{"id":18579,"date":"2021-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/genesis-033-mans-problem-gods-solution-pt-1\/"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T17:46:55","slug":"genesis-033-mans-problem-gods-solution-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/sermon\/genesis-033-mans-problem-gods-solution-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 033 – Man’s Problem & God’s Solution, Pt. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[12],"series_event":[511],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18579","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-genesis","series_event-genesis","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Genesis 033 - Man's Problem & God's Solution, Pt. 1","sermon_date":"20210425","sermon_month":"04","sermon_year":"2021","sermon_notes":9001,"sermon_slides":9000,"sermon_mp3":9003,"sermon_id":"4252114542777","series_or_event":511,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":12,"chapter_and_verse":"8:15-20","sermon_transcript":"

Genesis 033<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Man\u2019s Problem God\u2019s Solution<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Part 1<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Dr. Andrew Woods<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the book of Genesis 8:15. We recommend that the nursery be used for children from birth to age three.\u00a0 The nursery is open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. The services are being streamed in the nursery, and if you have some separation anxiety, go down to the left to the fellowship hall, and you can go in with your very young children and watch the service there.\u00a0 We recommend that because we believe that Bible teaching is something that requires focus. And it's hard to teach in an environment with very young children. \u00a0So, we recommend you take advantage of this. We also have an outstanding youth program, and I know about what's being taught in this youth program because my wife is one of the teachers, and she's preparing lessons on worldview and what's wrong with abortion and homosexuality.\u00a0 We're not in the entertaining the kids business, so if you take advantage of our youth program, you will be blessed to the max!\r\n\r\nWell, let's take our Bibles<\/u><\/strong> and open them to the book of Genesis 8:15. The title of our message this morning is:\u00a0 Man's Problem and God's Solution.<\/u><\/strong> \u00a0As you know, we are in the midst of a series on the book of Genesis 1-11, and we're going through this verse by verse\u2014it is about four events:\r\n

    \r\n \t
  1. Creation<\/strong>. What was the world like before sin entered the world? Genesis 1-2.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. The Fall.<\/strong> What went wrong?\u00a0 Genesis 3-5. It's interesting, even as man falls, there's a prediction of a coming Messiah into the world to fix what was marred. And that prediction, as we have studied it, is in Genesis 3:15, and the rest of the Bible<\/u><\/strong> is an unpacking of that prophecy, because that prophecy points to Jesus Christ.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nSo, we have Creation<\/strong>, and we have the Fall<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nThen the next major event that we are currently studying is:\r\n
      \r\n \t
    1. The Flood<\/strong>. Genesis 6-9. We have events before the Flood<\/strong>, the Flood<\/strong> itself, and then in Genesis 8, the abating of the waters\u2014the section where we find ourselves this morning.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nThe waters abate\u2014Genesis 8:1-5,\r\n\r\nNoah tests for dry land<\/strong>\u2014Genesis 8:6-14.\u00a0 Last time, we studied how a raven was sent out and did not return per 8:7.\u00a0 Now these are either three different doves or the exact same dove. \u00a0We're not sure, but after the first round, the dove returned in 8:8-9.\u00a0 After the second round, the dove returned with an olive leaf in its mouth in 8:10-11, and after the third time the dove did not return in 8:12, indicating that the waters had abated.\u00a0 And it's now time to exit the ark.\r\n\r\nThe disembarking of the ark<\/strong> in Genesis 8:15-19 says, \u00a015<\/sup><\/strong>Then God spoke to Noah, saying<\/em>, [now this is interesting to me because God hasn't spoken since Genesis 7:1 where it says, \u2018Then the Lord said to Noah,<\/em>\u2019 and as far as I can tell, God doesn't speak again. \u00a0For about 378 days as Noah was in the ark, and finally, when it's time to disembark, God now speaks again in 8:15. \u00a0There is a tremendous balancing act going on here, because Noah, without the audible voice of God, had to determine when it was time to leave the ark. That's why he utilized and employed these animals.\u00a0 The dove and the three dove returns. \u00a0Actually, after the last one, there was no return. \u00a0I gave you this quote last time from Arnold Fruchtenbaum where he writes concerning all of this.\r\n\r\n\u201cUntil now, Noah received direct revelation from God, but now he must use natural means to find out the condition of the earth, since God is not speaking to him at that moment. This shows the balance between learning things by divine revelation and learning things by natural means. Both are seen as valid options everywhere in the Scriptures.\u00a0 Therefore, he first used the raven, and now he uses the dove to find out the actual conditions of the earth.\u201c<\/em>\r\n\r\nI find this interesting because so many times as Christians, we're afraid to make decisions, unless we have a sign. \u2018I want a sign from above. \u00a0I want to hear an audible voice. \u00a0I want to see a vision. \u00a0I want to see a dream. \u00a0I want to see something in the Bible<\/u><\/strong> that relates specifically to the issue I'm facing, whether it be an employment issue, a relational issue, a family issue<\/em>.\u2019 The fact of the matter is, there are many times where God is not going to give you that direct revelation. \u00a0In fact, look into the Bible<\/u><\/strong>, and it may not cover the specific issue you're facing, and you think, \u2018Oh no, God has forsaken me during this time.<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 Noah probably thought that as well, as God did not speak to him for 378 days, but Noah was given something by God called a mind, an intellect. \u00a0The intellect is a very powerful thing, and God expects us to use that intellect to glorify Him.\r\n\r\nSo, whether you should take a job, not take a job, move to this city, to that city, go ahead and ask God for a vision or a dream or a sign. \u00a0Maybe He'll give it to you. \u00a0I can't guarantee that, but He has given you a mind, and He has said, \u2018I died for your sins and not your mind.<\/em>\u2019 Use the God-given intellect that you have as you make decisions in life. \u00a0There's nothing wrong with that. \u00a0There's nothing unspiritual about that.\u00a0 That's what Noah is exhibiting here.\r\n\r\nNoah is an amazing person in the Bible<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0That's why he's in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11 being a record of those who walked with God in spite of the odds stacked against them.\u00a0 Hebrews 11:6 says, \u201cAnd without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.\u201c <\/em>\u00a0That is a tremendous statement about faith.\r\n\r\nThen the next verse (Hebrews 11:7) says, \u201cBy faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.\u201c<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt's hard to overstate Noah\u2019s walk with God, as well as the trust that he exhibited through this whole process.\u00a0 After all, he was warning about a coming rain. As we've mentioned before, it's likely that his generation didn't even know what rain was. Genesis 2:5-6 says, \u201cBut a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.\u201c<\/em>\r\n\r\nThink about that:\u00a0 warning of a coming deluge while building this massive contraption called an ark, having it in your driveway, I suppose; going against the current and tide of the world. The reason Noah became what he became is because he had total faith in what God told him to do; total faith in what God had disclosed, and this was not a fast-lived process.\u00a0 We know from Genesis 6:3 that Noah was building the ark as the Spirit of God was striving with man in the pre-Flood<\/strong> world, for at least one hundred and twenty years. \u00a0That's a long time. \u00a0As we've studied through our Flood<\/strong> chronology, Noah, by the time he disembarked the ark, without God speaking during that time period, had been in the ark for 378 days: that's over a year.\u00a0 So, it's no wonder that Noah is held up to us as such an example of the walk of faith.\r\n\r\nWhat does God expect of us as His children while we go through life's issues, many of which we don't understand?\u00a0 God just says, \u2018I want you to trust Me.<\/em>\u2019 Because at the end of the day, I'm trustworthy. And My character is perfect.<\/em>\u2019 And if you have some discouragement as you're walking through your valley, whatever it may be, in the Scripture, Noah is held out as an example for us.\r\n\r\nGo to Genesis 8:16-17, and after God speaks, we see the disembarking process. \u00a0Notice what God says in 8:16: \u201cGo out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons\u2019 wives with you.\u00a0 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nThere was a reason Noah was told to take specific kinds of animals with him into the ark two by two. \u00a0Male and female. Because it's only through the male female relationship that God has established that there can be breeding; a repopulation of the earth following the Flood<\/strong>.\u00a0 And when you start to see basic things like this, then you start to understand why homosexuality is a lifestyle which is so averse to what God has disclosed.\u00a0 It's impossible in a homosexual lifestyle to reproduce or to breed.\u00a0 What then becomes the biblical position on homosexuality?\u00a0 I bring this up because the culture is constantly screaming to us about the normalcy of the same sex relationship. It says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, \u201cOr do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?\u00a0 Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nNotice that as Paul is describing all of these sins, he mentions homosexuals, and he uses this Greek word arsenokoit\u0113s<\/em>, where we get the word arson<\/em>, or arsonist<\/em>. \u00a0What is arson? \u00a0What does an arsonist do?\u00a0 Arson is a fire out of control; a fire that's damaging, and that becomes the biblical position on homosexuality. Homosexuality is passion misdirected, and much like fire which can be used for good, it can turn bad very quickly through either a forest fire or the work of an arsonist.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s interesting that the apostle Paul places homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 6:11 in the same category as any other sin. \u00a0It's akin to being a fornicator, an idolater, an adulterer, and the effeminate, the thieves, the covetous, the drunkards, the swindlers. \u00a0The Bible<\/u><\/strong> doesn't hold up homosexuality as if it is somehow the unpardonable sin, but it puts it into the same category as all of those other sins.\u00a0 Paul the Apostle says something very interesting there concerning all of these sins, including homosexuality.\u00a0 In 1 Corinthians 6:11, as he's speaking to the believing Corinthian audience, he says, \u201cSuch were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.\u201c <\/em>\u00a0In other words, \u2018You once were a thief, but the Holy Spirit has changed your lifestyle. You once were covetous, or a drunkard or a swindler. But the Holy Spirit has changed your lifestyle.\u2019 <\/em>And in that same discussion he mentions \u2018You once were homosexuals, some of you, but the Holy Spirit has changed your lifestyle.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis actually becomes a big deal in our day because what we are told is that homosexuality is no different than being of a racial minority status\u2014Black, Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian, whatever the case may be, and what is happening in our culture is one's skin is being confused with one's sin.\u00a0 This actually becomes a big deal in the advancing of the same sex civil rights agenda.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is that sin and skin are completely different categories according to the Bible<\/u><\/strong>. The Bible<\/u><\/strong> never says that if you have a particular skin color, then that's sinful, because that's immutable, which can't be changed. There are people that were homosexuals that are no longer homosexuals.\u00a0 It's hard to find people that were Hispanic and are no longer Hispanic, Asian, no longer Asian.\r\n\r\nThe Bible<\/u><\/strong> is very clear on this subject of homosexuality. It's a behavior which emanates from the sin nature that can actually be altered under the Spirit's empowerment and direction. \u00a0I find that this message is not being communicated well today because the culture is very confused on this subject. \u00a0You say, \u2018Well, Pastor, don't you have any compassion for people that struggle with same sex attraction?\u2018 <\/em>You bet I have compassion for them.\u00a0 Just like I have compassion for people that struggle with being a thief.\u00a0 Or being a drunkard, or being a swindler or being a reviler, I struggle with my own sinful impulses.\u00a0 My particular sins may not relate to homosexuality, but I have the exact same sin nature anybody else has.\u00a0 And I have found that the walk of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to curb my sinful nature of cravings.\u00a0 If that can be done with me in the areas of other sin, it can be done in the area of homosexuality as well.\r\n\r\nThe fact of the matter is the same sex movement hates the Bible<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 They don't want it taught, they don't want it preached, they don't want it proclaimed because page after page, as you move into it, even in basic things like the disembarking of the ark and the instructions of humans to breed, and for the animals to breed\u2014all of it contradicts the same sex agenda and holds up what is normal\u2014at least in the realm of humanity, heterosexual monogamy. \u00a0The Bible<\/u><\/strong> is not silent on this issue. \u00a0Homosexuals have no ability to breed. This is why the agenda of the same sex movement is to recruit. \u00a0They have to recruit because they can't populate, they can't breed.\r\n\r\nWhen I was coming of age, the big movement in the California school system was something called Project Ten<\/em>; I'm not sure if they have that today; it's probably the same stuff under a different title, but they came up with this idea of Project Ten<\/em> under the idea that ten percent of the population is homosexual, particularly the children\u2014they just don't know it yet. \u00a0So, they have to have someone to go into the schools to convince them that they're really homosexual. They call this civil rights advancement and things of that nature Project Ten<\/em>.\r\n\r\nRegarding Project Ten<\/em>, now where did this ten percent figure come from?\u00a0 It came from the work, when you track it down, of a man named Alfred Kinsey. If you repeat a lie frequently enough, people will eventually believe it. \u00a0He came up with this figure way back that ten percent of the population is homosexual, and he claimed his own studies gave him that conclusion. \u00a0Well, start to look into the work of Alfred Kinsey, and he was studying prison inmates. \u00a0He was going to homosexual bars and things of that nature.\u00a0 In other words, that was his sample set. \u00a0His sample set was distorted.\u00a0 He concluded, based on his flawed data, that ten percent of the population is homosexual. \u00a0That starts getting repeated long enough where people start to believe it, which leads to Project Ten<\/em>, where they go into the school system and they have to convince people that they're homosexual, that they just don't know it yet. \u00a0It then becomes the agenda of the same sex movement to recruit. \u00a0Why is it that they have to recruit? \u00a0Because what they're doing is contrary to nature. \u00a0They cannot breed, they cannot produce on their own, so they have to recruit.\r\n\r\nThis is why the Bible<\/u><\/strong>, as I said before, is hated by the same sex movement because it contradicts their whole agenda. \u00a0God is very clear when it comes to this issue of sexuality. \u00a0Male and female; even in this account of Noah's Ark, makes this point. \u00a0By God's design, it's male and female that reproduce.\r\n\r\nMove down to Genesis 8:18-19 after the instructions are given and start to see the obedience of Noah and his three sons, their wives, and all of the animals that Noah had on the ark. Notice, if you will, 8:18-19:\u00a0 So<\/em> Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons\u2019 wives with him.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>19<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>by their families from the ark.<\/em> \u00a0Now, here's something very interesting. \u00a0God is keeping the animals and the human beings on the ark, eight total, separate.\u00a0 He instructs humans in 8:16, then He instructs the animals in 8:17. \u00a0Notice in terms of leaving the ark, there are humans leaving the ark in 8:18 and the animals leaving the ark in 8:19. \u00a0Humans and animals, in God, are always separate and distinct. This, of course, goes right back to God's original design for Creation<\/strong>, where he established man and woman to rule over the animal kingdom. This is the design of God. \u00a0Genesis 1:26 says, \u2018Then God said, \u201c...let them<\/em> [humanity] rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>Genesis 8:28, \u201c...subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201c\u00a0 <\/em>This is an office that we have talked about called the Office of Theocratic Administrator where man and woman, made in the image of God, rule over the animal kingdom. You see that same hierarchy supported here as humans and animals leave the ark at separate times. \u00a0There are separate categories.\r\n\r\nPsalm 8:6 says of man, \u201cYou have made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,...\u201d <\/em>This is the whole significance of God allowing Adam to name the animals. \u00a0When God allowed Adam to name the animals, He was giving Adam authority over the animals because in the Bible<\/u><\/strong>, you have authority over whatever you name. \u00a0There are countless verses here that support that idea. \u00a0Genesis 2:19-20 says, \u201cOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.\u00a0 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found for a helper suitable for him.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhat do all of these verses establish?\u00a0 They established that humanity, man and woman, as image bearers of God, are in a completely and totally separate category than the animal kingdom. \u00a0In fact, they are there to rule over the animal kingdom. \u00a0Now think how different God's hierarchy is compared to evolution that we are being taught around the clock\u2014that we went from the goo to you by way of the zoo over billions of years. \u00a0It blurs the distinction between humanity and animals. \u00a0In fact, you could go to the Houston Zoo and maybe see some of your relatives in the cage there as you look at the orangutans.\u00a0 After all, human beings are just evolved animals; a naked ape, so to speak.\r\n\r\nAnd as that happens, we wonder why all these kids are acting like animals, and why all these riots are breaking out all over the country where people actually act like animals, and we wonder why? \u00a0Well, that's what we taught them. \u00a0We're not teaching them the Bible<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0We're not teaching them the Word of God<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0We're not teaching them the dignity that every human being has as an image bearer. \u00a0We're just an evolved animal.\r\n\r\nYou know, Jesus, in the New Testament, spoke constantly about the distinction between humans and animals. \u00a0He said in Matthew 6:26, \u201cLook at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.\u00a0 Are you not worth much more than they?<\/em>\u201d \u00a0He's arguing here from the lesser to the greater. \u00a0You're worried about money? \u00a0Are you worried about finances? \u00a0Look at the birds. \u00a0Doesn't God take care of them? \u00a0And they don't bear God's image like you do. \u00a0So, if God is going to take care of them, wouldn't He also take care of you? \u00a0Oh<\/em> ye of little faith.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo, Jesus is going back to the original design of God. \u00a0In Matthew 12:11-12, it says, And He said to them, \u201cWhat man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Here, Jesus is being criticized for healing a man on the Sabbath, and He turns around and says, \u2018Well, you guys, <\/em>[the Pharisees, in other words] ...You lift your own sheep out of a ditch on the Sabbath, and here I've healed a person, a man,\u2019<\/em> and then He makes this statement in Matthew 12:12, \u201cHow much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! \u00a0So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.\u201d<\/em> Jesus asks, \u2018Why would you criticize Me, for healing a man who bears the image of God on the Sabbath, when you take care of your animals on the Sabbath? <\/em>\r\n\r\nSo over and over again you see this clear distinction between humanity and the animal world. The fact of the matter is, what is being taught today in many places is that humans are the problem. Humans are the scourge. \u00a0Humans are the curse, and we need to get back to nature, as it exists in its peaceful state. And what they're saying is animal life and environmental life supersedes that of humanity. \u00a0We're living in an age where you can take an entire industry of workers and lay them off because of the spotted owl protection or something of that nature.\r\n\r\nAs we've moved away from God, we have developed such a distorted understanding of creation.\u00a0 Yet the God of the Bible<\/u><\/strong> is very clear that humanity is in a completely different classification than the animals are. \u00a0God always<\/em>, always<\/em> keeps them distinct. \u00a0As these things were being mixed together, I believe that's one of the reasons that God brought judgment to the pre-Flood<\/strong> world. There were all kinds of distinctions that God had made that were being obliterated. \u00a0One of those is the distinction between angels and people because Jude 1:6-7, speaks of how angels in the pre-Flood<\/strong> world were leaving their natural abode and cohabitating with human women.\r\n\r\nAnd so, what you have is things that God says are separate. \u00a0God says they're distinct. \u00a0God says they're unique. You start seeing them obliterated, and God brought judgment. \u00a0I frequently wonder as I look at the direction of our world and of society and how animal life or rights tragically, are elevated over human life and rights, how close we are to seeing the judgment of God since God wants certain things separate and distinct.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAs we get out of Genesis 8:19, we come to an end of probably one of the greatest events that you could ever study in the Bible<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0 The global Flood<\/strong>. As we've gone through this material, I've tried to give you different arguments as to why the Flood<\/strong> was not [merely] local or regional. \u00a0It wasn't even just universal, it was global. \u00a0It covered the entire face of the Earth. \u00a0The Bible<\/u><\/strong>, over and over again, speaks to this issue. There are many arguments that can be used to support the idea that the Flood<\/strong> was, in fact, global. \u00a0One of the arguments that we haven't mentioned yet is the fact that the Flood<\/strong> is analogized over and over again to the second advent of Jesus. You see this in Matthew 24:37-39; it becomes very clear in 2 Peter 3:5-7, and I'm here to tell you something about the Second Coming of Jesus. \u00a0I'm not speaking of the rapture. \u00a0I'm speaking of the Second Coming at the end of the seven-year tribulation period, when He comes back and will establish His kingdom upon the earth with violent judgment. \u00a0When that event happens, Revelation 1:7 says that every eye will see it. \u00a0It is not going to be some sort of secret event. \u00a0It's not going to be a local event. \u00a0In fact, it's going to be a global event.\r\n\r\nYears ago, as I was trying to study the kingdom of the cults, one of them teaches that Jesus already came back, and He's hiding in an apartment in New York City.\u00a0 When Jesus comes back, He's not hiding from anybody. \u00a0This is the error of Islam. \u00a0Islam teaches that Jesus is sort of an underling of Allah when He comes back. \u00a0So, you can ask a Muslim, \u2018Do you believe in Jesus? Oh yeah, we believe in Jesus.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0But it's not the Jesus of the Bible<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0Jesus is not coming back as an underling of anybody. \u00a0He's coming back with violent global judgment such that every eye will see it. \u00a0And if that event is global and it is analogized to the Flood<\/strong>, then by definition, the Flood<\/strong> was global as well.\r\n\r\nDo you believe in global warming? \u00a0I do. \u00a0True global warming is coming to planet Earth because 2 Peter 3:10 (NASB) says, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d<\/em> \u2018Well, gee, Pastor, where are we going to put the Big Bang theory?\u2019 <\/em>I put it not<\/em><\/strong> at the beginning. \u00a0I put it at the end. \u00a0You're going to get your big bang, all right. \u00a0The poor evolutionists got the whole thing backwards. \u00a0He's got his big bang at the beginning, and everything is sort of cooling off. \u00a0That's not what the Bible teaches. \u00a0The Bible<\/u><\/strong> teaches the \u2018Big Bang\u2019 is coming at the end, and it's going to be, per 2 Peter 3, global.\r\n\r\nAnd the Flood<\/strong> itself is analogized to this. \u00a0Just as this event is going to be global, so was the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0I want you to understand that this idea that the Flood<\/strong> is something that was local\u2014nobody, as far as I can tell in church history, ever taught that until post-Darwin. \u00a0When Darwin published his Origin of the Species<\/u><\/strong> in 1857-1859 (right in that time period), the Christian church went into fear because Darwin and Darwinism started to explain the fossil record in terms of things that went on for billions and billions of years. \u00a0They no longer interpreted the fossil record as animals being caught in a violent judgment when the flood waters hit. \u00a0So, they said that what happened was, \u2018Well, we need to shrink the flood because we need to keep up with science and their interpretation of gradualism. \u00a0But we still believe the Bible<\/u><\/strong>.<\/em>\u2018 \u00a0They were seeking to sort of syncretize the Bible<\/u><\/strong> and its understanding of the Flood<\/strong> with what Darwin and gradualism was teaching. \u00a0Prior to that, nobody in church history believed that the Flood<\/strong> was local. \u00a0Everyone believed it was global.\r\n\r\nHere's a chart I found of one of my favorite writers, Jonathan Sarfati, (see slide on Believer or Unbeliever<\/strong>) Refuting Compromise<\/em>. \u00a0He just shows all of the early church fathers, whether it's Philo, Josephus, Justin Martyr, Theophilus, Tertullian, Gregory, John Chrysostom, Augustine, the allegorizer. \u00a0Even Augustine taught that the Flood<\/strong> was not local, but global.\r\n\r\nAnd even John Calvin in the 16th century got this one right. \u00a0He writes in one of his commentaries on Genesis, [Calvin is an interesting guy; he comments on almost every verse of the Bible<\/u><\/strong> except for the book of Revelation<\/u><\/strong>. \u00a0He didn't want to touch that one. \u00a0But in his Genesis<\/u><\/strong> commentary, it says, \u201cAnd the flood was forty days,\u201d<\/em> etc. \u00a0Moses conspicuously insists on this fact, in order to show that the whole world<\/u><\/strong> was immersed in the waters.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>If you buy into a local flood understanding, then you have to rewrite the Bible<\/u><\/strong>, and you're doing it because you're being put under pressure to make the Bible<\/u><\/strong> somehow fit with gradualism of Darwinism.\r\n\r\nI don't know if you've ever stopped and thought about this, but the fact of the matter is, the world that we are living in right now has been altered\u2014not once, not twice, but three times. \u00a0By the time we get to Genesis 8 and the Flood<\/strong> waters have subsided and Noah disembarks from the ark, the world has already been dramatically changed by two events. \u00a0(See slide on Uniformitarianism Is Not Biblicism)\u00a0 <\/strong>The first is the Fall<\/strong> and the second is the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0And so, the world that is coming now is twice removed from the original design of God. \u00a0Two things of a catastrophic nature have happened that impacted everything, the Bible<\/u><\/strong> says, to change the world that Noah and his family are now entering. \u00a0Those past events are the Fall<\/strong> of man, which didn't just damage man's relationship to God.\u00a0 It cursed the ground itself with thorns and thistles; making a living became difficult per Genesis 3:17-19.\r\n\r\nAnd then that world, as dramatically changed as it was, was altered a second time through the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0And guess what, folks? \u00a0As Noah and his family now enter the post-Flood<\/strong> world, the very world that he is living in is about to be changed again. \u00a0It's called the dispersion at the Tower of Babel because at one time the Bible<\/u><\/strong> says there was only one language, and then the language itself was confounded, creating multiple languages. \u00a0In Genesis 11, as we'll study, they had their first United Nations meeting. \u00a0It's called the Tower of Babel. \u00a0They thought world government was swell. That's why God confounded the language so the people couldn't cooperate with each other.\r\n\r\nThe truth of the matter is, if you want to make any sense of the world that we're living in today because we're living in the post-Fall<\/strong>, post-Flood<\/strong>, post-Tower of Babel world, to make any sense of that world, you have to factor in the biblical record, which says that this world has been altered three times already, which ruins a lot of Christian songs, by the way, like this song I like\u2014it pains me to even bring it up, but the song This is My Father's World<\/em>. \u00a0Are you sure about that? \u00a0I mean, this world with its short life spans and death and destruction. \u00a0Are you going to call that the Father's world? \u00a0I mean, I know what they're trying to say in the song\u2014it's God's creation, but it's not the Father's world. \u00a0And when you evangelize the lost, you need to tell them that because the lost people don't understand this; they think this<\/em> is the Father's world. \u00a0Consequently, they are angry at God because they don't understand how a God of love can exist when there are so many problems in our world and in their own lives.\u00a0 Death and drive-by shootings and the breakup of the family, and all of the things that go wrong\u2014they want to blame on God.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is, you have to look at the totality of the Bible<\/u><\/strong>.\r\n\r\nThe world that we're living in is not what God designed it to be. \u00a0It's man's rebellion against God that caused these catastrophic changes. \u00a0Fortunately, as you progress through this chart, there's coming a time in history where God is going to take our earth and recreate it, for all of the problems in the world will be taken out of it. And Jesus entered into history and paid a horrific consequence to set in motion that chain of events that will lead to a corrected world.\r\n\r\nThat's what you tell people when they are mad at God because of circumstances in their own lives. \u00a0Just tell them, \u2018Look, as much as I sympathize with your problems, God didn't create your problems. You're living in a world that's been completely and totally, radically altered three times, and Jesus suffered in our place to get everything moving back in the right direction.<\/em>\u2019 That's what you tell them. You don't need to be caught flat-footed when they bring up this issue of the problem of evil.\r\n\r\nSo, we have all of these so-called scientists who are trying to tell us how old the Earth is because they're assuming that the processes that are happening today have always existed. That's a belief called uniformitarianism. \u00a0That's how they come up with the old age of the Earth. \u00a0And that's where they're saying rocks and fossils and things of this nature are so old\u2014when they when they weren't there, these scientists. \u00a0Carl Sagan wasn't there. (See slide on Uniformitarianism Is Not Biblicism<\/strong>) \u00a0The only Person who was there was God, and God tells you that the world that you're living in has been dramatically altered three times. \u00a0If you don't look at fossils and rocks through that grid, which the scientists don't because they think that's religion, then in reality, they've made uniformitarianism their religion since they're pretending that a process that they can see in front of them has always been. \u00a0That turns them into gods themselves because they're moving into the realm of omniscience\u2014they weren't even there, they weren't eyewitnesses. They're making all of these assumptions, and they're assuming that they can tell you with great certainty, and they come out with their white lab coats on and PhDs after their names, and we're all very impressed by that. \u00a0If they're in a white lab coat, they must be objective, right?\u00a0 They must be really smart when the fact of the matter is they don't have the foggiest idea about things because they don't approach it from the perspective of God's Word<\/u><\/strong> first<\/em>, which teaches that this world that we're living in has been fundamentally transformed three times already. \u00a0In fact, if you went up to your average scientist who comes from secularism and you told them that, they would have no idea what you're talking about, and they would tell you to keep your religion private while they teach their religion around the clock.\r\n\r\nAnd so, we end here\u2014one of the most significant events that has ever happened in biblical history:\u00a0 the global deluge.\r\n\r\nAnd now we move into Genesis 8:20-9:29, post-Flood<\/strong> events. \u00a0There's an easy way to remember Genesis chapters 6,7,8, and 9. \u00a0Genesis 6 is events before the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0Genesis 7 is the Flood<\/strong> itself. \u00a0Genesis 8 is the abating of the waters, and Genesis 9 is the events following the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0Now I fib there a little bit because Genesis 8:20-22 is actually events following the Flood<\/strong>.\u00a0 So, they don't start exactly<\/em> in Genesis 9; they start 3 or 4 verses before. \u00a0But if I told you that, it would mess up my nice chart.\r\n\r\nThere are two major things that happened in the post-Flood<\/strong> world before the Tower of Babel incident took place. \u00a0Number one<\/strong>, you have something coming into existence called the Noahic covenant, God's covenant with Noah, which is a big, big, big deal<\/em>. \u00a0In fact, most of the disputes, I would say in the realm of politics and political philosophy, relate to the fact that some people believe in the Noahic covenant, and some people don't. What you see developing in the Noahic Covenant is government itself. \u00a0\u2018Oh, I wish you Christians would get out of government and quit commenting on government.<\/em>\u2018\u00a0 And I'm thinking to myself, \u2018Are you kidding? \u00a0God made government. \u00a0We're the only people that have any understanding of how government is supposed to work properly.\u2019<\/em> That comes into existence through the Noahic covenant, and that will take us from Genesis 8:20-9:17.\r\n\r\nThen what will happen in the rest of Genesis 9 is post-Flood<\/strong> sin, which has to be handled with tremendous delicacy and care because racists, sadly, have used that Bible<\/u><\/strong> passage to promote racism. \u00a0The truth of the matter is the Bible<\/u><\/strong> knows nothing of racism. \u00a0It teaches that all people, regardless of skin color, bear God's image.\r\n\r\nIn fact, if you want to get into racism, rather than going after the Bible<\/u><\/strong> and distorted readings of it, you ought to go after Charles Darwin because the full title of Darwin's book, Origin of the Species,<\/u><\/strong> and most people don't know this, because when the book is put up today, the subtitle is cut out. The subtitle of the book, Origin of the Species <\/u><\/strong>is The Preservation of the Favored Races<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0Favored Races<\/em><\/strong> is the subtitle of the book. \u00a0Does that not sound mildly racist?\u00a0 Darwin used evolution to say that one race is more evolved than another. \u00a0In fact, Adolf Hitler used that very argument that the Aryan race is higher evolved than the Hebrew race, and that furnished a philosophical justification for racism against the Jews in World War II.\r\n\r\nThe same argument that is being waged against countless races, and the whole thing disappears and dissolves if one race cannot be more evolved than another because there's no such thing as evolution. \u00a0See, they're canceling everybody on the subject of racism, and I am sitting with bated breath waiting for someone to cancel Charles Darwin, one of the greatest racists that ever lived. \u00a0\u2018Well, we can't do that because that's our underpinning for secularism<\/em>.\u2018 \u00a0So the truth about Charles Darwin is hidden in this current cancel culture in which we are living.\r\n\r\nSo now we move into the first major event, which is the Noahic Covenant.\u00a0 The Noahic Covenant involves:\r\n
        \r\n \t
      • Promises<\/strong>, Genesis 8:20-22.<\/li>\r\n \t
      • Provision<\/strong>, Genesis 9:1-7 [where government comes into existence]<\/li>\r\n \t
      • The Covenant Sign<\/strong> Genesis 9:8-17, the rainbow. Every time God gives a covenant, He gives a sign associated with it \u2014 with every single covenant, and you see the rainbow coming into existence in Genesis 9:8-17.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nLet's see if we can get into some of these promises as time permits. \u00a0Notice what Noah does immediately after the Flood<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0It says, 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.<\/em>\r\n\r\nNoah's first reaction upon disembarking the ark, after all God had done is to worship the Lord. \u00a0Why does he do that? \u00a0He does that because that's what worship is. \u00a0What is worship? \u00a0Is worship a feeling? \u00a0Is worship a liver quiver? \u00a0So many people today, so many churches, they're fighting amongst themselves over worship. \u00a0We call these the worship wars. \u00a0Hardly any of them can tell you what worship is, but the Bible<\/u><\/strong> tells you what worship is. \u00a0Worship is simply this:\u00a0 a response to truth<\/strong>. \u00a0That's what worship is. \u00a0Truth<\/strong> has impacted your mind, and you can't help but get into the presence of God, and you want to praise Him for the truth<\/strong> that you've just received.\r\n\r\nWell, what music style should he have used? That's not the issue. \u00a0Should it be acapella? Should it be contemporary? \u00a0Should we kind of raise our hands and sway back and forth? \u00a0See, that is now the issue in Christianity, and the Bible<\/u><\/strong> says that's never<\/em> the issue. \u00a0The issue is the heart<\/em>. \u00a0The heart<\/em> of a worshiper is one that responds to truth<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0Noah has [think about what he's gone through and all of the things that have happened and how God made good on every single promise]. \u00a0The impact of truth<\/strong> on Noah would be staggering, and his very first order of business upon leaving the ark is not to set up his business, not to decide where he's going to live, what neighborhood he is going to live in, not to check the weather. \u00a0His first order of business is to worship the Lord.\u00a0 I would just say, and only you can answer for yourself\u2014 is that your<\/em> priority in life?\u00a0 Or is the worship of the Lord kind of down the list in terms of priority? \u00a0The first thing Noah wanted to do was to worship the Lord.\r\n\r\nIn Romans 12:1, Paul says, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, [truth, in other words], to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhat should a New Testament Christian do when they understand what they have in Jesus Christ?\u00a0 What should they do when they've been impacted by the truth<\/strong> of God's Word? \u00a0They should just say, \u2019Lord, just do what you want with my life as an act of worship,\u2019<\/em> because that's logical; that's reasonable. \u00a0Worship then becomes a response to truth<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nNoah here sets up an altar, and then he gets into these sacrifices. \u00a0Notice again Genesis 8:20, Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord. \u00a0<\/em>Now why would he do that? \u00a0He did that because it had already been demonstrated all the way back in the Garden of Eden how God would forgive sin. \u00a0God would not forgive sin through religion, through the loin coverings of Adam and Eve. The only way God would forgive sin is if He killed an innocent animal in the place of the guilty, and you can see that in Genesis 3:21. \u00a0Religion in Genesis 3:7. \u00a0Sacrifice in Genesis 3:21, where Adam and Eve received from the Lord garments of skin. \u00a0Where did these garments of skin come from? \u00a0Obviously, an innocent animal was killed right there on the spot, and God took the garments of skin and clothed Adam and Eve. \u00a0\u2018Well, the poor animal. What did the animal do that was wrong?\u2019 \u00a0<\/em>Nothing.\u00a0 That's the point. \u00a0The animal was completely and totally innocent. \u00a0God, right there at the very beginning is establishing that \u2018The way you will come into My presence will not be through your own loin coverings and your own works of religiosity, but I will clothe you. \u00a0And I will do it through the shed blood of an innocent animal.\u2019<\/em> \u00a0This is why when you get to Genesis 4:3-5, that Abel's sacrifice is accepted, and Cain's is rejected. \u00a0In Genesis 4:3-5, it says, So, it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground<\/em>.\u00a0 \u2018Well, there's the problem. You didn't come to Me through blood sacrifice.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>In Genesis 4:4, Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. \u00a0<\/em>[In other words, he came through blood sacrifice; his brother didn't. I would think that Cain worked really hard on his offering. \u00a0But it wasn't accepted] And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and his offering He had no regard<\/em>. [Why does the Bible<\/u><\/strong> say that? \u00a0Because back in Genesis 3:21, in Eden, God already established for Adam and Eve how as sinners they would now relate to Him. \u00a0Abel respected what God said via blood sacrifice. \u00a0Cain did not]. \u00a0So, Cain became angry, and his countenance fell.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSounds like a religious person, doesn't it?\u00a0 Abel came God's way. \u00a0Cain was apparently spending too much time listening to Frank Sinatra music, \u2018I did it my way<\/em>.\u2018 \u00a0Do you understand how Frank Sinatra-ish our world is when it comes to spirituality? \u00a0How people are spiritual, but they want to do it their own way. When the Bible<\/u><\/strong>, at the very beginning, says you can't do it your own way, you have to do it God's way. \u00a0Blood sacrifice in your place or you do not come. \u00a0That's why Noah is offering these sacrifices in Genesis 3:20.\r\n\r\nThere's no doubt in my mind that this information about blood sacrifice was passed from Adam right on down the line through oral tradition or written tradition for that matter. \u00a0Noah had a full understanding and a full knowledge of this.\r\n\r\nHebrews 9:22 says, \u201cWithout the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness<\/em>.\u201c\u00a0 Next week is Communion Sunday. We will celebrate communion together, and we will read that Scripture as I do every communion Sunday because the cup is the sign of our covenant. \u00a0Noah's covenant was the rainbow; ours is the bread and the cup\u2014the New Covenant that we participate in that symbolizes the shed blood of Jesus Christ. \u00a0It's a reminder that we are coming to God, by God's way and not by our own way. \u00a0We are not inventing our own spirituality here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 We are following in the pattern of Abel. \u00a0We are following in the pattern of Noah. \u00a0We're actually even following in the pattern of a repentant<\/em> Adam and Eve.\r\n\r\nYou'll notice that the animals that he used in these sacrifices were clean animals. \u00a0I would assume that the animal skins that were created for Adam and Eve after their fall in Genesis 3 were clean as well because that animal was an innocent scapegoat. \u00a0God punishes the guilt of the sinner on an innocent scapegoat, and then He uses that transaction to clothe Adam and Eve, and that's how they were made right before God. \u00a0These are clean animals. The sacrifice must be clean. \u00a0The sacrifice must be unblemished. \u00a0That's the whole imagery of the Passover Lamb; Exodus 12:5, Passover. \u00a0God specifically said to the children of Israel, \u201cYour lamb shall be an unblemished<\/u><\/strong> male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.\u201c<\/em>\r\n\r\nGod's instructions were very clear. \u00a0Don't bring to me a blemished animal. \u00a0Don't bring to me a sick animal, a crippled animal, a diseased animal, a spotted animal. \u00a0Make sure it's unblemished. \u00a0And that becomes the outrage in the book of Malachi, the very last book of the Old Testament, where they were bringing into the house of God all of these animals that were blemished or crippled, or lame or blind, and God says, \u2018Why don't you just take all that stuff and give it to your governor? You wouldn't even treat your governor,<\/em>\u2019 God says, in the book of Malachi<\/u><\/strong>, \u2018the way you're treating Me right now.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nAnd it's interesting who all of this points to, right? \u00a0Jesus Christ. \u00a0In John 1:29, John the Baptist said, \u201cThe next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, \u2019Behold the Lamb of God<\/u><\/strong> who takes away the sin of the world.\u201c <\/em>\u00a0Jesus had to have been unblemished; without sin, or He couldn't have qualified to be the Savior because the only sacrifice God accepts is the perfect sacrifice.\r\n\r\nWe're living in an age today where people like Brian McLaren of the Emergent Church saying things like, \u2019Well, the virgin birth is whatever you believe on that, it doesn't really matter if you scientifically believe in the virgin birth of Christ. \u00a0What you really have to unearth is the meaning behind the virgin birth of Christ. \u00a0Because don't you know that the meaning of it is how women have been exploited by men. That's the meaning.\u2018 \u00a0<\/em>That's quite a creative reading. \u00a0F<\/em><\/strong> in theology; A+<\/em><\/strong> for creativity.\r\n\r\nListen to me very carefully. Start tampering with the virgin birth as many are doing, and suddenly, Jesus and His birth was natural, not supernatural. \u00a0If Jesus had had a natural birth, if Joseph had been not just his legal father, but his biological father, then what would have been transferred to Christ at the point of conception? \u00a0The sin nature: \u00a0Romans 5:12 \u2014 (\u201cTherefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned\u2014<\/em>\u201d).\u00a0 \u00a0Well, is that really that big a deal?\u00a0 If that is not a big deal, I don't know what is because Jesus wouldn\u2019t be perfect.\r\n\r\nI remember the very blasphemous movie that came out a few decades ago called The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ or the Temptation of Jesus Christ, <\/em>or something like that. \u00a0William Dafoe was in it playing Jesus, and it shows him having lustful thoughts towards Mary and Mary Magdalene and things like this. \u00a0And they're putting this on the movie screen, and I\u2019m thinking to myself, \u2018This is just unbelievable what they're doing with Jesus.\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0Jesus did not have lustful thoughts towards anyone because He said, \u2019If you commit lust, it's the same as committing adultery.<\/em>\u2018 \u00a0Jesus had no<\/em><\/strong> lustful thoughts. \u00a0He was not<\/em><\/strong> adulterous because He was not tainted by the sin nature that we have. And you ought to thank God for that, because if He had had lustful thoughts because of a sin nature, He couldn't qualify as the perfect sacrifice. \u00a0It would have violated all of the imagery going back to the Garden of Eden. That's why there's an emphasis here on the the clean<\/em><\/strong> animals being sacrificed.\u00a0 Not just any animal will do: the clean<\/em><\/strong> ones. \u00a0Worship is something that has to happen, and it has to proceed according to the order and the hierarchy of God because all of this points to Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nIf you damage this typology and the person of Jesus Christ, then you don't have a Savior anymore, and we're still dead in our trespasses and sins!\r\n\r\nSpeaking of dead, I'm dead out of time, which really bums me out again, because the title of my sermon comes from Genesis 8:21, which we're not even going to get to. \u00a0So, we'll just do the same sermon title next week and make it Part Two. \u00a0Is that okay with you guys?\r\n\r\nPreludes into the gospel with this kind of material are pretty easy, aren't they? \u00a0Jesus died a horrific death, and His final<\/em><\/strong> words on the cross were, \u201dIt<\/em><\/strong> is finished<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0And He rose from the dead to prove who He was. \u00a0He asks us, in fact, He commands<\/em><\/strong> us to repent<\/em><\/strong>, meaning to change our mind<\/em><\/strong> about that reality. \u00a0Don't trust in your own loin coverings for salvation. \u00a0Trust exclusively in the transaction of Jesus Christ. \u00a0The moment you do that, you're made as clean and as perfect as Jesus Himself because He just took His righteousness and transferred it to you at the point of faith. \u00a0<\/strong>He only asks you to do one<\/em><\/strong> thing: \u00a0to receive this, which is to believe, a synonym for trust, rely upon, depend upon. \u00a0It's not enough to simply know facts about Jesus. \u00a0Those facts have to move into actual reliance and trust, and the moment that happens, [this is not a process; it's a moment of time]\u2014then<\/em> you're justified before a holy God.\r\n\r\nThat's the gospel. \u00a0It's good news because He did all of it, and we contribute nothing except that we receive it as a gift. \u00a0So, anyone within the sound of my voice, if you've never done that, I just ask as the Spirit is convicting you, do it now. \u00a0Even people listening online or long after the fact, maybe even after the Rapture. \u00a0Maybe these recordings will be made available, I don't know. \u00a0They can receive Christ in the tribulation because the gospel is true<\/strong> yesterday, today and forever as it's something that God has given to the human race as a gift.\r\n\r\nIf it's something that you're struggling with and you need more information, I'm available after the service to talk. \u00a0Shall we pray?\r\n\r\nFather, we are grateful for Your truth. \u00a0We're grateful for Your word. \u00a0We're grateful for the life of Noah and how you used Noah, and how he is an encouragement to us living in our time period. \u00a0Help us to walk these things out this week. \u00a0We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. \u00a0We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name.\u00a0 AMEN!<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t