Scripture Introduction
Near the end of his life, Moses exhorts the congregation to faithfulness by reminding them of God’s great work of salvation in their lives. Deuteronomy 4.34: “Has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”
The Bible is so big that it is accurate to call it a “library” – 66 books, written by forty different people who lived over a period of about one thousand five hundred years. Yet for all the great variety of authors and times, one message unifies the whole: God delivers his people by a mighty hand and outstretched arm. That work began in Genesis 7, the beginning of deliverance. Genesis 7, beginning with verse 1.
[Read Genesis 7.1-8.19. Pray.]
Introduction
Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) was a leader among Enlightenment intellectuals when he was converted and become a follower of Jesus. His friend, Immanuel Kant, sought to bring him back, because he felt Hamann could contribute so much to the cause. Hamann refused (instead trying to convert Kant to Christ), and became known as a man who, “in the age of the Enlightenment, was one of fiercest critics.” Isaiah Berlin was so angry with Hamann’s criticism that he called him, “the founder of modern irrationalism.”
Hamann was not irrational. What bothered the secular thinkers was that he saw that the key to God’s character was divine humility:
• God the Father humbled himself in creating out of nothing – mud made in his image;
• God the Son humbled himself in dying on the cross – holiness made sin; and
• God the Holy Spirit humbled himself in writing Scripture—the Infinite speaking to the creature through the creature.
This last point, the glory and humility of God in writing the Bible, especially fascinated Hamann. He realized that Enlightenment confidence in reason separated from history and revelation was prideful, even destructive. Additionally, God converted Hamann while reading Genesis, which especially enabled him to appreciate the humility required for true knowledge as Paul teaches in 1Corinthians 8.2-3: “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” Hamann realized that it was not so much that he was reading the Bible, but that the Bible was reading him. He was stunned as his life and heart were laid bare by the Scriptures. He was not coming to know God; God was knowing him.
This was especially egregious to enlightenment sensibilities because revelation was anti-intellectual, vulgar, common. But Hamann realized that the events which God caused to transpire in the lives of these Old Testament saints were his events – this was his story. The same must be true of us. With events as significant and familiar as these, we can read them as interesting studies, while not allowing them to read us. With Hamann, we must hear God speak into our lives; we must board the ark ourselves and have God shut us in.
One word of warning. Sometimes Christians interpret the Bible as allegory. An allegorical interpretation sees every detail as having some mystical-spiritual significance. A. W. Pink, a very well-respected and evangelical Bible teacher, is so excited to find the “spiritual application” that he falls into this error at times. For example, he comments on the fact that the ark has three separate decks: “We have already seen that the ark itself unmistakably foreshadowed the Lord Jesus. Passing through the waters of judgment, being itself submerged by them; grounding on the seventeenth day of the month—as we shall see, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection; and affording a shelter to all who were within it, the ark was a very clear type of Christ. Therefore the inside of the ark must speak to us of what we have in Christ. Is it not clear then that the ark divided into three stories more than hints at our threefold salvation in Christ? The salvation which we have in Christ is a threefold one, and that in a double sense. It is a salvation which embraces each part of our threefold constitution, making provision for the redemption of our spirit, and soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23); and further, our salvation is a three tense salvation—we have been saved from the penalty of sin, are being saved from the power of sin, we shall yet be saved from the presence of sin” (Gleanings in Genesis, 106-7).
That is cute and fun, but not the correct interpretation. The ark is not an allegory, but an analogy to salvation. Each screw and bolt does not have a hidden, secret meaning; instead, there are similarities between the way God saved Noah from the flood and the way God saves from the final judgment. To have God read us this way, first notice that…
1. Our Story Must Be One of God’s Deliverance (Genesis 7.1-4, 16b)
We usually refer to this portion of Scripture as the story of “Noah’s Ark.” Certiainly, Noah is the central human in these events. But that title can mislead, for the main character is neither Noah nor his boat, but God and his deliverance. We see this in the very first sentence of chapter 7: “The LORD said to Noah….” God is the subject; just as he is the subject of everything in Noah’s life.
God looked down at the wickedness of men and was sorry that he had made them. God said he would destroy the earth in 120 years. God gave grace and mercy to Noah. God chose to save 8 souls. God told Noah to build an ark and gave him the blueprints. God told Noah to get aboard. God brought the animals to Noah. One of my favorite verses in this section of scripture, Genesis 7.16b: “And the LORD shut him in.” The picture in my mind is that through a year of floating upon the sea, God’s hand is holding the door of the ark shut, keeping out the water, and upholding his eight by a mighty hand and outstretched arm. This is the story of God’s deliverance.
This same principle appears throughout the whole Bible, like when Moses explains Israel’s rescue from Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7.6-8: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Moses does not say, “God chose us because we were holy, therefore we better straighten up.” He says, “You are holy because God chose to love you, apart from anything you have done.” The same is true in the new covenant.
John 15.16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
Jesus tells his disciples that their story must be one of his deliverance! Paul taught the same in Ephesians.
Ephesians 1.3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”
So what is the point, pastor? This: your story must be one of God’s deliverance. Not simply in words either; anyone can mimic a proper profession. When this text reads our hearts, does it find written there, “All of grace”?
Let me tell you about two men, similar in many ways, but with very different hearts. Bill was in his sixties and had not attended church for at least 35 years. But when our congregation bought a building in his neighborhood, he decided to give it a try. He attended for several months, went through the new members’ class, and asked to join the church. But when I interviewed him, and asked him why God should allow him into his heaven, Bill said, “Well, I’ve been pretty good, and I have come back to church.” I had to say, “Those may be true, but they are not enough. No one is good enough to enter God’s heaven, because all have sinned and fallen short of his glory. Heaven is a perfect place, free from sin and corruption, and only perfect people are allowed in. And though it is great to attend church, that qualifies no one for heaven.” Bill was visibly shocked. So I swallowed hard and asked, “Bill, would you like to know how you can be certain of entering heaven?” He said, “Yes,” and I was able to tell him about faith, and lead him in a prayer for salvation. Bill’s testimony remained one of God’s deliverance. He found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
In Arkansas, I also met a man in his sixties who wanted to join our congregation. He had been raised in the church, and faithfully attended all his life. So he should have known the right answers, even if he did not believe them! But when it came time to give a testimony, his story was what his hands had done. He was baptized as a baby; he went to Sunday School; he attended church all his life; he was a good and faithful man.
Only God can read the heart, so I cannot assure you that the first man was truly saved and the second not. But this I can assure you – every true story of salvation is the story of God’s deliverance, not of your good works.
Here is a common concern of every faithful pastor I know. There are so many benefits and blessings to being in the church, especially to being raised in a Christian home. Sinful hearts then take those outward forms of religion and presume that God loves us because we are better than others. As a result, certain sins find fertile soil in which to grow in the hearts of churched people – sins like pride and self-righteousness, fear of failure, guilt over not doing enough, and lack of mercy toward others.
Victory comes by making sure our story is one of God’s deliverance. When Noah told his grandkids about the flood, he did not brag about shipbuilding skills. He was an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith, which means that he boasted in the Lord and his salvation. Has God shut you into Jesus? God’s choosing comes before bearing fruit. Is that your story?
2. Our Story Must Be One of Faithful Obedience (Genesis 6.22; 7.5)
Noah obeyed God. It can feel like obedience opposes, or undoes, the promises of grace. We may think to put God’s grace and our obedience on opposite ends of a spectrum, so that to accept one is to deny the other, and vice-versa. The Biblical answer is that they are two sides of the same coin, and to have one always brings the other.
Noah was not saved by obedience, but by grace: “Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Or as Paul would say it in Ephesians 2.8-9: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Yet Noah obeyed. Just as Paul explains that we will obey because of God’s grace. Ephesians 2.10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God’s favor produces a changed life. If our life is not changed, then we must find the favor of the Lord.
Westminster Confession 16.3: “Believers ability to do good works is not at all from themselves, but entirely from the Spirit of Christ. And—in order that they may be enabled to do these things—besides the graces believers have already received, there must also be an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit working in them both to will and to do God’s good pleasure. This truth, however, should not cause believers to become negligent, as though they were not bound to perform any duty without a special moving of the Spirit; rather, they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.”
I can imagine four groups of people here today. Some are like Noah. You have been saved by grace and are delighted to serve God. You know your good works have nothing to do with your salvation, but everything to do with your joy; and you love serving a King who multiplies to you blessings greater than you can contain. Hallelujah! Enter into the joy of the Lord!
Some, however, while truly saved, may be burdened by serving God. You fear lapses in obedience may indicate a lack of acceptance, and you don’t really enjoy obedience. You need to remember the grace of the gospel, and the fact that the only people who truly get better are the ones who know that if they do not get better, God will still love them.
A third group might be those who are not converted, though you would be offended to be told so. You work hard to obey, for you fear hell and judgment. But you service is like the older brother’s in the parable of the prodigal son. You really do not like it when God is good to those who are less good than you. You would be offended if God accepted the sacrifices of charismatic Arminians over at the Vineyard, because you work so hard to be Reformed and right in your worship. Your obedience keeps you from God because your story is one of your own deliverance. You need to find the favor of the Lord.
Maybe there is a fourth group, those who want to be saved from hell, tomorrow, but not to be saved from sin, today. You want flood insurance without the shame of building an ark. You need to know that those who find God’s favor also find obeying God to be their joy. In Noah’s day, plenty of people believed in God; few built an ark. Not that God saves those who build boats, but that those whom God saves, build boats. Is your story one of obedience?
3. Our Story Must Be One of God’s Means (Genesis 7.17-24)
Many people think it incredible to suggest that there is salvation in no one other than Jesus, that no other name under heaven is given by which we must be saved. I have even read articles which explain that Christianity is wrong, by definition, because it is exclusive.
By the same token, it is hard for many to imagine how God could wipe out all he made. But he did; nothing survived the flood that was not on the ark. And when Jesus explains salvation, he says, think about Noah. People had no fear; they were eating, drinking, and partying, without care or concern—then judgment came, and all perished. So it will be at the final day. Many busy themselves with life, not seeking first the kingdom of God, little concerned with the Lord and his ways. And when judgment comes, they will grope in the dark for the door to the ark. But it will be too late. For God has shut the elect in and the wicked out.
Only those in the ark were saved. At the final judgment, only those in Christ will escape. No one comes to the Father, except by him. Is your story one of God’s means?
4. Our Story Will Not Always Be Pleasant (Genesis 8.14-16)
They were in the ark more than a year. That is a long time to spend in boat filled with animals and their waste. Moses even adds a little humor when telling of it: Genesis 8.1: “But God remembered Noah….”
Of course God forgets nothing. But the sentence gives a glimpse into what that year was like. It was, at times, to feel forgotten, to wonder what would become of us. It was a place of darkness and loneliness, of silence, of seasickness, and of rank smells. Long before Noah and his family ripped through the roof of the ark, they grew tired of their surroundings.
Being saved is not always pleasant. They are days when you feel forgotten by God, days when you are discouraged by your sin, days when the misery of this life, and the struggles for faithfulness in a fallen world, make you despair of success and drive you to give up. God remembers you.
Hebrews 13.5-6: “He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”
God remembers you, and in the end, the sun will return, and the joy of the Lord will be yours forever.
5. Conclusion
Flooding the earth while saving Noah shows the great extent to which God goes to end wickedness and restore holiness to all the universe. Here is divine earnestness waging war on sin. But though God’s judgment through water was a great event, the moral effect of it seems to be small. But those who remember the dying Redeemer, who look on Christ made sin, who see God’s redemption in the death of his own son, find their lives irrevocable changed.
Is your story the story of Jesus’ salvation? Is it the story of transforming grace, a grace “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2.12-14)? Is your story, though not always pleasant today, one of joy, because you know that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in your life? Allow the Bible to read you, and to rewrite your story, before the rains of God’s wrath again fall on the earth. Amen.
