Salvation Through Judgment

INTRODUCTION

Today’s message is about everybody’s least favorite topic. It’s an issue that keeps many people from considering the truth of Christianity or the Bible all together.

The topic is the judgment of God.

Modern people read the story of the flood in Genesis 7 and accuse God of being over reactive, vindictive, and unjust.

They ask, “Why does God have to destroy the whole world just because of moral choices he happens to disagree with?”

Such questions are naive.

For there to be such a thing as “God” and for that God to be such a thing as “good” there MUST also be such a thing as judgment.

A good God in an evil world necessitates righteous judgment.

The very notion of good requires an absolute standard. If a standard is absolute that means IT is the object against which other things are measured (aka judged.)

In other words, there would be no divine judgment if there were no human failures. But that’s not the world in which we live.

Human Violence & Divine Retribution

We live in a world full of human violence. Just like the world (prior to the flood) was FILLED with human violence.

Through their violence they had destroyed God’s world. So God destroys the destroyers in order to save the world.

You might object and say “that’s not fair.” But for God to be good he must be also just.

For God to be just he must punish injustice.

For God to be right he must correct what’s wrong.

For God to be good he must rid the world of evil.

For God to be true he must respond to what is false.

If God doesn’t exist, there are no good grounds for moral outrage against human violence.

The honest atheistic philosophers agreed with this notion.

Fredrick Nietzsche said “If there is no God then there can be nothing wrong with violence. All moral outrage against violence is really just a power play.”

Think about it. If nature is all that there is - there’s nothing more fundamental to nature than violence. Nature red and tooth and claw.

But most people know deep down that’s not the full story of our world. There is a moral sense in us that decries human violence.

That moral outrage against nature requires an absolute source outside of nature that informs our intuitions: A sharp edge against which we can judge violence for the wrong that is actually is.

Which means those moral intuitions are real. They’re grounded in a good God. And His existence invites judgment on a world filled with evil.

So without God we can’t ground our moral outrage. But because there IS a God we can’t escape our moral culpability. An evil world requires a righteous judge.

That’s what we are a seeing now in the book of Genesis. If you’re just now joining us let me catch you up on where we’ve been.

Context

Genesis is a book of beginnings and the opening verses say “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Not only did God create everything we see in this world he created it originally good.

He created the first two humans (Adam & Eve) and gives them an opportunity to enjoy his creation and live within a certain moral boundary.

Tragically, they choose to sin against God and introduce brokenness into this world.

While God could’ve destroyed the world right then and started all over he didn’t.

He cast Adam and Eve out of paradise and allowed them to live in their brokenness while they waited on God’s promise to deliver them from sin and death.

1,656 years go by before we get to our passage today. During those 1,656 years people lived for a very long time.

They had 600, 700, sometimes 900 years to make technology, build civilizations and advance the human race. The problem was, their hearts were inclined towards evil because sin and brokenness.

Imagine if you were an evil person and you were able to live that long. How much damage do you think you could do? What if Hitler had not been stopped? How bad would the world have gotten?

By the time we get to Genesis 6 mankind is living in such a world and God chooses to act respond with a world-wide judgment.

Why The Flood

In Genesis 7 God hits the reset button on the whole of creation and unleashes his judgment through the flood.

Except he doesn’t “Start Over” with a new heaven, new earth, new garden and first parents.

He starts over by choosing one man and his family and saves them from judgment through the building of an ark.

His name is Noah. I don’t believe Noah was always a righteous man. His was credited righteousness because of his faith.

The Lord comes to Noah and says, “Build me an ark because I’m about to destroy everything with the breath of life under heaven.” (Gen 6:17)

The Lord establishes a covenant with Noah and his family. (Gen 6:18).

Noah is chosen by God, justified by faith and he and his family are saved through judgment.

For the next 120 years Noah builds the ark and preaches this message he receives from the Lord. Not surprisingly, nobody listens. They laugh him off and say he’s absolutely crazy.

Only eight people in the end belong to God and live for God: Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives.

That’s where we pick up our story this morning.

Noah Enters The Ark

Because we’re covering so much territory, much of our time will be spent tracking his storyline.

But we’ll make a few comments along the way and then close with a final point of application.

Genesis 7:1–10 (ESV)

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. (Remember Noah has been building this Ark for 120 years - it’s amazing that his wife and children are still with him!)

2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. (this is the first time we’re introduced to this concept of clean & unclean animals. Remember Moses is writing this book along with the other first five books of the Bible. Clean animals were allowed for Jews to eat and unclean animals were not.)

4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. (Underline that sentence. That’s key. Noah was obedient to God in EVERYTHING)

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

God’s Speaks

For those who weren’t here last week the Ark Noah built was designed by God and looked like a giant battleship.

It wasn’t a boat for sailing or navigation. It was a boat for surviving a global flood.

It was 3 stories tall and somewhere around 2 million cubic feet. You could fit 520 modern day railroad cars in this boat. This is a BIG BOAT. Probably why it took Noah 120 years to build it.

What’s fascinating to me is that Noah never speaks in these two chapters.

In verses 1-10 God speaks and Noah obeys.

The Lord tells Noah exactly what to do and exactly how long to wait. He says, In a week, it’s going to start raining. The rain is going to fall for 40 days.”

These are specific numbers and measurable timelines. What a gracious thing for God to do.

Noah Obeys

Not only does this show that God has perfect knowledge of the future. A future over which He is totally sovereign.

It would’ve also been a confirmation for Noah. He would’ve known these commands truly were from God because they were coming true exactly as he had predicted.

Which leads us to the first key point about salvation through judgment. In judgment, God’s Word is reliable and His blessing is experienced through obedience.

We’re going to see this over and over and over again in this story. God’s Word is true and dependable. Things happen according to his Word.

But it’s more than that. There’s also a blessing attached to our obedience to God’s Word.

God doesn’t bless people. He blesses a place. He blesses people who PLACE themselves underneath his Word.

People get angry and frustrated because God isn’t blessing them or things aren’t working out like they’re supposed to work. God didn’t deliver them according to their expectations.

Sometimes that happens because God wants us to go through the storm instead of being delivered from it.

Sometimes that happens because we’re compromising our obedience to God’s Word. We’ll say things like, “I’ll be 50% or 80% obedient to what God wants but not 100%.

When you compromise your obedience to God’s Word you dilute God’s blessing on your life!

You say, “Why doesn’t God bless me like so and so?” God doesn’t bless people, he blesses a place.

Place yourself under the umbrella of God’s authority and God’s truth and experience the reward of God’s blessing on your life.

God speaks. Noah obeys. God blesses and delivers.

God Unleashes the Flood

With Noah and his family in the Ark God now unleashes the flood of his judgment. Genesis 7:11ff.

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.

Notice that water is coming from below and coming from above. They’re getting it from both sides.

Also notice the specific details on dates and times. Seems more historical than mythical.

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.

Some people doubt this story because how could Noah get all the animals into the Ark.

According to verse 15 Noah doesn’t force any animal into the ark. They come willingly! Oh that the wicked people would’ve been as wise as these animals but they weren’t.

It’s also important to note who shuts them in. The LORD shuts them in.

The other thing that’s interesting is that the day Noah gets into the Ark is the same day the rain starts to fall. God’s timing is precise and definite.

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.

Imagine being Noah in this moment. Wow! It’s really happening. Imagine the people who would’ve been fleeing to the Ark trying to get in. Tragic.

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.

(remember a cubit is your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. 18 or so inches. 15 cubits = 22 to 23 feet)

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.

Only Noah was left and those with him on the ark. It’s a genocidal judgment of God over the entire earth.

It rains for 40 days and 40 nights. The number 40 is symbolically significant, especially for the original audience.

Remember the Israelites under the leadership of Moses were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years before getting into the Promised Land.

Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai to receive the 10 commandments.

Jesus before starting his ministry fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.

Jesus spends 40 days with his disciples after his resurrection.

Sometimes the number 40 represents testing and preparation, (Israel & Jesus) sometimes it represents cleansing and renewal (flood). Sometimes it’s a symbol of transition and transformation (Jesus & Disciples)

How long did Noah have to build the Ark? 120 years, which is 40 years times three.

I take these at literal years but they also communicate a larger point which is the absolute patience of God in delaying judgment.

Two things that stand out in this story when it comes to God’s judgment. (1) He’s much more patient than we deserve. (2) He’s much more grieved than we can know.

God waited 1,656 years before finally saying to himself, “I’m not going to do this forever.”

Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Even then he raises up a preacher to preach for 120 years.

When he does decide to send judgment it GRIEVES his heart to do so.

Genesis 6:6 (ESV)

6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

That word translated grieved is related to the word for cut. It cuts God to the heart to unleash judgment on his creation. It was literally heartbreaking for God to destroy the wicked with the flood.

So he gives grace upon grace upon grace. He’s slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, extending kindness and compassion so that we might embrace a heart of repentance.

He’s more patient than we deserve and he’s more grieved than we can know.

Even so, God’s mercy is not indefinite. There is a limit to God’s patience and a day on which the door way to his grace will shut.

There will come a day that God eventually shuts the door and unleashes the judgment. And on that day, it will be too late.

On that day, there’s nothing we can do to try and save the people who rejected God’s invitation.

Which means we should do everything in our power on THIS DAY, while the door is still open, to plead with people to be reconciled to God.

That means if God’s Spirit is convicting you of sin on THIS day that you should repent and surrender your life to Jesus as Lord.

It’s easy to read this and think “that’s not fair… that’s not right...” But those who are quick to judge God of injustice are also often the ones who accuse this world of being broken.

Maybe instead of pointing the finger we should look in the mirror. If God does exist we have NO place to judge him but He has every reason to exercise judgment on US.

Salvation Through Judgment

But even God’s judgment is shaped by his compassion and love.

God doesn’t delight in sending judgment on the world. It grieves his heart but it’s what love demands.

It was because of LOVE that God’s heart was grieved at the condition of man. It was because of LOVE that God decides to destroy those who were destroying his creation.

The reason that God brought an end to human life is because if he didn’t human life would end.

If God doesn’t bring an end to evil then evil brings an end to human kind.

So when we cry out to God and say, “Please deal with this evil.” He looks back at us and says, “I can’t end evil without ending you.” So we want the salvation without the judgment but that’s not the way truth and love actually work!

Either God deals with everybody or he deals with nobody. That’s why he’s so patient. How patient has God been with you? And what have you done with that grace?

It’s been a few thousand years since the death and resurrection of Jesus. How patient has God been with you while he waits for the fullness of his kingdom to come in?

God is more patient than we deserve. He is more grieved than we can know. But his mercy is not indefinite. His justice requires for a day of judgement to fall.

Hebrews 9:27 “... it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,”

You have a day of judgment that is waiting for you in the future. And our world has a day of judgment that is waiting for it in the future.

Just like Noah we are preaching and pleading with people to repent of their sins and get in the boat.

And one day, like Noah, God is going to finally shut the door and unleash the flood.

Will you be ready for that day?

God Remembers Noah

Noah and his family were, but the rest of the world was not.

Genesis 8:1–5 (ESV)

1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

I love that phrase, “God remembered Noah.” Noah obeys God and God remembers Noah.

God makes Noah and promise and God is faithful to keep the promise that he made.

That being said, “there’s often a gap between God’s promise and it’s fulfillment .”

If you keep reading in verses 6-15 there’s almost an entire year that goes by before Noah and his family can actually get off the boat.

Rains for 40 days and 40 nights.

150 days after that the water begins to drain.

On the seventh day of the seventh month the ark lands on the mountains of Ararat. (Between Turkey & Russia)

Another 3 months go by before the other mountain tops are seen.

If you read through the rest of chapter 8 you see Noah sends out one dove and one raven. (one herbivore one carnivore). Probably to see if there was any animal life out there or any plant life that was coming back from the flood.

Finally after close to a year of waiting God instructs Noah to get off the boat.

Genesis 8:15–19 (ESV)

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

One of the principles we can take away from this passage is that:

Though God is always faithful, we sometimes have to wait for his perfect timing.

I don’t know about you but I’ve often discovered there’s a gap between God’s timing and our timing.

You can’t do anything to speed up or lessen that gap other than be faithful with what you know God has told you to do in the meantime.

Noah had lots of time to practice that during the 120 years waiting for the rain. He kept doing what he know God had asked him to do even while he waited for God to make good on his promise.

Now, on the other side of the flood he’s doing the same.

Mountains of Ararat

People wonder whether this story of the flood was actual history or just a myth or allegory.

The presence of flood narratives in so many other ancient texts outside of the Bible give credence to fact that it is actual history.

The other thing is modern archeology. One of my biggest take aways from Israel is that archeology vindicates the truth of the Bible at every turn.

And it’s no different with historical evidence of the flood and Noah’s ark.

I don’t have time to get into the archeological evidence for a flood but you can do the homework yourself.

What I DID find interesting was a recent find on the mountains of Ararat that look EXACTLY like the dimensions of Noah’s ark in Genesis 6.

SHOW PICTURE:

It’s covered up with top soil but they’ve done some thermal imaging and x-rays and found that the stuff underneath this rock formation (which just happens to be exactly 300 cubits long) is three stories of petrified timber deck and ancient petrified rivet (bolts for holding it together).

The Turkish government hasn’t permitted much digging (for obvious reasons) but it’s right there for the world to see.

Salvation Through Judgment

So Noah was chosen by God to be saved through judgment. He was saved BY God grace. He was saved FROM God’s wrath. But Genesis 8 closes with a final note about salvation through judgment.

Noah was saved THROUGH His judgment FOR God’s glory.

We don’t know for sure how many people lived on the earth during the days of Noah but we do know every single person outside of Noah and his family died in the flood.

Chapter 8 ends with Noah offering a sacrifice to God, an act of worship for God’s salvation of him and his family.

Genesis 8:20–22 (ESV)

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

So God resets creation by delivering one man and his family. Their first act as the new human race is to build an altar to the LORD and offer a sacrifice of praise.

What a perfect picture of what God desires from us. An imperfect man saved by God’s grace, walking with humility and leading his family to worship the Lord.

We know from Leviticus that a burnt offering like this was given by sinners who acknowledge their sins deserve death and that they should die.

So in this sacrifice Noah is saying, “God, I’m a sinner and I’m no better than any of these other people who were destroyed in the flood. I’m just as guilty and deserving of death but I give you praise because of your mercy and grace.”

The Only Response

This is how we ought to respond to God’s grace in salvation.

God’s grace in salvation ought to result in humility, worship and love.

Notice that God never instructs Noah to do this. Noah takes the initiative himself. This was a sincere act coming from Noah’s heart.

This is what God’s grace does to the human heart. When you are saved by God through judgment then you’re response to that grace is humility, service and love.

We are saved by God, from God and ultimately FOR God.

Notice the contrast from chapter 6. The inclination of man’s heart has gone from only evil continually to a heart that delights in loving the Lord.

That’s what TRUE salvation produces in an individual. God replaces a heart of stone with a heart of flesh. New heart. New desires. New lifestyle.

Men let your children see you responding to God in this way. Let them see your spiritual humility, confession of sin and desire for a righteousness that comes from God and not from yourself.

The Ultimate Salvation

Noah was a new man, with a new heart who had a new hope for a better future.

Unfortunately, a few verses later, things are going to go back the wrong direction.

God saved Noah and his family from the flood of judgment but they were not yet delivered from the power and ultimate penalty of sin.

That ultimate salvation was yet to be fulfilled. And in that way, the story of the flood points us to an even greater greater judgment and an even greater deliverance.

Noah’s salvation through judgment and sacrifice of praise ultimately point to Christ and His cross.

At the cross God’s wrath and judgment on sin is fully unleashed.

At the cross, those who repent of sin and put their hope in Jesus will be delivered from judgment just as Noah was delivered from the flood.

Those who do not believe will be crushed underneath the same.

This sacrifice Noah gives at the end of the story also ultimately points to Christ. It was through HIS death that we were spared from what we truly deserve.

He died in our place, for our sins so that we might experience God’s salvation through judgment.

In Christ we were saved by God’s grace, from God’s wrath and for God’s glory.

The only proper response is one of humility, worship and loving obedience for what Christ has done.

If you’ve not yet made that decision, God’s invitation won’t stand open for ever.

The Ultimate Judgment

Not only is the cross of Christ God’s final act of salvation. The imminent return of Christ will bring about God’s final act of judgment.

Our culture is just like Noah’s: scoffers abound and mock the patience of God in judgment. But what God destroyed back then through water he will do again through fire. (2 Peter 3:3-7).

Jesus warned his disciples that the day of his return would be just like the days of Noah. People will be eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage and then suddenly God’s judgment is going to fall. (Matthew 24:37-39)

If you’re not ready for that day, then today is the day to get right with the Lord. The most important day of your life is the last day of your life. You need Jesus Christ. We all do.

Enter into Christ by faith so that you might be saved from the final judgment that is to come.

On THAT day you and I will see him, the Creator. He will set his feet on the Mount of Olives and he destroy Satan and demons. He will sentence sinners to eternal judgment and give the saints a glorious resurrection. He will lift the curse and bring a kingdom that never ends. Jesus Christ, the greater and better Noah.