Methuselah’s Grandson"
Gen. 6-9 Rev. R. B. Hughes
Introduction
Phrase: No way, can’t happen, ridiculous, absurd ...what?
I’ll bet Noah heard them all....
*Noah was like the guy with the sandwich board sign ... "The End is Near"
Noah could be heard saying: "but that’s the truth!!"
But ... it can’t be .. it doesn’t make sense ..God’s not like that.
History bears witness that Noah was telling the truth and was and did work that way NOAH HAD HEARD FROM GOD.
Few free things about truth:
1. Truth is not taught, it is imparted.
2. Never read the Bible to know the Bible, read it to know God.
In that you will find truth imparted ... Jesus is Truth.
3. Truth changes people.
4. Truth is different than knowledge. 1Cor.2:9ff.
- Adam & Eve missed truth by lusting after knowledge.
5. Truth is not at the "intellectual level", it is at the heart level, so that all can understand.
So as Noah shared the truth...they mocked, reasoned, believed a lie.
Nothing has changed. As the spirit of the last days is upon us so it was upon Methuselah’s grandson ... Noah.
Matt.24:37-39a
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the day’s of Noah.
For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating & drinking (normal everyday life), they were marrying and giving in marriage (planning for a long future), until the day that Noah entered into the ark.And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.
NO DIFFERENT!!
Let’s look at several things in those day.....the last days of the ancient world...the days of Methuselah’s grandson...
BUT ... let’s go backwards ... Let’s start with the end....
The Landing & The Covenant
8:1, 18-22 ; 9:1,9-20
* God remembered Noah....find him in a boat full of family & animals...& over all that time locked away...must have been hard to tell them apart sometimes...
* With God it’s always a happy ending for His children.
"God blessed Noah & Son’s (probably name of first store)
Only those who were part of the family were saved from this disaster.....
When Jesus returns ..only those who are part of the family of God will be saved from the terrible judgement of sin.
Here we have a happy, yet very tragic end. The question that begs an answer is What happened? Why? Could it have been avoided?
The Flood
7:17-23.....tragic and scary
1. Appalling in its form.....Judgement always is.
2. Universal in its sweep
3. Supernatural in its origin..6:17 ; 7:16
4. A present reality
* Judgement...What they all thought would never happen....
It doesn’t make sense...absurd...I have time....
* All the excuses ring hollow as judgement rains down...
* Speaks of opportunity squandered....
"HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF"
* The same day will come upon the earth again! (review the points)
Rev.6:13-17....appalling, universal, supernatural, present reality
The Ark
Speaks of hope..rescue..opportunity..survived the judgement..
Hab.3...in wrath remember mercy....
1. 6:13,14.....Divinely given
2. 6:14-16.....Divinely detailed...Gods way!!
3. Foolish in its assumptions
3. Believingly received....
4. The only way
* Jesus: I am the Way, Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.
* To as many as received Him..to them gave he....
* I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
* The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
7:1...Noah...come into the Ark (an invitation)...The time is now....urgent...
The animals proved smarter then Noah’s contemporaries...Let’s look at them....
The Generation
6:3,5,6,11-13
Gen.1:31...God saw it was very good...
Gen.6:12...God saw it was corrupt...vs.6..He was grieved...
v.4....wickedness it great when great men are wicked..
* wickedness...outward actions
* Every intent of the thoughts of his heart..inward character
* Complete..every..only...continually (morning to night) filled..all..
Natural consequence...V.13...END HAS COME TO ME....
KEY: V.11....It is all before God. People think that just because they forget God, God forgets them....
*Probably advanced civilization..1800 yrs..scientist not die. It was in this generation that Noah lived.....
Final piece of the account...Covenant..Flood...Ark..Lost Generation...
* God chose a person to work through.....
Methuselah’s Grandson - Noah
Noah: "rest"
5:32.....What a drag that must have been....
One commentator: "Noah is unusually old at the time he begins a family"...puts Abraham & Sarah to shame.
6:8...Noah found favour..."grace"....
- Greatest wickedness we see the first mention of grace....
God’s heart is that none perish.......
Telling things of Noah (How he survived the last days)
6:9,13,14,22 ; 7:5 (God bragging up Noah)
1. Righteous...2Pet.2:5..preacher of righteousness
2. Blameless..."in his time"...against the grain of society..
3. THE DIFFERENCE: Noah walked with God..consistent!
-Same direction God was going, he honoured God, believed God, greater purpose..
4. When God spoke..he listened..no matter how far fetched
5. Offered only hope to man...1Pet.3...God waited as ark built
6. Allowed God to do it his way
Heb.11:7
By 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.
7:1..you alone I have found righteousness....
Conclusion
1. Sad & tragic time..yet see God’s grace..
2. Judgement is near...inevitable..Sin grieves God
3. Way seems narrow & foolish...yet it is truth..only way..
4. All must be warned...Yet most won’t come..right up to the day
5. God closes the door...few (in comparison) will be saved..
6. Not story of strong God/needy world..Grieved God/Resistant world
6. It is worth the effort..."Starfish story"
