Get In The Boat
Sean Flanagan · Tidal Church Miramichi · July 19, 2026 · Heroes of the Faith series
Sean Flanagan looks at Noah and the ark in Hebrews 11:7, showing a God who grieves over sin and longs to show mercy, not judgment. Anyone who trusts in Jesus is safe in the boat, and the doors are still open.
More from Sean Flanagan · The Heroes of the Faith series
Topics: Faith, Grace, Fear & Anxiety
Transcript
[0:00] We're in this sermon series on the heroes of the faith. We've been going through Hebrews 11 and the last couple weeks, so we looked at Abel. Abel gave an offering to God that pleased God and we said, you know, you can please God. Like God, God can praise you. He can commend you, right? When you look at God, what's his face towards you? And we said, if you're faithful, living in faith, he's smiling. He's smiling at you. And then last week, Pastor Anton talked to us about Abraham. Now, Abraham journeyed in faith, not knowing where he was going and that we often don't know where we're going. But we have to trust God, just like we, you know, follow the directions of a GPS.
[0:45] We have to trust God's voice and follow him. And this morning, we're going through Noah. We're going to be looking at Noah, verse seven of Hebrews 11. There's just one verse that we're looking at this morning. It says this in Hebrews 11 verse seven. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. And I thought that this was like a perfect sermon for this Sunday because, well, one, because we're having baptisms, right? And there's water, right? And so Noah and the flood, it kind of seems very appropriate, but also because we have a bunch of kids here this morning, right?
[1:35] And like, what could be a better story for kids than Noah and the ark and the flood, right? It's a great, I think when people think of like, what's like the best story in the Bible for kids? I think the number one pick is often Noah's ark, right? It's just such a kind of fun, cute story. You can think about the coloring pages, right? With all the smiling animals and the rainbow and the big boat. It's so exciting. And the details that I love in those coloring pages is that the giraffes are always kind of like sticking their necks out of the top of the ark for whatever reason, they like cut a hole in the top of the ark for the giraffes or something. It's just such a great story for kids. And I don't know, does anybody know the song Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory?
[2:22] Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory, Glory, Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory, Glory. The line is, the Lord told Noah to build him an archy, archy, Lord told Noah to build him an archy, archy, right? And archy, archy. And I think the best line in it is, the animals, the animals, they came in twosies, twosies, elephants and kangaroosies, roosies. That's the line, right? Elephants and kangaroosies, roosies. So it's like the best, it's the best for kids. But then you stop and think about that story a little bit more. You stop and think about the story of Noah in the flood and you think, is that really a story for kids?
[3:08] You just kind of think through that story and the details a little bit. You mean to tell me that God sent a flood across the whole world, this kind of apocalyptic cataclysm. And that's a kid's story, you know? And maybe, you know, in Sunday school, you'd have like a little kid like ask a question, right? A little precocious kid being like, sir, like, well, what about the people who are outside the arc? Like, stop asking questions. Just draw the picture. Draw the picture. But, you know, in all seriousness, there are people who maybe grew up in church and then got older and then start to think about some of these stories, right? They start to think about some of these stories that they heard as kids and they think, oh, what kind of story is that? Is that really a nice story?
[4:02] Is this a story which shows us a God who's nice, or is this a story that shows us a God who's mean, right? Because it can kind of feel when you think about the story that, oh, there's this mean God and he sends a flood and it wipes all these people away and you think, oh, is that the God that I want to worship? And so that's the question I want to deal with. I want to think, what kind of God is it in Noah's Ark? What kind of God are we learning about in the story of Noah's Ark? Is it a mean God? I've had friends in my life and I'm going to keep this story kind of general, just for their, you know, to be anonymous and because I know we have kids here and so I'll keep this age appropriate for everyone.
[4:47] This is an appropriate story. I've had friends who in their 20s and 30s have really kind of struggled with some bad habits, right? Some bad behaviors. They're doing some bad things in their life and they're living with their parents and their parents love them. The parents love them so much and their parents want their child to get their act together. They want their child to turn their life around and I'm sure many of you can think about people like this in their 20s or 30s who just have some bad habits and their parents are trying everything they can to support their child because they love their child and I've had friends who have struggled like that and some of my friends' parents get to the point where they say, you know, son, I love you.
[5:42] I love you so much but I can't keep seeing you destroy yourself. I can't keep seeing you do this to yourself and so, you know, they've been supporting their child. They've been feeding them and giving them a house to sleep in and all of these things but eventually they have to say, you know what, enough is enough and you're gonna have to leave, right? And they put their foot down and they let their child face the consequences for their actions and I've seen that happen to my friends and, you know, I love my friends and I want what's best for them but eventually I say, yeah, you know, that's fair, right? It's tough love but it's fair, right? And I think we can all agree that parents doing that it's fair and I think that that's actually a very good picture of what Noah's ark is like in the flood.
[6:33] That God is a good father who saw his children destroying themselves and gave them chance after chance after chance to turn back to him but eventually he says, okay, enough's enough and I'm gonna have to let you face the consequences for your actions because it says that when God created the world, he pushed back the waters, right? He divided the waters and he pushed back the waters into the sky and you can almost picture us here on this island, like that's how kind of God created the earth, right? He pushed back waters in that side, waters on that side, waters in the sky and it says that as God was looking down on the earth and he saw humans, he saw his children doing all these bad things, bad behavior, it says he's holding back the waters and he's looking at his children and he's seeing them destroy themselves and the Bible uses a word to describe what was on God's heart at that moment as he's looking down.
[7:37] Do you know what that word is? He's looking down, he's seeing his children, he's seeing them do all this kind of bad behavior, this wickedness. Do you know what the word is? Was it anger? Did he feel anger at his children? No. Was it disappointment? Was he disappointed in his children? No, that's not the word it uses. Indifferent? He just doesn't care, whatever, no. The word is grief, that God experienced grief. He's looking at his children, seeing them destroy themselves and he feels grief in his heart and just like a good parent who's been supporting his children, right? A parent who's been feeding and financially supporting his children, God eventually says, okay, I've been holding back these waters, I've been holding back this destruction, but you're asking for it.
[8:33] You keep asking for it and I'm going to give you what you've asked for. Eventually, okay, I'm going to give you over to what you want. And just like we would say, a parent who kicks out a child, you know, after years and years, we'd say, yeah, you know, that's fair. I think when we look at the flood and we look at the details, we say, yeah, it might be tough love, but that's fair. It's fair. But there's good news is that we have a God who's so loving, so merciful, that he actually doesn't want to be fair with you. He wants to be merciful. He wants to be compassionate. He doesn't want to let you face the consequences of your actions.
[9:23] He actually wants to have mercy. And so that's where the story of the arc comes in, right? That God is seeing all of this, all this kind of evilness and he knows that destruction is going to come. So he picks out a man named Noah. He says, Noah, there's going to be destruction, but if you want to get through this, if you want to survive this, you're going to have to build a boat, a boat to survive. And this is like, you know, the way that we normally tell this story is like, you know, what did Noah's neighbors think, right? They thought he was like some like Y2K or like, you know, end of the world guy wearing a poncho and like, what is he doing, right? He's building this boat out in his front yard. But the point that it makes in Hebrews, it says, think about the faith that Noah had to have.
[10:14] Everyone else is acting this way. Everyone else is acting wickedly. There had never been a flood like this before and that Noah heard the voice of God and trusted him, had faith in God, and through his faith, he was saved. But some of you might be thinking, yeah, but what about the other people? What about the people outside the boat, right? What about the people outside the ark, right? So Noah got saved, his family got saved. That's nice, right? But what about everybody else? And I've been wrestling with that this week and I've been thinking, you know, I think that there's one or two options. I think that, you know, God had given people so many chances for a year, after year, after year, and then eventually it's like, well, that was your last chance, right? They had your opportunities.
[11:02] But the more I study it, the more I look, I look at the Genesis passage, I look at other teachings in the Bible in 1 and 2 Peter that talk about Noah, the conclusion that I draw is that the doors to the ark were open. They were open and that if anybody wanted to come into the ark, if anybody wanted to be saved, they just had to enter in. They just had to trust God and put their faith in God and they could be saved, right? Because that's what it says in the Bible that anyone, anyone who repents, anyone who goes to God, he'll have mercy on them. He wants to show mercy. He'll give you fairness. He'll give you justice if he has to, but his heart, his heart for you is to show mercy.
[11:48] He doesn't want you to face the consequences of your actions. How is this relevant for us today? You know, the flood happened thousands of years ago, so what does it mean for us today? I think that most people in the world today recognize that there's a coming flood of some sort. You know, when the Bible says there's never going to be a worldwide flood ever again, that God's not going to do that ever again. But most people think, yeah, they look around, they read the news, they watch the news and they think, yeah, this ain't going to end well. They look at the world and it kind of feels sometimes like in Noah's day, right?
[12:36] The corruption and the evilness on the earth. And you don't even have to be a Christian, right? I think just watch a movie, right? Movies set in the future. They're all like post-apocalyptic movies. Nobody thinks it's going to end well, right? And maybe it's going to be, you know, I don't know if it's the environment or wars or, um, I was going to say some politicians names, but I won't do that. I'm not going to go there. Okay. I'm not going to go there, but most people, most people have the idea that, yeah, this ain't going to end well. Right. And I think we could say like with the flood that we're facing the consequences of our own actions, right? As, as a world, but God doesn't want you to face the consequences.
[13:21] He actually wants you to have, he wants to have mercy on you. And when I was thinking about that this week, I was like, God doesn't want me to face the consequences for my actions. It's an unbelievable thing because we're raised, you know, in ways that you expect fairness. Well, if you, you, you behave badly, you're going to get bad results. But God says you can behave badly, but if you come to him, he'll have mercy on you. He'll forgive you. He's given you a way to pass through the flood. He's given you a way to be saved because he wants to have compassion on you. Just like he told Noah, there's a way, there's a way to be saved.
[14:12] And it's by building an arc. He's told us there's a way, there's a way to be saved. And it's through trusting in Jesus, right? It's by putting your faith in Jesus. And just like Noah had to get into the boat to pass through judgment, we have to get in Christ. We have to align ourselves with Christ, put our faith in Christ so that we can go through the coming storm. And I know it's easy to get nervous when you watch the news, right? It's easy to get nervous about the state of the world and the way things are going. And you think all these bad things are going to happen, right? Wars or epidemics or whatever. And can anybody relate to that, a feeling anxious about the world, right? And where things are going.
[15:05] I just want to tell you that if you're a Christian, you've put your faith in God, you're in the boat. You're in the boat, right? Yeah, you know, some things that aren't so good might happen, but you don't have anything to worry about. You're in the boat, right? And you can just remind yourself this week, if you're starting to get anxious, you're looking at news, and you're feeling nervous about things that are happening, the things, you know, in Iran or whatever. You say, I'm in the boat. I'm in the boat because my faith is in Jesus. I don't have anything to worry about. He's going to have mercy on me. If you haven't made that decision, if you haven't put your faith in Jesus, I just want to encourage you.
[15:53] Get in the boat. Get in the boat. The doors are open, right? The doors are open. Jesus is there. He's waiting. His arms are open. Anyone who comes to Him, He'll receive, right? We all know the consequences of our actions wouldn't be good, but God actually wants to show us mercy. He wants to forgive us. He wants to have compassion on us, and He's told us the way. It's by putting our faith in Jesus. In a moment here, I'm just going to lead us through a prayer that if you want to make that decision, to put your faith in Jesus, I'll just walk you through that in a moment. To ask for forgiveness for your sins, to put your faith in Jesus.
[16:39] Because that's the first step. That's how you get into the boat. But the next step after that is to be baptized. And that's what we're going to be celebrating. There's three people here this morning that are going to be baptized in water, and we're going to celebrate with them. They're so, so excited about that. And we've actually got a couple more baptisms lined up for next month. There's even a couple more people that I've been speaking with. So if you feel like, I wish I could be in the water this morning. I wish I could be baptized. It's not too late. Actually, next month, we're going to have some more baptism. So if you want to take that step, come and talk to me or one of the other pastors, and we can walk with you through that. Let's just pray now.
[17:25] I'll just pray. If you haven't made that decision, I just want you to pray silently in your heart and mind to put your faith in Jesus. Bow with me now. Heavenly Father, I admit that I have sinned. I admit that I've made mistakes, and the consequences of my actions aren't good. But Father, I put my faith in You. I put my faith in Jesus. I trust in His sacrifice on the cross that I am forgiven. Father, I thank You. I thank You for Your mercy. I thank You for Your compassion, and I praise You. Father, I just ask You now, if there's anyone here who needs to make that decision, just draw on their hearts.
[18:21] Whisper to them. Speak to them. Comfort them. Move, Father. In anybody's hearts, He needs to make that decision. In all this, in Jesus' name, Amen.