Noah

Intro

I find it fascinating when looking at different cultures around the world almost all of them have a story of a great flood, which wiped out all life. There are 2 in particular I want us to start off with today, and they are the 2 of the better known flood stories.

The first is the Eridu Genesis. In this story the god Enki reveals to the king of the time that he was going to destroy the human race through a flood. and so he built a ship and filled it with animals. upon leaving the ship, he built and alter to god and offered sacrifices. As a reward for his behavior, Ziusudra was awarded immortality.

And then we have the most famous flood story, outside of the bible the Epic of Gilgamesh. and in this story the god Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh (who is searching for immortality) how he was saved from a flood sent by gods. When the gods living in Shurappak decided to cause a flood, one of the gods, Ea, secretly warned Utnapishtim of the plan and advised him to tear down his house and use the material to build a boat. and this story has many similarities to Noah however the big difference here is that upon leaving the ship, Utnapishtim and his wife were granted eternal life.

Now when we look at Noah, we don’t find a man who was looking for immorality or wealth, he was a man who was faithful to God when no one else was. So God found favor with him. Noah was a man who carried out God’s will and was then told how to continue to do God’s will.

Corruption of man

Now we read in Genesis that at this period of time there was no other man like Noah, open your bibles up to Genesis 6 and we are going to read Genesis 6:1-8

Genesis 6:1–8 ESV

1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Now the sons of God we read above are referencing angels but not just any angels but those who turned from God and were cast out of Heaven. and these fallen angels, decided to marry the women of the Earth and they gave birth to children but these children weren’t like other children these children were referred to as Nephilim, and they were often described as being these huge warriors.

and then we continue in this passage and see the corruption of the world. and it says, “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Now I wonder if things were all that different back then from how they are today? We think about some of the things going on in the world, like Human trafficking, School Shootings, Drug Trade, Slavery.

It’s hard to think about those things but there are people in the world who are truly evil. and those of course are the extreme cases of Evil, we also see an increase in abortions, and in youth gender change operations, etc.

and God looked at those things and it says it grieved him to his heart. now everyone in the time of Noah were evil, and so God decided that the Earth needed a clean slate. and there of course was one man who was different from the rest, let’s read Genesis 6:9-12

Genesis 6:9–12 ESV

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

and we go on to see that God commands Noah to build an ark and God specifically explains how to do it, and that’s what Noah does. We don’t know how long it took him to build it, but we know that when the flood came Noah was 600 years old so I’d say he had some time to build it. and God also told Noah exactly what to take on the ark.

Noah is Faithful

What was special about Noah? Noah didn’t do anything amazing before this point he was just a normal guy with a family, a guy who decided he was going to walk with God even though the rest of the world turned away. Noah was no different than you or I.

Let’s read Hebrews 11:6-7

Hebrews 11:6–7 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Noah had no reason to believe that there was a flood coming he had no reason to believe that he would be able to construct the ark and obtain 2 of every animal. He did something that anyone else would have thought of as crazy all because he feared God and he believed in him.

That’s all that we are asked to do, believe in the Lord and Fear him. When we fear the lord the way we should it changes how we live, we begin to go against the ways of the world. We see others doing whatever they want but we choose to walk the path of righteousness so that we would be saved.

It was because of Noah’s faith that he was saved, and we see this in Genesis 7:11-24

Genesis 7:11–24 ESV

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. 17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

I couldn’t imagine it raining that long, in fact who here when it rains expects it to last more than 2 or 3 days non stop? But the people in the world seemingly didn’t seek after God, and by the time the rain came it was too late. But Noah, Noah was prepared because he chose to have faith in God from the beginning.

and when it was all said and done, the waters lowered and the Ark landed on the mountains of Ararat. Noah then when things dryed up, went and built an alter and he made a sacrifice to the Lord. and he did so with the extra 7 of each clean animal that he brought. and God made a covenant with Noah.

Genesis 9:11–13 ESV

11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

God promised that he would never destroy the Earth with a flood again. and God has remained faithful to that promise to this day, and every time it rains we see the rainbow in the clouds reminding us of that promise.

Noah recieved God’s salvation because he was faithful to what he was commanded. Now was God unjust in this story? I mean didn’t he kill everyone without warning? I would like to point out that the Ark was plenty big enough for more than Noah’s family. 1 Peter 3:20 tells us,

1 Peter 3:20 ESV

20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

They had all the time to turn to God while the ark was being prepared yet no one did, and so god punishes the evil, and he saved the righteous. in fact let’s read this passage in 1 Peter in it’s entirety.

1 Peter 3:18–22 ESV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Peter is telling us here that in the same way that the waters of the flood picked up the ark and carried it to safety while blotting out all evil in the earth, and this passage here tells us that baptism is like this, that when we have faith and are baptized that we are saved just as Noah was.

This is what’s going to happen in the end times, there will be those in the world who are Evil, and there will be those of us who are righteous and find favor in God’s eyes. and God commands us, believe and be baptized in the same way he commanded Noah to build the ark. Now we need to listen to that call and be faithful, lest we end up like those in the world.

The evil people of Noah’s time didn’t know that a flood was coming, but no one knows when we’re going to die. just like we don’t know when Jesus is going to return, It’s going to just happen in an instant and it’s up to us to be prepared. Now I know some of you are baptized here, I know some of you who have been baptized since I’ve started here, but I’m not sure whether there’s anyone else here who isn’t baptized.

If you aren’t baptized today, maybe today is a good day to get on the ark because you don’t know when the Lord will return. maybe you don’t know enough about baptism and that’s why you’re holding back, but i’m telling you all you need to know is that God commands that we be baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the holy spirit and then we will be saved. It’s not too late right now, but tomorrow it might be. Why wait.

and if you are here today and you’ve already been baptized, remember to give thanks to the lord for rescuing you from evil and delivering you. You aren’t condemned to a place of punishment, you have been granted eternal life due to you faith. there is very little difference between you and Noah, we are all just people of faith seeking after God! Amen!