Judgment To Renewal
Text: Genesis, Chapters 6-9
Introduction.
Every year, from late summer until early fall, we experience what the weather reporters call “Hurricane Season”. It’s amazing how far the science has developed in predicting and understanding hurricanes over the years.
Many lives are saved today because of this science. Think about the early warnings people get now, compared to the days when Galveston Island was with by a hurricane, which killed over 3,000 people. That event resulted in the building of the Galveston seawall in order to save lives from the powerful storm surges of hurricanes.
Now suppose—just suppose—that you were living in South Florida before all this science was available. There were no hurricane charts or maps—no T.V. weather people to tell you about a storm that was coming, or where it would likely make landfall. There was no science to let you know whether or not you should evacuate. You are totally on your own.
O.K.—Now, suppose someone tells you a hurricane is coming—but you don’t really know what a hurricane is! Are you with me so far? Then suppose that same someone tells you to build a big box boat—but you’ve never seen a boat, so you’re not an experienced shipbuilder. In fact, you’re a farmer!
So, you look around at your neighbors, and they don’t seem to care that a hurricane is coming—they just go about their lives in the same way they’ve been living. They don’t make any preparations for the coming hurricane.
You know that building a big box boat is going to take a long time and will demand a great sacrifice. Plus, you will have to quit farming and become a full-time shipbuilder. You know your neighbors are going to ridicule you when you explain why you’re doing it!
Would you do what the person told you? Would you believe a hurricane was coming and build that boat?
I think whether or not we did what the “person” told us would depend on who the person was—if we believed them—and most important, do we trust them?
If we didn’t believe that person, we probably wouldn’t build the boat. However, if we did believe and trust that person, well, then we would build that boat!
In the Bible, we’re told about a real person who was faced with that dilemma. It wasn’t a hurricane that was coming—it was a great flood that was coming to destroy the world. The man’s name was Noah, and the Hebrew writer says this about him in Hebrews 11:7—
Hebrews 11:7
---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.”
In today’s study, we come to Noah and the great flood. Most of you who come every week know that we started a series of lessons from the Book of Genesis.—the “Book of Beginnings”.
If we want to know more about Noah, this great man of faith, we must go back to the beginning—back to the Book of Genesis. We find the story of Noah in Genesis, Chapters 6-9.
Review.
A good teacher normally begins a class by reviewing what has been previously discussed. Let’s review the first 5 chapters, beginning with Genesis 1:1---1---“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”
God created the world and mankind, and His work was good. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world called the Garden of Eden; and, as long as they did what God said, it would remain perfect.
God created man to work and God told Adam to tend and keep the Garden. He had created male and female and told them to “be fruitful and multiply”—He created a family for them.
In Chapter 3, we learn that Adam and Eve violated God’s command and sin entered into the world. We also learn that sin is bad and we are against it!
In Chapter 4, we read the story of sin over powering one of Adam’s and Eve’s children. The son, Cain, is jealous of his brother’s offering to God….and then sin comes knocking at the door of Cain’s heart.
In Genesis 4:6-7, God asks Cain—
---6---“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
---7---If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
God told Cain, “sin desires to have you” and “you must master it”. However, Cain did not master sin and, have him, it would. He killed his brother, Abel, who was faithful.
Then we come to Chapter 5 of Genesis; and, we find the genealogy of some really old people! But it’s important to understanding how prophecy to come is later fulfilled. Apparently Adam and Eve had several children—they were fruitful and they did multiply. We’re told the names of three of the children—Cain and Abel are two of them. We’re also told that sometime after Cain killed Abel, they had another son—Seth—who was born after Adam and Eve had lived 130 years (Genesis 5:3).
There appears to be something very special about Seth.
Genesis 5:3-4
---3---“When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
---4---Then the days of Adam, after he became the father of Seth, were eight-hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.”
The genealogy recorded in Genesis, Chapter 5 is Seth’s. There’s also some information there about him and his daughters. In Genesis 4:25, we’re told Seth was, “…another child in place of Abel…”. It appears Seth and his descendants were the spiritual people. In Genesis 4:26, in reference to Seth’s son, we’re told—
---26---“…at that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.”
The line of Cain and his descendants produced the first city-builders (Genesis 4:17), musicians (Genesis 4:21), and sophisticated tool-makers (Genesis 4:22).
The followers of Seth were known as “Children of God”; and the Cain “type” persons—those whose concerns were primarily related to human achievement—were called “Children of Men”. Genesis 6:1 says,
---1---“When men began to increase in number on earth and daughters were born to them, the Sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.”
Now, Genesis 6:4 says that the children from these marriages were called “Nephilim” (Giants (KJV)) and became the heroes of old— men of renown.
These scriptures have confused many people over the years because, some say, the “Children of God” were angels—but that can’t be true. Jesus said in Matthew 22:30, that angels do not marry.
The word “Nephilim”— translated as “giants”—may not refer to their physical size; rather, it may refer to their reputation as “attackers” or “violent men”. This, I believe, may be the correct translation, but maybe I’m wrong and they were very big physically. I think most people see these people as physical giants.
These men were “infamous” and “men of reputation” for their evil deeds. I think it was something like more like references we make to the gunfighters of the Old West. They were the giants of their time, and that means not for good works, but for killing people.
The bottom line is this: The marriage between the “Good” and the “Bad” didn’t work out! The world was not working as God meant it to work. It was sinking deeper and deeper into wickedness and was not giving God the glory due to Him.
Therefore, God must act against mankind, because God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. His dilemma is that He hates sin but still loves His creation.
What We Need To Learn About Faith.
We need to know that “Faith is a response to revelation”. God spoke to Noah and his Faith responded. Noah acted totally upon Faith in God’s word.
Hebrews 11:1
---1---“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
We need to know that “Faith is a relationship of Trust”. Many people will say to us, “Trust me”. But we don’t always trust them, because it depends upon who they are and if they are worthy of that Trust.
We need to know that “Faith is a readiness to obey”. Noah didn’t seem to worry too much about what others would think of him or say about him. When Noah responded in Faith, God released His blessing upon him.
It was a blessing to be told how to save himself and his family. But the reality of that blessing would not be released until Noah responded in faith. Noah expressed his faith through obedience.
We need to know that “Faith rebuses unfaithfulness”.
We need to know that “Faith is a reminder to the faithful”. Noah’s Faith is just like Abel’s Faith—it still speaks to us.
Hebrews 11:4
---4---“By Faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through Faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
The Flood: Divine Judgment.
The world was not working as God meant it to work. It had betrayed the divine intent. It was sinking deeper and deeper into wickedness and moving farther and farther from giving God the glory He was due. God’s reaction to the situation was not one of out-of-control anger. Rather, it was one of grief and sadness at their betrayal.
Genesis 6:6
---6---“The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.”
God’s holiness demands justice, but He still loves His creation. I can best illustrate these feelings of justice and compassion by going back to an event in Singapore during September of 1993. Do you remember the caning of 18-year old Michael Fay that became such and international concern?
Over a 10-day period, a group of teenagers living in Singapore went on a tear of vandalism. They threw eggs at some cars, spray-painted others, and ripped down traffic signs. Fay pled guilty, and Singapore’s laws were very specific and strict for this crime.
Fay was sentenced to a fine of $2,215, four months in jail, and six strokes to his (as Forest Gump would say it) BUTT TOCKS. Americans were divided into two camps. On one side were people who took the side of law and justice—on the other were those who took the side of parental compassion.
In dealing with His creation, God takes both sides—simultaneously!
The Flood: Divine Renewal.
Was the flood punishment for sin? Yes. But it was also the means to a new beginning on planet Earth.
In the NT, Peter knows both judgment and mercy were served in Noah’s time.
2nd Peter 2:5
---5---“…and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”
The apostle Peter expanded on the specifics of how so devastating a flood brought salvation to Noah. Peter writes—
1st Peter 3:19-20
---19---“…in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,
---20---Who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”
The waters of the flood became something of a dividing line between and old world of judgment and a new world of fresh beginnings. The flood of judgment against his contemporaries became the means to renewal for Noah. Noah and his family stepped out onto a new world in which God could continue to harbor a holy intent for His creation.
Renewal: The Need of Every Life.
What happened in Noah’s generation is symbolic of what occurs in every individual human life. We fail to give God the glory He deserves because of our sinfulness—and we feel the alienation sin brings. We know we are lost in relation to God and our (intended) better selves.
We feel judged, too, for our sinfulness. Pain and confusion come into our experience. We sense a “flood” of terrible consequences coming over us because of some lie we’ve told—some betrayal we’ve committed—or some rebellion we’ve shown. Yet, we would like to believe there is a chance to begin again.
We’re told that such dreams have become a reality through Christ, “for Christ died for our sins once and for all—the righteous for the unrighteous—to bring us to God”.
The flood in Noah’s day symbolizes baptism, which now saves us.
1st Peter 3:21
---21---“…and corresponding to that baptism now saves you—not to the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Baptism means that one accepts the judgment of God against sin in his or her life and wishes to die to self. It also means that one accepts a fresh start to life in Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit is given at baptism (Acts 2:38) so that judgment can yield to renewal.
Paul explains this in his letter to Titus—
Titus 3:5
---5---“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
