Gen. 6-8 - The Boiling Point - Wrath in a Flood
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
Everything we have discussed so far in our series on the first 11 chapters of Genesis has been leading to this pivotal point that we are going to discuss this morning!
We have seen many foundational theological truths, the most important one being that man has a sin problem!
There are CONSEQUENCES for this sin problem — Death.
We’re introduced to Jesus in Gen. 3:15 — He is the One Who would eventually come and SOLVE the sin problem!
But in the mean time, as we saw last week progressing through Genesis chapter 4, sin would continue to ravage the world.
Well, after we make some VERY brief comments about chapter 5, we will spend the rest of our time this morning discussing in brief chapters 6-8.
We are just going to hit the highlights — I LOVE these chapters — There’s SO MUCH to glean from them, but we’re wanting to move along in this sermon series, so we are just going to hit the highlights.
I’ve titled this sermon: “Genesis Chapters 6-8: The Boiling Point - Wrath in a Flood.”
With that, there’s a lot we want to cover, so let’s begin!
Brief Comments - Chapter 5:
Brief Comments - Chapter 5:
The first words you’ll read in chapter 5 are “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam.”
In other words, what we see in this chapter is the list of names from Adam all the way to Noah.
Up to this point in Genesis, the “main characters” if we can say it that way have been Adam and Eve (and their relationship to GOD of course), the devil who stepped in to tempt them which resulted in them being at odds with God, Cain, Abel, and Seth.
We’ve seen some other names, and you’ll see some other names here in chapter 5 …
But we’re now getting ready to turn our attention to Noah.
Noah is an extremely important character (historical figure) in the Bible.
What we are going to see today is the example of his FAITH!
So chapter 5 here is Adam -> Noah.
One interesting side note that is at least a possibility here — (It is debated by scholars, so it is a bit unsure, but certainly an interesting possibility) — the possible prophecy of the Messiah contained in the names of the people in this genealogy:
Adam - “Man.”
Seth - “Appointed.”
Enosh - “Mortal,” “frail,” “feeble” (the idea of “death”).
Cainan - “Sorrow.”
Mahalalel - “The blessed God.”
Jared - “Shall come down.”
Enoch - “Discipling,” “teaching.”
Methuselah - “His Death Shall Bring.”
Lamech - “The despairing.”
Noah - “Rest,” “Comfort.”
So the thought is that there is a possible prophecy in each of these names that says this: “For man it is appointed mortality (death) and sorrow. But the blessed God shall come down, discipling/teaching. His death shall bring to the despairing comfort/rest.”
Again, it’s debated whether this is for sure or not, but if it IS, that’s fascinating!
And to me, evidence as far as I’m concerned!
Chapter 6 - The Boiling Point of Sin:
Chapter 6 - The Boiling Point of Sin:
I wish we had time to read all of this, but I want to move this sermon series along (We could easily spend many weeks on the flood, but I want us to move on).
If you were to look at the first several verses of this chapter, you would see that the sons of God took wives from the daughters of men, as humanity’s population was rapidly increasing.
We’re not going to speak to the different ideas people have about that, except to say that the end result ends up being a rapid increase in sinfulness.
So much so that we read in Gen. 6:5-6 says …
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
How bad did it have to be?!
I mean, I took around now and see how bad things are, and God hasn’t destroyed the world the second and final time yet — So here in Genesis 6 it was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD!!
“EVERY intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually!” (I can’t imagine living in a world like that)!
So God essentially says, “Enough! No more! Time to destroy this place!”
BUT … we read in verse 8 …
Gen. 6:8
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Was there ever grace in the O.T.?
Of course there was! Noah found it right here!
And Noah is going to be saved from this destruction by an ark that lifts him and his family out of the flood waters.
And Noah’s soul’s ultimate salvation would come, of course, through Jesus Christ, as is the case for ALL who will be saved!
Why did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord?
Well the next verse tells us:
Gen. 6:9
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
Noah, obviously, was the exception to the rule when it comes to the wickedness of all of the rest of mankind on the earth!
In Noah'’s appearance in faith’s hall of fame, Heb. 11:7 says:
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Later today when you get a chance, read the rest of this chapter here in Genesis 6.
What you are going to find is that God gives Noah a VERY SPECIFIC set of instructions (a blueprint, if you will) to build an ark, and to build it precisely the way God said, and to fill it precisely the way God said!
Noah DID prepare that ark for the saving of his household!
And we read in Gen. 6:22
Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
The Flood Comes - Chapters 7-8:
The Flood Comes - Chapters 7-8:
God’s cup of wrath has reached its fill!
Later in your O.T., Jeremiah describes the cup of God’s wrath filling, if you look at Jer. 25:15-17 - “For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me.” (Drinking of the wrath of God!)
Well, that’s what happens here in the Global Flood — All the people of the world except for 8 perish in the flood!
(By the way, it was indeed a GLOBAL flood — Not some local flood that got passed down in the form of myth, as skeptics claim).
(There’s so much evidence for a global flood, there would be no way to cover it in a short amount of time — I’ll give you just ONE to think about real quick).
Fossilized sea shells on the tops of all of the world’s tallest mountains! (How do you explain that?!)
Unbelievably, evolutionary geologists do try to explain this away with their own methods.
However, I would put forth that the way they ended up there was in the flood!
Furthermore, when we find these fossilized clams on the top of mountains, they are found in a CLOSED position — (That’s really important!)
It’s important because when clams die, they release in such a way that their shells OPEN — Thus, one would think that the fossils would be found OPEN.
But they are not — They are found in the CLOSED position, something that could only happen if they were RAPIDLY BURIED (in something like a flood!)
Well, let’s briefly notice some of the highlights of chapters 7 and 8 …
Gen. 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
I’ll just say here, don’t miss the type and the antitype that is here!
The type is the salvation that was found in the ark, and the antitype is the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ and His church today!
God’s instructions to Noah are reiterated in the next several verses:
Essentially, they involve taking 7 of every clean animal on the ark (that way those animals can be offered as sacrifices, they will eventually be eaten as well).
Versus only a single male and a single female for the unclean animals — Wouldn’t need as many of them!
Again, as we noticed in Gen. 6:22, we read in Gen. 7:5
And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.
What if he had not?!
In Gen. 7:16, we read:
So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
This is important because it was GOD’s prerogative to decide who gets to be saved in the ark and who is not.
GOD shut the door of the ark, and once that happened, there were no second chances for all those who refused to listen to Noah’s preaching!
I’m reminded of one of the most memorable sermons I’ve ever heard — “And the DOOR … was shut,” which I heard at PTP by brother Dan Winkler, preaching his dad Wendell Winkler’s sermon from Matt. 25:10.
It’s from the parable of the 10 virgins, and how five of them weren’t ready to attend the wedding — The door was shut, and they were not allowed in!
Same idea here when God shuts the door of the ark!
The next few verses plainly teach, again, that this was a universal, GLOBAL flood!
No other way to look at it.
The text says “The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.” (v. 17)
“The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were COVERED.” (v. 19)
Make no mistake — This flood was GLOBAL! (and again, plenty of evidence for that!)
“Fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered!” (v. 20)
You can keep reading in chapter 7, and you’ll read that every living animal that didn’t make it on that ark and every living man that didn’t make it on the ark were destroyed in the flood, while those who were on the ark were saved!
Matt. 24:37-39 says:
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Well, finally just a couple things we will mention as we highlight chapter 8 …
Gen. 8:1
Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
A couple of things in this verse:
If you’re faithful like Noah was, God will remember you, too!
God makes a wind pass over the earth, causing the waters to subside — If you think about it — This very well may explain an ice age occuring shortly after the flood (The earth would have undergone drastic changes after the flood, and that would be just one of them).
You can keep reading in this chapter — You can read about the raven and the doves that Noah sends out to “test the waters,” so to speak, to see if it was safe to leave the ark yet.
You can read about God telling Noah and his family to leave the ark, and to “be fruitful and multiply” to repopulate the earth.
But I want to focus in on one more thing this morning, and that is found in Gen. 8:20ff.
Gen. 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Notice the very first thing Noah does when he gets off the ark is he builds an altar and worships God!
Undoubtedly with gratefulness in his heart as he did it!
Gen. 8:21
And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
Gen. 8:22
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
What we are going to find when we get into chapter 9 next week is that God establishes a covenant with Noah (and therefore, mankind in general) that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood.
We’re going to end up seeing that covenant symbolized by the rainbow, and we’ll definitely need to say something about that!
Notice also this last verse in chapter 8 - “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, and day and night SHALL NOT CEASE.”
That one verse does away with this radical popular idea that somehow man is going to kill the planet — That simply isn’t true.
Lord willing next week, we are going to look at the aftermath of the flood in chapter 9, and then we will be leading up to the conclusion of this sermon series after that when we look at chapter 11.
Are you ready for the judgment day?
You know, in Noah’s day, there was a judgment day of sorts (not the final judgment day), but indeed a day when God brought judgment by destroying the world!
One day, it WILL be the final judgment day when God will destroy the world in fire, when the elements will melt in fervent heat!
Will you be ready?