Section 4 - Part 1: Noah was a Righteous Man

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

The Flood to come is history:

1 Chronicles 1:4 NASB95

Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Isaiah 54:9 NASB95

“For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you.

Ezekiel 14:13–14 NASB95

“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 14:19–20 NASB95

“Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

God was Patient during these times up to His judgment

1 Peter 3:19–20 NASB95

in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

What kind of man was Noah to God?

Noah was a righteous man,

What does “Righteous” mean?

How as Noah “Righteous”?

Blameless in his time;

What does it mean to be blameless?

Genesis 17:1 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”

Deuteronomy 18:13 ““You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.”

Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:12 “God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.”

Genesis 6:13 “Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”

Genesis 18:25 ““Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?””

Psalm 37:39 “But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble.”

2 Peter 2:4–9 (NASB95) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

What did God observe about the world?

Genesis 6:11 “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

What did God do with what He observed?

1. He took action to bring about judgment.

He was very specific about what He required of Noah and how he was going to execute His wrath. What specifics does Noah, and Moses, describe?

Cubit: Royal 20.4”, Common 17.5” = 2,167,500 cubic feet // three space shuttles could lay across it nose to tail on the roof (~a football field and a half)

Using the royal cubit: 510’x85’x50’ (LxWxH)

Using the common cubit: 438’x72.9’x43.8’ (LxWxH) = 1.4 mil cubic feet // 522 stock cars from a train - one would carry 240 sheep and all of them 125k sheep

The judgment was world wide

2 Peter 3:5–6 NASB95

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.Genesis

2. He made a covenant with Noah, and through him, to all of us.

What genre is Genesis?

Historical Narrative.

Do we treat historical narratives as commands?

No.

How is one made righteous?

Romans 3:23 NASB95

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Neither Noah, nor us, can work our way to salvation

Romans 4:1–8 NASB95

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

What happened for those who did not put their trust in God in the days of Noah?

Judgment.

What will happen to us?

What is the world like now?

Judgment.

How do we know this?

Matthew 24:37–39 NASB95

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Luke 17:26–27 NASB95

“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

What will happen to us if we do not believe?

Judgment and Hell

2 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB95

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Hebrews 10:26–27 NASB95

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

2 Peter 2:4–5 NASB95

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Why is this important for us believers today?

We must persevere.

1 Peter 5:10 NASB95

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Hebrews 12:1–3 NASB95

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 3:14 NASB95

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

Actions:

We are asked why doesn’t God do anything with the world the way it is, and we are told God, in the Old Testament, was a mean God who does not take action currently.

How does this section address this?

Was God unloving?

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