it's a symbol of God's faithfulness and his mercy on the earth. the cross has some symbolic significance in our life a rainbow represents his mercy but the cross represents our salvation that when I see a cross it remembers I don't need an ark to get into I'm in a man his name is Jesus and he saved me from the judgment and the wrath and now I've got the favor that Noah got. I get the favor that God gave him through belief in the son of man.

35:15 Come on, clap like you're grateful today. Hallelujah. Come on, stand to your feet today.