Throwback: Noah and the Flood
The following post is a transcript of Pastor Casey’s sermon from our Throwback sermon series titled Noah and the Flood. We had some technical issues during this service and were unable to capure a high quality recording of this sermon.
Good morning, friends! Thanks for joining us today for week 2 of our sermon series Throwback: Sunday School Classics. In this series, we are taking a look at some of the stories that we often associate with children's Sunday school, or maybe a children's Bible. They are the most popular stories in the Bible and we often have a tendency to dismiss or rush through them because of our over familiarity with them.
But as we take a look at them as adults, we see deeper meanings, more detailed contexts, and significant takeaways for our life in following Jesus.
An Introduction to Genesis 6
Last week we opened with the story of Adam and Eve and today I get to continue on with the story of Noah and God's covenant that he made with him. You can go ahead and turn to Genesis 6 for where our story begins.
In Genesis 6, we find ourselves over 1650 years away from where we started our story with Adam and Eve a few chapters back. That number can be calculated through an account of Adam's family line in Genesis 5. The earth has had some time to populate and begin the process of filling up with people - and the passage here tells us the state of things as we start Genesis 6:5. It reads:
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Let's pray together:
Lord, we are so thankful for the opportunity to gather together today. Thank you for loving us and for giving us your Word. Thank you for protecting and preserving it for our use. We ask that you would help us today as we look at this story and help us understand what it says about you and what it means for us. In Jesus' name, amen.
The Story of Noah
So Genesis 6 opens by telling us that the human project continues to not go so well. You don't just have Adam and Eve rebelling, but this tendency continues to spread everyone and wickedness is rampant and widespread throughout the ancient world.
And our story starts out on this sad note - this approaching crisis as God feels this deep regret and sorrow over the state of the world. The story continues over the next couple chapters with the following trajectory.
Genesis 6:9-8:14 records the story of Noah, a blameless man who is chosen to lead his family and animals to escape God's coming judgement that would take place in the form of a flood. The Scriptures tell us that he is 600 years old at the time - something we can unpack another time. And that he and his family ought to build this massive ark that can hold them and two pairs of every living animal to escape God's judgement and serve as the restart of creation.
God delivers Noah and his family through the flood. The flood waters came for 40 days and then resided over the earth for a total of 150 days.
After the waters subsided, they would end up landing in some mountains, where Noah and his family would depart from the ark and begin a new covenant with God - where God promises never to destroy the earth by flood again.
And in our kids stories - so much of the focus on this story is specifically around the ark narrative. Noah, this 600 year old man, is asked to do something that others would have perceived as crazy. But Noah is faithful and obeys God by building the ark and preparing his family and these animals to escape God's judgement. And our takeaway is often, "Listen and obey God even when he asks you to do crazy things, because he has a plan."
And I don't think that is wrong to focus on or to find as a meaningful or an impactful point or life application from this story. And I don't want to downplay some those kinds of takeaways. What I love so much about the Scriptures is that you can read them over and over throughout your life and in every season, God will reveal new layers or details. He will highlight something you always read over or something that never seemed applicable or meaningful all of a sudden has depth and life in it.
But I think there are two, often overlooked takeaways that we should consider as we think about this story.
God Judges the Wicked (And that is Good News)
The first takeaway is that God judges the wicked - and that this is good news for us.
Now I will be honest, Noah's story is a bit gloomy. It even finds itself with quite the sad set up. Genesis 5 tells the story of Adam's family line, and there's not much notable other than to say that "so-and-so lived x amount of years and then they died." Sin had corrupted humanity and the world was bleak and heavy.
Many people have a problem with Noah's story because of the judgement narrative. How could a loving, kind, gracious, and merciful God do something like flood the whole world? To some it feels inconsistent with what they have heard about the behavior of God.
In this story, we are confronted with a hard, biblical truth: that God judges the wicked.
You know certain attributes of God are easy to receive. One of my favorite verses is Exodus 34:6-7
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."
I love thinking about God's compassion, grace, being slow to anger, how he abounds in love and faithfulness, and how forgiving he is. I can talk to anyone about that. I have experienced those things from God. Those are things that others fill attractive and moving about having a relationship with God.
But then you read a story like Noah or maybe you find a Psalm or you read Revelation and you are confronted with this reality: that God judges the wicked. And that yes, he has grace and mercy and all these things - but his patience is not forever.
And talking about God's judgement can make us feel icky - like we are one of those street preachers shouting warnings over crowds of people. I went to a Mariner's game last month and this dude was posted up with a sign and a speaker clipped to his belt and he would pace up and down around the entry gate into the stadium at home plate and the verses he was choosing to read were so unsettling. Like, "This is how you want to try to reach people for Jesus? By trying to speak terror into people's hearts?"
I am grateful for a better way of reaching people. Romans 2:4 says that it is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. But still, we find ourselves with verses that talk about judgement narratives, past ones and upcoming ones. And rather than trying to hide them away like they are skeletons in God's closet, I think we need a framework to help us know how to hold these truths and even know how to talk about them.
Romans 3:23 says that, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So to begin this conversation, it is worth noting that this category of wicked applies to every human that has ever lived. Jeremiah 17:9 says that, "The human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."
The only way of escaping the judgement of the wicked, from the start of the Bible and until the end, is by being in covenant relationship with God. We see several covenants made between God and humans throughout the Scriptures:
The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9)
The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12 & 15)
The Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19 & 24)
The Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7)
The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31 & Luke 22)
A covenant is an agreement. You might think of it today in similar ways to a legally binding agreement between two parties in a court of law. "I agree to do this, and you will do this. And we are both held to the stipulations of this agreement as long as we are both upholding our ends of the deal."
Each biblical covenant establishes the basis of a relationship, conditions for that relationship, promises of the relationship, and consequences if those conditions were unmet.
So for one to move from the category of wicked and worthy of receiving judgement into the status righteousness and receiving salvation - they must enter a covenant with God. Although humanity is constantly sinful and rebellious towards God, he continues to pursue relationship with humans by creating these covenants.
Now we live in the final covenant, all others have been fulfilled and are being fulfilled through Jesus. And that covenant states that we receive salvation by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and when we do, he changes our hearts away from their wicked disposition so that we would desire to obey God and live out the life he intends for us.
So the only way to escape this diagnosis of wickedness is by being in covenant relationship with God. Which means believing that Christ lived a perfect life, died for sinners, and rose from the grave. And when you do, you receive the Holy Spirit to sanctify you, or mature you, towards becoming more like Christ.
For those who do not receive salvation from Christ and this inner working of the Holy Spirit, this status of wickedness remains. And with that status also comes the reality of judgement.
And here is why wickedness must be eradicated from world: when sin reigns over people's hearts and minds, it spreads and destroys the world around them.
This was the world when Noah was alive, Genesis 6:11-12 says,
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
When we live apart from God and his ways, we end up participating in the destruction of his creation. You see, sin is not bad because God has simply chosen some actions to be wrong and some to be right, so you better live up to his standard. But the immorality of sin is woven into the fabric of the world around us, and sin results in natural and supernatural consequences that damage ourselves, others, and the world around us.
God has ordered a way that is good and right for the world. When people obey God and follow Christ's example of how to be human, we find flourishing and blessing. When people participate in sin, we find that it leads to brokenness and chaos.
A great example of this is found when we think about the Ten Commandments. Think about living in a world where people do not kill, never commit adultery, do not steal, or covet one another's belongings. That is a safe world where you can flourish and not worry about other's wronging you in horrible ways. A community that lives that way would flourish and enjoy life to the fullest together.
But we know that humans are not this way. That murder, theft, adultery, and a plethora of other realities do exist in our world and they have real consequences that effect ourselves, others, and the world around us.
God is not trying to limit anyones fun by creating order to this life, but he is trying to bless it and show the best possible way of existing.
And if this is the truth, that God has a way that is intended to lead us to flourishing and blessing with Him and with one another, than it is good news that there will be a day where wickedness is removed from this earth. It is good news, that God looked over the ancient world Noah lived in and said, this is not going to end well with just one righteous man existing in this generation.
If God did not create ahard reset through Noah, his family, and the animals he would bring with him, the violence and brokenness of sin surely would have destroyed everything. But God looked at his creation and said, "this will not be how this story ends." And he graciously chose an avenue for humans to be in relationship with the Lord and continue moving towards God's ultimate plans and purposes for the world.
We didn't deserve it. As far as I am concerned, God has every right to scrap everything and start with something new. But he remained faithful to his image bearers by removing the overwhelming wickedness of the ancient world so that he could create a covenant with Noah and an opportunity for the future of humanity to be in relationship with God again.
God Offers Purpose (Again)
Our second observation from this story is that when the flood subsides and they leave the ark, God offers humans purpose - again.
Genesis 9:1-3 says:
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
If you have given a read through Genesis before, this verse might ring a bell to you. But not from this story. There is something cool going on here: God reinstitutes the purpose given humanity when he originally made them back in Genesis 1:26-29, that says:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God calls Noah, his family, and all his descendants back to their original purpose. He gives them the same job he gave Adam and Eve at the beginning of the Bible. Fill the earth and help God rule over it and steward it.
Now if I am in God's shoes, being a fickle and often skeptical person, I am probably thinking maybe we can find another job for you to do?
Have you ever been in a work environment where you or someone else has had to be reassigned? Like, I love your heart, and that you are committed and dedicated to what we are doing here - but maybe this role isn't best for you. You see it a lot when someone is promoted to some management or leadership role and you end up a couple months down the road being like - maybe this isn't what was best for you. You see it a lot in the church world where some great preacher or teacher will get a job as a lead pastor where they have to care for staff and run an organization and its like - oops, maybe you should go back to a specialty role.
Sometimes in our world we look to reassign when things aren't going well.
Although humanity has done nothing to earn the right to continue on in their role and in their relationship with God, the Lord is steadfast and committed to seeing humanity experience the life he intended for them.
There is no option b or alternative plan or a new role for humans to find themselves in as God resets his creation - but he looks at Noah and his family, and far down the road to you and I, and says, "I have chosen you. You are my special creation, unlike anything else in the world. We will do this together."
And you don't have to read too much further to see God's plan of how this would be sustained. Opportunities and avenues for relationship with God through the promises made to Abraham, Moses, David, and ultimately and finally through Jesus Christ.
Despite our sin, God offers us the unique and remarkable role of stewarding God's world and his creation with Him.
A Story of Grace
At the end of the day, Noah is not a story about destruction, but a story of grace.
Grace when the world was about to destroy itself with sin.
Grace when humanity had abandoned and disqualified themselves from living in God's purposes.
God had every right to end the human project, but he chose a way where human's could escape the destruction they were causing and offered to renew his plans and purposes with them again.
God is committed to his image bearers. Even when they aren't committed to him.
There are several takeaways or next steps for us as we leave here today.
First, a story like this ought to inspire us to reflect in our hearts about the wickedness that God desires to remove by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 6:1-4 says:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
While we are saved and covered by Jesus' blood by believing in what he has done for us on the cross and have eternity with the Father guaranteed, there is a newness of a life that we are called to take on until we get there. One where we walk in his purposes and rid ourselves of sin and brokenness. You don't get saved and change completely overnight. Sanctification, or maturation, is something that is happening throughout the course of your life in following Jesus.
Where there is sin in your life, ask Him to help you change, find accountability and help through community, and walk in the fullness of who God has called you to be. No one expects you to be perfect, but that you would be progressing towards Christ's likeness.
Second, the reality of judgement towards the wicked ought to inspire us to live a life that cares deeply about others hearing about what Jesus has done for them. God is patient. Demonstrating mercy, grace, and lovingkindness to humanity. But his patience is not forever. He will return and will judge and remove all wickedness from this world. May we live with an urgency that invites people to know the living God, to take on his purposes, and receive eternal life where we will live without the chaos and destruction of sin.
Your neighbors, classmates, friends, and family need to know about what Christ has done and the life he offers.
They need to know the good news that God loves humanity so much that he would do something about the wickedness in ourselves and in the world around us so that we could live in a world without pain, tears, sadness, hurting, and the destruction that we are all too aware of.
God lovingly offers a way to experience the fullness of the new life that is coming in Christ.
Finally, reality like this should move us into thanksgiving and praise. That we worship a God who does not sit back unattached from the realities of darkness and brokenness in the world. He does not sit there and let us take on the consequences of wickedness that we deserve. But he entered into our narrative and so that we would be freed from the captivity of sin and the destruction it is causing on the world around us. God loves you so much and is so committed to you and to the purposes he has for you that he has a plan to remove the wickedness that we all know and experience the consequences of. When there was nothing we could do to free ourselves from this damage, God entered into our story and provided salvation and life eternal.
And that is a reason to praise Him this morning.
