Genesis 6:9-9:17 - The severe judgement of God leads to salvation

When I was in the first grade I sat next to a girl named Brittney.

She and I got along really well, we didn’t make too much of a commotion.

One day, she took my crayon box from my desk because she forgot hers at home

We needed them for some coloring sheet we were doing, so I was trying to get the colors I needed while Mrs. Jones wrapped up instructions.

Well, this did not sit well with Mrs. Jones.

She thought I was simply ignoring her and talking with Brittney so she told us that we did not have recess and that we needed to pull a card, which would show up on our weekly behavior card.

I lost it. I was absolutely distraught.

I began to panic in my seven-year-old mind.

Because my dad told me that I could watch the WWE pay-per-view that weekend if I had perfect behavior at school.

This wasn’t just any PPV, this was Backlash 2005!

Hulk Hogan was teaming up with Shawn Michaels for “one more match.”

This was major stuff! I cried for about an hour.

I had never forgot that moment.

That was a day that I learned all my actions have consequences.

Big Idea: The severe judgement of God leads to salvation

Context

The world was BAD.

Fallen angels were taking over the bodies/souls of men

They sexually assaulted women and claimed them as wives and produced “Nephilim”

The violent “mighty men who were of old.”

The world was being filled with people and those people were inherently sinful beyond the most depraved imagination.

The Lord resolved that He would wipe humanity from the face of the planet.

Their sin required judgement, and that judgement would be a global punishment.

Stand to read

Genesis 6:11–14 ESV

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. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Genesis 6:17–18 ESV

17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 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.

Leader: This is God’s Word.

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

The Lord had told Noah what He was going to do and gave Him detailed instructions on how he was to build the Ark

The ark was spectacular in design for the ancient world. A football field and a half long.

No cranes, no trucks, no chainsaws.

Genesis 7:11–12 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.

Moses tells the people of Israel when this happened.

By pinpointing the exact date shows that it was a real event.

The Lord shut the door to the ark, and the flood ensued.

The Ocean amazes me and terrifies me.

There are creatures in the ocean that make our houses look small.

Standing on the balcony looking down into the dark blue ocean.

I thought 95% of this ocean is still unexplored.

There are creatures in the dark that have never seen the light.

There is a creature called the Giant Squid that can grow to be 52 feet long.

That’s bigger than a three story building.

There’s not just one of them swimming around down there.

That’s not even the biggest or meanest thing in the ocean.

This water was so expansive that we don’t have the imagination to understand what it meant for water to cover the entirety of the earth.

Mountains were 22 feet under water.

We’re about 894 feet above sea level.

Mt. Everest is 29,032 feet.

Mt. Everest was under water.

and It was so sudden.

Genesis 7:19–23 ESV

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.

He gives some graphic detail to tell of the intensity and the destruction of the flood.

This was more than a big pool where the good swimmers survived.

This was an overwhelming wall of water and people were swept away.

Millions of pounds of pressure hit them suddenly.

There were no survivors

Church, Noah’s ark should teach us,

Our sin leads to God’s judgement

Somehow we’ve deduced the story of Noah’s Ark to a cute children’s story.

We’ve lost the weight of the seriousness of our sin.

God must punish sin. There must be death.

We have all sinned against God, yet we expect Him to be cool with it.

God is a God of justice, and we are all guilty.

The purpose of the flood was to execute God’s righteousness on sin.

We have convinced ourselves that if its culturally acceptable, then it must be okay.

We negate God’s Word when it contradicts our lives, and simply expect God to be okay with our sin.

God is simply being patient with us/ He hasn’t accepted our sin just because our culture celebrates it.

We cannot celebrate what God hates.

Our sin inflames God’s wrath and then we turn it on Him and say that He is unloving.

God would be totally right to judge us for our sin, which is what He did in the flood.

When the wrath of God had been satisfied in the flood, after 150 days, God caused the water to drain from the earth.

Genesis 8:1–2 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,

The ark floated until it landed in the Mountains of Ararat (8:4).

Then he sent a dove to see if the waters were gone.

The dove didn’t find a place to put her foot, so she came back.

After seven more days, he sent her out again, and she came back with a fresh olive leaf.

Noah knew the waters had subsided.

After another week, he sent her out and she didn’t come back.

God told Noah that it was safe to come off the ark, and to be fruitful and multiply.

So Noah responded in worship because God had preserved Him and His family.

He built and altar and offered sacrifices which pleased God.

Genesis 8:21–9:2 ESV

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.” 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

After judgement, God promised that He would never do that again.

God was going to use Noah and his family to repopulate the earth.

This is an echo of Adam and Eve’s command in the garden of Eden.

God was reestablishing and restoring humanity.

Then God makes a promise and establishes 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 would never flood the earth again

He’d put a sign in the sky when it rains that we still observe today: The Rainbow.

Secular communities have taken this sign and made it their flag—But what this actually represents is a promise from God to us.

Human beings cannot control this sign. God controls this one.

Despite human sin and violence, God has committed Himself to the His World.

Transition

God had promised to never flood the earth in judgement again.

He is not going to establish His kingdom in a different way

He shifts from strict justice to pure grace.

He sends His Son.

Gospel Presentation

When we think of God flooding the earth, we think “That’s a little harsh.”

You likely have a low view of your sin and a low view of the cross.

Think about the cross.

God had poured out the flood of His wrath onto Christ instead of onto you.

It would have been right of God to condemn us to hell to spend eternity away from Him.

Instead He gave us His Son

Jesus’s cross is the ark that carries us through judgement to salvation.

Say “Jesus’s blood washes my sin away.”

In justice, God had poured out His judgement on the earth by sending the flood

In grace, God had poured out His judgement for your sins onto Jesus so that we can live by faith.

The blood of Jesus gives us redemption.

Church, what you need to know is

Jesus saves us from judgement

When you repent of your sins and turn to Jesus, God’s grace covers your sin and you are brought safely to God through faith!

Will you put your trust in Jesus?

Some of you are those who stood and watched Noah and laughed until the floods came.

Jesus said there’s a day coming like there was in Noah’s.

Matthew 24:38–39 ESV

38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

If you’re not a Christian, put your faith in Jesus today.

You can be set free from your sins and have eternal life in Christ.

Repent of your sins and turn to Jesus

He takes all our sin and drowns them in His blood.

I finally went to Mrs. Jones and explained what was happening.

I told her that I understood why I was in trouble, and me talking with Brittney was not the right thing to do in that moment.

I ask her to forgive me. Then I explained to her the deal with my dad and she looked at me.

Then she took a moment and told Brittney and I, “If you will explain to the class why what you did was wrong, and apologize to the class, then I will take back the card.”

Does this mean we’ll never sin again? No.

This means that the punishment is given to Jesus and God’s grace is given to you.

You can live in freedom by taking the next step to follow Jesus.

Here’s some practicals for this week.

Take the Next Step

Read Genesis 6-9:17.

Pray the Lord would help you feel the weight of sin/judgement/the cross and lead you to repentance.

If you’re not a Christian, today’s the day.

Our sin leads to God’s judgement, but Jesus has saved us from judgement by His drowning our sins in His blood.

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