2024.02.18. Sermon Notes. IN THE BEGINNING – THE GREAT RESET
William Akehurst, HSWC
BIG IDEA. GOD’s Creation was given free will, and because of sin, wickedness became rampant on the earth. The thoughts of mankind were evil and GOD had enough. But, Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD, and was spared judgment for his household, and the remnant of creation. This is the account of the Great Reset.
Scriptures: Genesis 6:1-22, Genesis 7:1-24, Genesis 8:1-22, Psalms 25:14, Hebrews 11:7,
1 Peter 3:20, Luke 17:26-27, 2 Peter 3:2-14, Jude 1:24-25
A WORLD GONE WRONG
Genesis 6:1-22 (NKJV) The Wickedness and Judgment of Man
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 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.
LIFE EXPECTANCY CHANGE
3 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.”
THE NEPHILITES, NEPHILIM. GIANTS.
4 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.
RAMPANT WICKEDNESS AND EVIL
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. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
NOAH FOUND GRACE IN GOD’S EYES
NOAH PLEASES GOD
9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
NOAH WALKED WITH GOD.
ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED THEIR WAY
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
THE ARK PREPARED AND CONSTRUCTED
(Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20)
13 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. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 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. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH
18 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
GOD WAS PATIENT WHILE NOAH BUILT THE ARK (under construction for about 100 years!)
Can you imagine the scoffing that Noah faced from those who saw what he was building? And how ridiculous it must have looked to those who had no clue of the coming judgment?
A huge boat nowhere near an ocean! Imagine the words hurled upon Noah in those 100 years of construction.
What drove him to do such a thing? Is he crazy?
They witnessed it for 100 years, and didn’t realize that GOD gave those scoffers all that time to repent?
But No one would heed the warning. They were blinded by their own desires and contempt for GOD.
And yet…
Noah remained faithful and obedient to the LORD from start to finish. Despite the mocking and ridicule of others.
Would you have been able to do the same? for 100 years? for 10 years? for 1 year? for 1 day? And I think of what JESUS said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Can’t you even watch for 1 hour?”
What is GOD asking you to do from start to finish? And are you willing to persevere and endure and finish the task?
Fuel for thought.
Genesis 7:1-24 THE GREAT FLOOD
1 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. 2 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; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more 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.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 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. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.
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.
18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
ALL FLESH/LIFE DIED – ONLY NOAH AND THOSE WITH HIM IN THE ARK REMAINED ALIVE VS 23
21 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. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 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 and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.
24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
NOAH’S DELIVERANCE
Genesis 8:1-22
1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
LOOKING FOR A SIGN
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
WATER RECEDES
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. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
GO BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
GOD’S COVENANT WITH CREATION
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat,
Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Genesis 9:1-17 (NKJV)
1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 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.”
THE RAINBOW, GOD’S SIGN OF THE COVENANT
12 And 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: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
SUMMARY
THE GREAT RESET
This year 2024, We began our journey into Genesis 1, where GOD reveals to us WHO HE IS, the ELOHIM. FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT.
We saw that GOD created ORDER in and for Creation.
We read the account of Mankind’s beginnings. Male and Female created in the image of GOD.
We saw that GOD created a beautiful garden for man and woman, a true paradise on earth.
GOD gave instructions to man to tend the garden and rule over the animals.
GOD gave man 1 rule to obey. But freewill to make his own decisions.
Man chose wrongly. Tempted by a serpent, the first fallen son of GOD.
Adam’s firstborn son Cain performed the first murder of his brother Abel. And mankind when down hill from there.
The sons of GOD, fallen angels, those who rebelled against GOD in the heavenly realm, saw and lusted after the daughters of man. This supernatural to natural union birthed a race of mankind known as the Nephilliim, giants in the land, men of old and of great renown.
These things caused great grief to GOD the creator of all things…and HE had had enough.
In HIS Grief, GOD decided to destroy all that had the breath of life upon the earth.
But HE looked upon mankind and gave grace to Noah.
While GOD had made up HIS mind to destroy life on the earth, HE was patient with Noah, to build a vessel, an ARK, to save a remnant of life from HIS impending judgment.
When the Ark was built, GOD commanded Noah to load the Ark, and gave him 7 days to do so. And animals of each kind, came male and female, into the Ark.
When all that GOD called had entered into the Ark, GOD SHUT THE DOOR, and unleashed HIS Judgment upon the earth by way of water.
Waters flowed up from the depths of the earth and down from the skies; the Ark was lifted and rose above the waters of judgment. All who were contained within the Ark, were saved from death.
This was the Great Reset of GOD’s Creation.
All of mankind, and birds and animals of the land, died. Only the 8 people on board, and the animal kinds that GOD had called into the ark were spared.
When the floods abated, and the Ark landed upon the dry ground, GOD opened the door for mankind and the animals to replenish the earth.
And HE gave us a sign, a rainbow as a reminder of HIS covenant that HE would not judge the earth by water again.
JESUS spoke of the last days before the final judgment by fire, that the world would be in disarray once again, similar times, as it was “in the days of Noah”.
We are living in the last days JESUS spoke about, a world filled with wickedness, deception and evil.
Judgment is coming. GOD has been patient, but this ‘time’ will come to an end.
THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH BECAME CORRUPT BEFORE GOD
GOD FOUND GRACE IN NOAH
GOD COMMANDS NOAH, AND NOAH OBEYS.
GOD’S PATIENCE FOR NOAH TO COMPLETE THE TASK
GOD COMMANDS NOAH AND THE ANIMALS TO BOARD THE BOAT
GOD CLOSES THE DOOR
THE ARK RISES ABOVE THE WATERS
THOSE IN THE ARK ARE SAVED
THE WATERS RECEDE
THE ARK LANDS
GOD OPENS THE DOOR AND GIVES PROMISE
THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT – THE RAINBOW
Regarding the Rainbow. GOD created it for a sign of the covenant regarding judgment. However, mankind has twisted and corrupted this sign of the rainbow for something perverse.
We are living in the days of scoffers and when people say good is evil and make evil good. These are the Last days, and TIME is running out.
Noah’s Ark was the salvation from judgment to all contained within.
JESUS is the Ark of our salvation. If we are IN CHRIST, HE keeps us from judgment.
Just as Noah’s Ark rose up above the judgment of the world. We who believe in JESUS as LORD and Savior, contained within HIM, will rise above the coming judgment.
Call it the Rapture…Call it, the rising up above the coming tribulations.
However you see it, the LORD JESUS CHRIST will lift us up and above the judgment that is to come.
The only question is, ARE YOU READY?
Have you received JESUS as the ONLY WAY, the ONLY TRUTH, and the ONLY LIFE that will redeem you from the coming judgment.
We are living in the Days of Noah…
We have heard some speak of another type of “RESET”, and we know it is not a good thing.
GOD has the final say. And HE will RESET, REMOVE, and RESTORE and MAKE NEW, according to HIS Plan.
And when GOD closed the door of the ark and shut them in, no one else could enter into the safety of GOD’s Protection.
Scripture speaks of the Times of the Gentiles being fulfilled, coming to an end. And that in One Day, things will be forever changed.
GOD’s WORD is truth, you either believe it, or you don’t.
Heed the warning and turn your heart to GOD.
It’s time
Time to get Real
Time to get Right
Time to Return to GOD and…
Receive and enter into that “ARK of SALVATION”…JESUS, Our Savior, Redeemer and Soon Coming King.
Hebrews 11:7 KJV By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
1 Peter 3:20 KJV Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Luke 17:26-27 KJV And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
CONCLUDING REMARKS FROM SCRIPTURE
2 Peter 3:2-14 (NLT)
2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
BENEDICTION - Jude 1:24-25 (NKJV)
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Be blessed and Be a Blessing,
Bill
Additional Relevant Scriptures for this study.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Romans 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
1 Timothy 4:1-4
4 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
2 Timothy 3:1-7
3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
