“Noah—for Adults” Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus Massachusetts Genesis 6-9
Outline: A. Depravity; B. Deluge; C. Deliverance
Introduction:
I’m calling today’s sermon “Noah for Adults” because Genesis 6-9 is really not a children’s story. Kids enjoy hearing about the animals, the rainbow, and how God rescued Noah. Yet we know it is a sober account of severe divine judgment upon humankind. And when Scripture details the moral state of human affairs back then, we find it uncomfortably close to describing life in our day. Just the other day I was visiting a member of our church who was distraught over how low we’ve sunk as a culture; he stated, “We’re bound to be worse now than the people of Noah’s day.”
The world knows little about the Bible, but nearly everyone is familiar with Noah’s ark. There are jokes, cartoons, movies, clothing, jewelry, toys and sculptures depicting this Biblical event. On all continents and among almost all peoples of the world ancient catastrophic flood accounts have been found; anthropologists have collected roughly 275 early flood stories.
A. Depravity
Last Sunday’s Boston Globe ran an article on “popular culture” about the recent books and movies that glamorize serial killers. Killers are cool, because of our “culture of death” in a morally toxic society. People seem attracted to dark humor and decadence, or to borrow a word from our Puritan past, the world is drawn to malice—evil for its own sake. Our attraction to evil comes from our innate depravity.
The first indication of God’s displeasure comes in verse 3, when He reveals, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever.” The word “contend” could be translated “abide, strive, remain, or put up with” There came a point where God decided His creation had crossed the line; they sunk to the level of “flesh” and forfeited all hope.
Consider the sorry state of human depravity in verse 5: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Then verse 12, “God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” Another translation reads, “Now the earth was a wreck in God’s sight.” Although humankind had obtained the “knowledge of good and evil”, it had not been beneficial. People were choosing wickedness over goodness. They were choosing to reject God and were in a state of open rebellion.
In verse 6 God was “grieved” and “His heart was filled with pain”. Some translations indicate that God regretted He had created the human race. God was sorrowful over how His creation had responded to His provision. He purposed to respond to the wide-spread depravity by proving His laws are not optional and that He takes transgression seriously. We take sin too lightly, and we’re often unaware of how sin affects our heavenly Father. God holds us accountable for our thoughts and actions.
Verse 11 describes the earth as “corrupt”. The Hebrew word (shachath) could be translated “ruined”. The word was used to describe clothing that is badly stained, or food that is spoiled. Jeremiah uses the word to describe clay that is ruined in the potter’s hand. We’re also told that the earth was “full of violence”. The powerful were exploiting the weak, without regard for human rights. Evil inclinations were fanning out into an inferno. This reminds me of the former Belgian Congo. In his book Congo Kitabu, Jean-Pierre Hallet describes the chaotic anarchy that erupted when the country attained independence; we’ve recently seen the same thing in Somolia and Kosovo. The people were not concerned about God intervening, and figured sin would continue unchecked. Such thinking is fatal.
B. Deluge
The world was corrupt, and God chose to send a message—He will not overlook sin. He is not indifferent. God chose to spare one man and his family, to start over. Noah is called in verse 9 a “righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”
Noah walked step-by-step in faith as a living example to his generation. His name means “rest” or “comfort”, which he found in God. His lifestyle took courage, because no one else was walking in that way. Do we follow God even when those around us are going in other directions? Noah is called “righteous” (tsaddiq) because he conformed to God’s standards and expectations. The leader of a (ultra-orthodox Jewish) Hassidic religious community is called a tsaddiq. That which God sought in people was present in Noah. He is also called “blameless” which involves the idea of being “complete”. How was Noah able to find favor with God? Verse 9 explains why--“Noah walked with God”. This doesn’t mean he was sinless; it means he had an on-going relationship with God.
Verse 22 provides us another clue to understanding Noah—obedience: he “did everything just as God commanded him.” He began building before the first raindrop landed; when he was done, he had an incredible vessel--450 feet in length, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high, with 3 interior levels divided into sections and an 18 inch open space along the top for ventilation. There was a total deck space of 101,000 square feet. The ark was coated with “pitch” (Hebrew kaphar, meaning “covering”, a tar-like substance) for waterproofing. The ark resembled a barge rather than a streamlined ocean liner. The dimensions made it nearly impossible to capsize. There were no navigational systems on board; Noah had no control over the vessel. God was the Captain of this ship; He steered the ark and kept its occupants safe and dry.
Noah was a faithful witness to his generation. His lifestyle stood out in sharp contrast against the wickedness of his generation. Noah did more than build a boat—He preached to the world the coming wrath of God. They had time to repent. God did not strike without warning. Noah was dismissed as a lunatic. And the world discovered that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The waters came from above and below. There is a theory that a vapor canopy covered the earth, creating a greenhouse effect. From this canopy came much of the water that flooded the earth. The rest came from subterranean sources which broke open, causing a vast eruption of water, which in turn produced cataclysmic earthquakes, geophysical upheaval, volcanic outpourings, and the shifting of the earth’s crust. Scientists believe the earth was originally one continent, called Pangea. The hydraulic force of the flood separated the continents (what we call continental drift—look at a world map and you can see how the pieces once fit).
What of the animals? Scholars say there was room for 72,000 animals and it is believed that their metabolism may have slowed to allow for a state of hibernation during their confinement. This also kept them from eating each other.
C. Deliverance
After 40 days and nights of rain, and flood conditions that lasted 150 days, when the flood waters begin to recede, we’re told in 8:1 that “God remembered Noah.” Here we see the transition from judgment to grace. We may think the focus of this story is the devastation of the flood and the destruction of the world, but there is a larger theme, that of the saving grace of God. We can be encouraged that God granted the world another chance through Noah.
As he came out of the ark, Noah expressed gratitude for being spared by making a sacrifice. He had brought extra animals for this express purpose. He does not display any “survivor guilt”. Noah knew that every moment he breathed was an experience of grace. The world had perished, but Noah and his family remained. Noah knew better than anyone the sovereign control of God over life and death.
God then made a covenant with Noah, which set forth principles of diet and social justice. The Noahic covenant is the restoration of blessing. With this unconditional covenant came a promise to never drown the world again. The sign of God’s resolve was the rainbow. In the wake of the flood, what had changed is not anything about the nature of humankind; what had changed is God. He resolved that He will endure and sustain the sinful world, in spite of its sorry state.
The Apostle Peter compares the ark to baptism (I Pet 3:21) and of life rising out of death. From the shelter of the ark, out of the watery grave, a new world arose. The ark becomes a parable of salvation. There was only one door into the ark, and there is only one Gospel. Jesus is the door, our only hope of life. He rescues us from eternal death. Simply knowing there was an ark saved no one in Noah’s day. It is being in the ark, in Christ that saves—we have to get on board. We can know about Jesus, but to be secure in Him we must know Him as our Lord and Savior.
Conclusion:
The deluge was awful, but the worst thing God can do is to ignore sin. A more severe punishment is God letting all hell break loose on earth. When sin goes unchecked, without restraint, anarchy reigns. Just as the season of grace expired in Noah’s day, it will end when Jesus returns. In Matthew 24 Jesus warns, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (vs 37). Along with a final judgment upon sin, a new heaven and a new earth will be fashioned.
Just like Noah, we find our safety and eternal security in God, Who preserves and sustains us. As we walk with God, we find strength to live a holy life in an unholy world.
