Saved by Grace

In Genesis 6 we read about God telling Noah a storm was coming, and we see what he did. This is a familiar Bible story, so if you grew up in church, you've heard it many times. But have you ever seen how this story connects to your life and the life of the church?

Is this just a fun story, or is it relevant? Does it make a difference?

It certainly was relevant to Peter and to the author of Hebrews.

In the New Testament, when God inspired them to address the challenges and storms facing the church, they looked back to Noah and saw a picture of what it means to live as God's people.

Text Intro

I invite you to open your Bibles to Genesis 6:13–22. Here we will see God summarize His plan to flood the earth and His gracious provision of salvation for Noah and his family. Will you read along with me in Genesis 6:13–22?

Scripture

Genesis 6:13–22 NKJV

13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Prayer

1. Celebrate the grace that brings you into the Body. (1 Peter 3:18-21)

Noah & Grace (vs. 8)

At first glance, the story of Noah doesn’t sound like it’s particularly about grace. The big emphasis of the story is judgment. And yet, where does grace become more visible than in the face of guilt and judgment? In fact, the greater the judgment, the greater the opportunity for grace to be displayed.

God showed grace to Noah. We see that clearly in verse 8:

Genesis 6:8 NKJV

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Notice it doesn’t say that Noah earned grace. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Here in Noah we see a picture of God’s grace as He rescues Noah, his family, and all creatures from the coming flood. As God enters into a covenant relationship with Noah and his family.

This is a picture of the grace God will show Israel as He rescues them from slavery in Egypt and enters into a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai.

Noah and Peter’s Letter

Here in Noah we see a picture of God’s grace as He rescues Noah, his family, and all creatures from the coming flood. And through that salvation, God establishes a covenant with Noah and his family, creating a covenant family.

This is a picture of the grace God will show Israel as He rescues them from slavery in Egypt and enters into a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai, creating a covenant people.

And it looks forward to the moment when God’s grace is displayed as Jesus goes to the cross, dying so that sinners might be rescued from the power and judgment of sin and enter into a relationship with God. In salvation, we are joined together into the Body of Christ through the blood of the new covenant, becoming a new covenant people.

It is this very connection which brings the story of Noah to mind when Peter is writing to struggling churches in Asia Minor. In 1 Peter 3:18 he wants to encourage them in how to respond to suffering and persecution.

Now many pastors might turn to Job, a book all about suffering and how to understand and respond to it. Or maybe they would turn to the Psalms, where David wrestles with the emotions of deep anguish or times where he was persecuted but anticipated vindication, being proven right.

But no, Peter turns first to Jesus and then to Noah. Look with me at 1 Peter 3:18-21:

1 Peter 3:18–21 NKJV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

The Gospel of Grace

To believers who are experiencing suffering, Peter simply and clearly summarizes the gospel of grace in verse 18.

Christ ALSO suffered. He’s making the connection: what you are going through in suffering for God here in this life is something Jesus has already done for you.

And why? Christ suffered by dying on the cross once for sins.

But look at the grace on display. Jesus was the just—the innocent, the truly righteous.

And He suffered for the unjust—for the sinner.

And He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.

So far, this is a brief but powerful explanation of salvation by grace which can change how we view earthly suffering and persecution.

Noah and God’s Patience

But look where Peter goes from here. Back to Noah.

Now there are some challenges in interpreting this next verse, but rather than focusing on the various views of interpretation, I want to invite you to see the big picture of how Peter is connecting the story of Noah experiencing grace in a fallen and sinful world to the story of believers like those in Asia Minor, and you today, living by grace in a fallen and sinful world.

You see in Noah’s day that God graciously and patiently delayed His judgment. Peter emphasizes God's longsuffering while the ark was being prepared.

The NKJV uses the word “longsuffering.” Isn’t that a great word? It captures the Greek word well, which combines two words: long and heart or mind. It’s the exact opposite of our expression of “having a short fuse.” That’s being quick to anger, lashing out. But God has a long fuse. He’s slow to anger because of His heart, because of His love.

God had seen, in Noah’s day, the guilt of the people, but still gave them an opportunity to listen to Noah, whom Peter describes in his second letter as a preacher of righteousness. It wasn’t too late to repent and experience grace.

Do you see the connection to Peter’s audience?

The world around them is mocking them, just like they mocked Noah. They are suffering for righteousness, just like Noah seemed to be. God is not quickly punishing those who reject Him or persecute His people.

Should they give up on their faith? Does this fallen world disprove what they believe?

Well, what about Noah? What would have happened if he gave up?

He would have died in the flood.

But that’s not what happened.

What happened is that God graciously saved Noah and his family.

Peter points out the number. It’s just a few. It’s just eight.

I wonder if the churches he was comforting felt small and insignificant. And he was reminding them: don’t measure God’s faithfulness by how large or influential you appear to be. God preserved His people through Noah’s family of eight, and He is faithful to preserve His people today.

Baptism

And then Peter draws a connection between the water of the flood in Noah’s day and the water of baptism.

There are two similarities at work here, and they both function a little differently.

The first is more direct. Both baptism and the flood represent death and judgment.

For the flood, this is obvious. But what about baptism? We quote Scripture when we baptize at Haven: “Buried with Christ through Baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.”

In baptism we are reminded of Jesus’ death on the cross, what Peter has just been talking about, and our death to sin.

But Peter is not saying that the physical water of baptism saves us. Baptism is an outward picture of the inward reality of God’s saving work.

The water doesn’t save us. Christ saves us as we die to sin and are raised to new life.

The second similarity between the flood and baptism is not the death that water brings, but the salvation that was found in it. Here baptism is more symbolic of the ark itself, how God graciously saved Noah along with his family.

Just as Noah entered the ark by God’s gracious provision and was saved from the judgment of the flood, when we believe in Christ, we enter into salvation and become part of His new family.

We are not saved because we earned it. We are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and that salvation brings us into the Body of Christ.

2. Live faithfully within your covenant community. (Hebrews 11:7)

Transition

The author of Hebrews picks up this same story from Genesis 6 when he encourages believers to live by faith within God's covenant community. In Hebrews 11, what we sometimes call the “hall of faith,” he begins by turning to Noah. Look with me at Hebrews 11:7:

Hebrews 11:7 NKJV

7 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.

The key theme for this entire chapter is faith. The author looks back at how the Old Testament testifies to the importance of trusting God and living faithfully.

This is what has always characterized God’s people: faithful living.

Faithful Trust

This starts by having faith. That is believing God. Trusting in God.

Noah offers a great example. When God warned him of the flood, of things not yet seen, how did he respond?

He believed. Do you see that internal attitude? He had godly fear—a reverent respect for God and His Word. He correctly realized that God’s Word was above his own experience.

What he thought,

and what he felt,

and what the world around him said,

was less trustworthy than what God revealed.

This is always a challenge for us whenever God calls us to something that goes against our own desires or our own way of seeing things.

And yet, we enter into the Christian community like Noah on that ark through faith. And we live each day through faith.

This is not blind faith. We have Scripture, which is filled with God’s revelation. As we follow God again and again, we see His words proven true.

Noah may have had many reasons to trust God, but that trust had to be grounded in his relationship with God, not in his own evaluation of God’s plan. Because God knew things Noah did not.

God knew about the flood.

God knew how to build an ark.

Noah didn’t know either of these things.

But since he knew God, he believed in God and trusted Him with godly respect and reverence. And that trust led to action.

Faithful Action

You see, faithfully living within our covenant community requires both faithful attitudes and faithful action. Noah’s faith led to the attitude of godly fear, trusting God’s Word, which moved him to godly action: building the ark.

That’s true for each one of us. Faith expresses itself in action. When we believe God, we do what He says. When we trust God, we follow God.

In Romans, Paul was very concerned to make sure no one got this in the wrong order. When we see our actions as the way to earn God’s favor, we are rejecting the gift of grace Jesus offers. When we start with our own works, our own actions, we cannot earn salvation, we cannot earn God’s righteousness, we cannot earn God’s love.

Yet when we come to God through faith and are made alive in Christ, God’s Spirit is at work in us, empowering us to live faithfully.

Within the church community, just a chapter earlier in Hebrews, we are called to consider how we may spur one another toward love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 says:

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”

Just as Noah was moved by faith into action, we too are called to be moved by faith into faithful action.

3. Trust God’s Plan to Sustain the Church Through Storms

Transition

Now we’ve looked at the theology—the understanding of God’s saving grace. We’ve looked at what it means to live faithfully within the church.

But what happens when the storm arrives?

What happens when it starts to pour, and the floods begin to rise?

Well, for Noah, it simply came down to trusting God’s plan to sustain him and his family through the storm.

Isn’t that true for us as a church as well? Doesn’t it come down to trusting God to sustain our church through the storm?

Explanation of Genesis

You see, Noah is a good example of a faithful man. But even more importantly, for struggling people in Peter’s day or ours, he’s a good example of how to face storms.

And it’s not what he knew. It’s who he knew.

You see:

Noah didn’t know the storm was coming, but God did.

Noah didn’t know how to build the ark, but God did.

Noah didn’t know how to weather the storm, but God did.

So when the world around him mocked, he built the ark anyway.

When the flood waters came down, he may have been terrified. He may have been overwhelmed.

But we don’t read about any of that, because whatever he was feeling pales in comparison to the reality of what he experienced. We don’t have Noah’s diary of what he felt, we have the record of what God did.

God sustained and protected him and his family in that storm.

Bridge to the Church

In your life, you will face storms.

In our church, we will face storms.

And there may be a time for suffering along with Job as we realize we don’t understand everything. That’s in the Bible for a reason.

There may be a time for crying out along with David as we lift up our feelings—even hard ones—to God. That’s in the Bible for a reason too.

But today, as we read Noah’s story, it is in the Bible for a reason as well. I encourage you to never lose sight of the God who saves His people and sustains His people in the midst of the storm and the flood.

The greatest storm any of us face is our own sin and the reality of the judgment we deserve. But God has graciously provided salvation for all who believe in Jesus.

And in this life, we still face storms of many kinds. And the God who saved us by grace is the same God who sustains us in the midst of these storms.

And there is a lot we don’t know.

But like Noah, it’s not what you know.

It’s who you know.

And in the Body of Christ, whose Head is Jesus Himself, as the temple of God with Christ dwelling in our midst, as believers joined together with the Holy Spirit indwelling us, is there any doubt who we know?

It is the holy, triune God.

The God who created heaven and earth.

The God who looks at His church as His cherished and beautiful bride.

The God who has defeated sin and death on the cross and is coming again soon to make all things new.

That’s who we know.

So what are you going to do when the storm comes?

What are we going to do when the storm comes?

Let us trust that God who we know, who knows and loves us, to sustain us through the storm

Invitation

Find confidence in God's grace to save, sustain, and preserve His people through every season of life.

Sermon Notes & Further Study

1. Genesis Resources

Introduction to Genesis: https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis/

Commentary Recommendations (works I found useful in preparing this series) https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis-commentary-recommendations/

Reading Plan: https://www.havenfellowship.org/genesis-reading-plan/

Choosing a Bible Translation: https://www.havenfellowship.org/choosing-a-bible-translation/

2. References & Citations

1 Peter 3 Meaning

My interpretation of 1 Peter 3 owes much to Wayne Grudem who argues persuasively in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary for this view. After a detailed scholar treatment he offers this summary:

“Our conclusions on this passage may now be expressed in an extended paraphrase: ‘In the spiritual realm of existence Christ went and preached through Noah to those who are now spirits in the prison of hell. This happened when they formerly disobeyed, when the patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared.’

In its context, this passage thus functions (1) to encourage the readers to bear witness boldly in the midst of hostile unbelievers, just as Noah did; (2) to assure them that though they are few, God will surely save them; and (3) to remind them of the certainty of final judgment and Christ’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of evil that oppose them. This passage, similarly understood, can provide similar encouragement to Peter’s readers today.”

Wayne Grudem, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, revised edition, vol. 17, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2024).

3. Additional Scriptures on Noah & the Flood

Isaiah 54:9

Ezekiel 14:14-20

Matthew 24:37-38

2 Peter 2:5

4. From the Study: Questions the Passage Raises

What does Jesus going and proclaiming to the spirits in prison mean?

Josh: There is a great deal of debate about who the spirts in prison are and when Jesus preached/proclaimed to them. The majority of Christian scholars prefer view 5, but I believe view 1 has the most evidence supporting it. Grudem summaries the views like this.

“View 1: Christ preaching through Noah: When Noah was building the ark, Christ ‘in spirit’ was in Noah preaching repentance and righteousness through Christ to unbelievers who were on the earth then but are now ‘spirits in prison’ (people in hell).27

View 2: Second chance for unbelievers: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell, offering them a second chance of salvation.28

View 3: Proclaiming victory over people in hell: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell, proclaiming to them that he had triumphed over them and their condemnation was final.29

View 4: Proclaiming release from Purgatory: After Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had repented just before they died in the flood, and led them out of their imprisonment (in Purgatory) into heaven.30

View 5: Proclaiming victory over demons in hell: After Christ died (or: after he rose but before he ascended into heaven), he travelled to hell and proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels who had sinned by marrying human women before the flood.31”

Wayne Grudem, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, revised edition, vol. 17, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2024), 182–183.

5. About Haven Fellowship Church

Haven Fellowship Church is a non-denominational, Bible-believing church in Conyers, Georgia where we experience the love of God, grow in His Word, and share His love with others.

https://havenfellowship.org/

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