Righteous Noah, Evil World, Gracious God

We are going to Cambodia soon for our church mission trip, and I know I talked about it in one of the sermon’s last year, but I just wanted to repeat it today because it is quite relevant to today’s sermon. The country of Cambodia actually used to be quite a prosperous nation. It was originally a French colony, but then it gained independence in 1953. And after that, it experienced steady economic growth, and the capital city Phnom Penh was developing into a modern city, with schools and good education, modern hospitals, industrial development. But then in 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized power, and there was a dramatic decline in the country. The Khmer Rouge was a violent, and oppressive regime. They essentially killed anyone who was educated including teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, and students. Anyone wearing glasses for speaking a foreign language would be executed. They killed former government officials. They killed any religious people incluidng Buddhist monks, Muslims, Christians. They killed the rich and business owners as well. And those who were sick or disabled, often were left to die from starvation, disease, or they were executed. Over the period of 4 years, they killed about 2 million people, which meant 1 in 4 people in Cambodia at the time was murdered. If you go to Cambodia, you can see where they tortured and killed their victims in a high school which they turned into a prison called S-21. You can also visit the sites where they used to do mass executions, the most famous one being the ‘Killing Fields’, and they are still digging up bodies to this day - whenever there is a lot of rain, it’s actually quite common to find new fragments of bone on the ground as they come to the surface from the rain.

And the reason I talk about this tragic history of Cambodia is because in last week’s sermon, we talked about sin, and how it has completely invaded humanity, making it completely corrupt. We talked about how we cannot escape sin at all. We talked about how sin has invaded into the deepest parts of our hearts, making all that we do, speak, think, evil and corrupt. And in today’s passage as well, we see this sinful humanity, and it specifically talks about the violence of humanity and how everything has become corrupted. Just like the evil and violence seen by people in Cambodia’s history, we see this same evil and violence in the people during the time of Noah.

But in today’s passage, when it seems like all hope is lost, we see one person stand out from the rest of the entire human race, and that’s Noah. And we see how he is compared against the rest of humanity. And we also see a loving and gracious God. So in today’s passage, look out for 3 key players: (1) righteous Noah, (2) evil humanity, (3) gracious God.

So let’s read Genesis 6:9–22 together.

1. Righteous Noah

So how does Noah stand out from the rest of the crowd? In last week’s passage, we read that dramatic verse that read: Genesis 6:5 “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.”

But in today’s passage, we see a complete contrast. Read Genesis 6:9 “9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”

It says Noah was a ‘righteous’ man. Righteous means that Noah practiced right behaviour. He had godly character and conduct. He lived up to the standards that God had set in his laws.

But it also says Noah was ‘blameless’. Unlike the people of the world who were stained by sin and evil, Noah was without blemish, clean, different and set apart from the world.

(Blameless is the same word that is used to talk about the sacrifices in the OT. The sacrifices used by the Israelites had to be ‘without blemish’, clean, set apart.)

And finally, it says Noah ‘walked with God’. This is a huge compliment for Noah, because there is only one other person who is said to have ‘walked with God’. That’s Enoch - the person who was righteous before God, and didn’t experience death and was taken up into heaven. Noah is compared to the great Enoch. All the other people in Genesis like Abraham, don’t walk with God, but they walk before God. There’s something closer and more intimate, enjoying direct personal relationship with God just like Adam did in the Garden, when it says walking with God rather than walking before God.

2. Evil World

But then Noah is compared to the evil of this world. Read Genesis 6:11–12 “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.”

What does it say in these verses?

It mentions that the earth is corrupt, not once, but three times. When God first created the world, he saw that it was good, but now what does God see in the world? It is corrupt, evil, spoiled, ruined, because of sin.

And what else does it say? ‘It was filled with violence.’ In last week’s key verse, it said that the heart, thoughts, and intentions of man were evil. But now it is not only internal thoughts, but outward actions as well. The whole world was filled with violence. This is so different to God’s original creation - God originally told Adam and Eve to ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’ But rather than filling the earth with their children, what has humankind done? Humans have filled the earth with violence.

This contrast between Noah and this evil world is something far removed, not something just ancient, not just a story. It is reflective of the very world we live today. Mankind is no less wicked today as it was in Noah’s time. We talked about Cambodia and its tragic history earlier, but there are so many other instances in human history where the earth has been filled with violence, destruction, and hate.

Just like Noah, Christians are called to be righteous, blameless and set apart, and to walk with God today. And that often means going against the grain, standing out, being different to your friends at school. It means saying ‘no’ to some things, when you’re friends say ‘yes’. It means changing the way we talk and being careful about the words we use. It means encouraging or even challenging your friends when they show ungodly behaviour. It means showing love and kindness to those others won’t. It means sometimes being made fun of, and being ridiculed for your beliefs by non-Christians.

I’m not sure if you remember from last year’s camp, but the New Testament talks about this as being ‘salt’ and ‘light’ of the world. We are called to be different, righteous, holy, because God uses these things to bring his saving love to those around us. Just as humanity was saved and preserved through the righteousness of Noah, God uses us to save and preserve those around us.

3. Gracious God

But we have to be careful here, because one step too far, and it can seem that it was Noah’s own good behaviour that saved him from the flood. It can seem like Noah behaved and acted so well and righteous and holy, that he deserved to be saved. And if we read this passage incorrectly, we might come to the wrong conclusion that we are saved and go to heaven by acting righteously, being a good person.

But this is completely wrong, because this is self-righteousness. What we have to realise is even before Noah’s righteousness, it all started with God’s grace. Read Genesis 6:8 “8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” This verse from last week mentions God choosing Noah and Noah finding favour before God, even before mentioning anything at all about Noah’s righteousness. Ultimately, it is God’s grace, love, and mercy, that saved Noah from the flood, and it is God’s grace that also chooses us and saves us, not our own actions or our efforts.

Think about this illustration: you are drowning in the sea, and a boat comes up to save you. Self-righteousness is when we grab the edge of the boat and pull ourselves up into the boat by our own efforts and strength. God’s saving grace is where the boat comes up, and God grabs your wrist and pulls you up into the boat to save you - there was no involvement in our part, no effort or strength from us, but 100% God.

So when it talks about Noah being righteous, we need to look at it within the bigger context of God’s grace. Even the ability for Noah’s righteousness, being different from the rest of his sinful generation, comes from the foundation of God’s loving grace. Even our own righteous and good actions and efforts are not ours to take credit for, but it is a gift from God. So we don’t do right things and be righteous to save ourselves; we do it in response to, and in the power of, God already saving us and giving us his loving and saving grace.

And we see this elsewhere in the passage as well:

Read Genesis 6:18 “18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”

We will talk about this in more detail in a few weeks time, but the Bible introduces the idea of ‘covenant’ here, which is God’s loving and complete commitment to us, just like a marriage covenant where a husband and wife commit themselves to each other. God has committed himself to us just like a husband does to his wife.

Conclusion

So as Christians, God calls us to live well, live righteously, live differently from the evil world. God has certain expectations and demands from us. We can see this from today’s passage - God commanded Noah to do so many things, building the ark to specific proportions, preparing food for the ark. God gives us responsibilities, to live as righteous, good people, according to his good and holy law. But Christians don’t live as good and righteous people just for the sake of being a good person, to feel good and proud about ourselves, to make ourselves feel good and more important by doing good things.The Christian life is about God, it’s not about us. It’s about the almighty, loving, saving God. This passage shows us that even before our own righteousness, is God’s grace. God’s grace is the source, the foundation, and the reason for our righteousness, our good works, as Christians. We are chosen as His children by his grace, and therefore we do good things; rather than doing good things to become worthy to be His children. And we must remember, the only reason we can do good works and live as Christians in the first place, is because of the loving grace of God. So yes, as children of God, we are called to be good people, we are called to do good works, but as we do so, we must never forget about the loving Father so chooses us, saves us, and transforms us into His children. It is only by His power that we can live as Christians, so we need to depend upon in prayer, and reading the Bible, more and more each day, and remember there is nothing to boast or be proud of our good lives, because all the credit and thanks and glory goes to the Father, not us.

Opening song:

You are life - Hillsong

Ending song:

Amazing Grace - My Chains Are Gone

Study questions:

(1) How can we be ‘righteous’ like Noah in our lives as Christians?

(2) What are some ways the world around us is evil? What can you see in the non-Christians (and even Christians!) around you? How can we be different from all that?

(3) Is the Christian life just about being a good person? What allows us to be good and righteous in the first place? Is it our good works that save us?

Other side notes:

Theological emphases of the biblical flood account vs. Mesopotamian flood narratives

Sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient monotheistic God vs. weak, frightened, dependent, capricious, ignorant/greedy/jealous polytheistic gods

Flood due to the stern/strict moral failure of man vs. flood due to the inconsequential reason of the earth being noisy due to too many humans

Focus on God and minimising of Noah in the Bible vs. the human becoming the hero of the story

Promoting the fertility of Man vs. population control

Additional comments on verse 8

God’s sovereignty is also seen in the fact that in contrast to the Mesopotamian flood myths where the human is painted as a hero, Noah is barely mentioned at all, and God is the main character - text is theocentric, where God is portrayed as sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent -> again cf. Mesopotamian flood myths.

There is also the point of how this pericope about the righteousness of Noah has an inclusio of God’s grace and provision - verse 8 and 22. The righteousness of Noah is founded on, nestled in, and surrounded by God’s grace.

Things taken out due to lack of time:

We also see the grace of God in providing all the different means to secure Noah and his family’s safety through the flood, as this passage describes in detail the dimensions of the ark, the way God will preserve all the animals of the earth by bringing a pair of every animal into the ark, and also by providing all the food they will need on their journey.

And we also see God’s loving grace as when we read in verse 22, we read “22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” Noah is described as a passive recipient of all of God’s instructions and provisions, and all he has to do is obey God’s commandments and Noah’s safety will be guaranteed. Noah is completely dependent on God, and God is seen as a perfect provider.

God is the main driver of all the events of the flood, nothing is out of his control. God is like the conductor of an orchestra. And he uses that complete control and power to not only judge evil and sin, but to provide perfect protection and deliverance to His people - Noah was perfectly protected and delivered from the flood by his obedience to all that God had provided, and even Noah’s obedience and righteousness itself was given to him by virtue of God’s loving grace.

In next week’s sermon, could perhaps talk about the repeated refrain ‘Noah did all that God commanded him’ and how this relates to Hebrew 11:5-7, the faith of Noah.