Judgment and Mercy in the Days of Noah
Great Stories from the Old Testament • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsThis message covers the flood: why it happened, who Noah was and God's mercy evident in its aftermath.
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Disappointment is a part of life. Someone once said: “We create our own heartbreaks through expectation.”
People deal with disappointment all the time. But the following are some special cases by notable successful people. Consider the following:
Alexander the Great conquered Persia, but broke down and wept because his troops were too exhausted to push on to India.
Hugo Grotius, the father of modern international law, said at the last, “I have accomplished nothing worthwhile in my life.”
John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the U.S. wrote in his diary: “My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations, and in ceaseless rejected prayers that something would be the result of my existence beneficial to my species.”
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote words that continue to delight and enrich our lives, and yet what did he write for his epitaph? “Here lies one who meant well, who tried a little, and failed much.”
Cecil Rhodes opened up Africa and established an empire, but what were his dying words? “So little done, so much to do.” (Christianity Today, September 6, 1985, Donald McCullough)
It is common experience disappointment in this life and our reasons are varied. At the core, is unrealized expectations.
At one point in history, even God experienced a sense of disappointment as He looked mankind and saw their poor spiritual condition. What God saw could be described in Jeremiah 17:9.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
This morning, let us look at Noah and the flood as found in Genesis 6-8. First we see that...
God saw the moral and spiritual condition of mankind and determined that it must suffer destruction.
God saw the moral and spiritual condition of mankind and determined that it must suffer destruction.
We get a glimpse of the condition of the world before the flood. Genesis 6:5-7
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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
John Sailhamer states:
“We the readers, are allowed to look down from heaven over all the earth and see what the Lord himself sees; we are allowed to listen in on his conversations and to follow his judgments.” (Sailhamer, 122-123).
This is in great contrast to when God created the heavens and the earth, He looked upon everything and said: “Behold it is good; very good.”
The Lord became disappointed at the sight man, and he regretted making them. But He will enact the solution for the whole of humankind by destroying everything in a flood. Notice what is also said in 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 is the word for wickedness is the Hebrew רָעָה which means
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volumes I–XV 3. Phrases and Idioms
wickedness, menace, deformity, offense,
It is obviously not just outward actions, but also thoughts and intentions. You see this in the Sermon on the Mount. Adultery is seen in lust. Murder is seen in hatred.
What determines wickedness? The Bible; the Scriptures. They inform us regarding wickedness and righteousness.
Arnold and Beyer state:
“The point of the flood is clear in 6:5-8. The Lord had determined that sin and wickedness had grown to such an extent that creation should be destroyed.” (Arnold and Beyer, 58).
Now before you go thinking that this is harsh or sadistic, you have to understand that sin is an eternal offense to God. Question 14 in The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sin as: “...any failure to measure up to what God requires, or any disobedience to his commands.” Among those Scriptures are 1 John 3:4
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
One commentator notes: “There are things we omit to do and things we do that we should not. But all must be measured by God’s standard not by our feelings. Sin is not just a matter of actions but extends to our thoughts and desires as well.” (WSC - The Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English, online version).
When the Creator, who is holy, suffers the affect of his moral instruction by being mocked and disobeyed, then He must judge, or He is not just.
But there was an exception to this rule. Next we find that...
Noah was obedient to God, and so he and his family were saved.
Noah was obedient to God, and so he and his family were saved.
Who was the man called Noah? We see in a handful of places that Noah is a contrast to the human beings who corrupted God's creation with their habitual rebellion. Consider the following verses:
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
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.
22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.
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.
And so Noah found grace in the eyes of God. Genesis 6:13-14 functions as a type of the gospel.
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.
Furthermore, the New Testament calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness.” 2 Peter 2:5
5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Noah is called a herald or a preacher of righteousness. I wonder what his messages were like? What is true is that no one listened to him; no one took him seriously.
Nevertheless, he had the resilience to follow God when the rest of the world went to hell.
It occurs to me that far too often Christians are concerned with what other people think. We are not nearly concerned enough with what God thinks. That should be our life’s aim, to live a life that pleases the Lord.
Sailhamer concludes:
“The picture of Noah that emerges from the Flood story thus becomes a model of the kind of life that finds grace in the sight of God.” (Sailhamer, 124).
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Lessons from the Flood
Lessons from the Flood
As difficult as this was for Noah, he understood that he must prepare for the future.
We are not sure if the flood was local or global. You might also be wondering “how could Noah fit everything into the ark?”
What is certain is that what God instructed Noah to do was appropriate for the population that must be saved.
It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. It was hurricane Sandy on steroids. Noah, his family and the animals were in the ark for five months.
What can be understood of God in light of the flood?
That there will come a day that God will judge the living and the dead. 2 Peter 3:6-7 reminds us:
6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
We say such in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead.
This is why in many cemeteries in the US, people are buried facing east. It’s been a regular teaching in the church for millennia. Jesus will physically return someday to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus drew parallels between the days of Noah and the days of Lot in Sodom, to the day of His return. Luke 17:26-30
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
What were the days like while Noah was building the ark? Can you imagine the questioning he had to endure? Did they mock him and poke fun at him? And yet, he knew what was coming.
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
And so we must ask:
How must I prepare for the coming judgment?
Get right with God. Respond to His gracious invitation. Mark 1:15
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Live to honor the Lord. Colossians 3:17
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Know that this life is not all that there is. Hebrews 9:27
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
Don’t assume anything. Make sure your soul belongs to Jesus. Luke 12:20
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Conclusion
Conclusion
You never know what may happen tomorrow. In a book entitled Down to Earth, John Lawrence tells the story of a city that dared God to show Himself and paid a terrible price. It seems that the city of Messina, Sicily, was home to many wicked, irreligious people.
On December 25, 1908, a newspaper published in Messina printed a parody against God, daring Him to make Himself known by sending an earthquake.
Three days later, on December 28, the city and its surrounding district was devastated by a terrible quake that killed 84,000 people. (Today in the Word, October, 1997, p. 25).
