Sermon Tone Analysis

Relationships require work to survive.

Jerry Seinfeld was once asked what his favorite episode of his hit television show Seinfeld is.

He said, “Comedy is kind of a survival industry.

Comedians are very much into just surviving.

It’s like if I were to ask you, ‘What is your favor breath of air that you’ve ever taken?’

You would say, ‘Whichever one I’m taking that gets me to the next one.’

That’s kind of the mindset.”

This mindset is important for us in our relationships.

Just as you won’t appreciate the breath you took an hour ago unless you’re still breathing now, and a great meal a month ago won’t help you now if you haven’t eaten since.

So also our relationships that are based on memories of past success cannot survive.

If you deem your marriage a success because you went on a nice date two Valentines Days ago, your marriage might be in trouble.

Similarly, if you deem your relationship with God a success because you read your Bible a few days ago, or weeks ago, or months ago, your relationship with God might be in trouble.

This is because relationships require work to survive.

introduces key concepts for our theological groundwork.

It introduces God in His creative sovereignty and power, humanity made in God’s image, marriage between one man and one woman, sin and rebellion, inherited depravity, sin’s progressive growth, and the reality of God’s judgment, and through it all we see God’s mercy and grace at work.

God mercy is evident in His withholding the judgment that sin deserves.

And His grace is evident in the believing remnant all the way from Adam to Noah and God’s revelation of Himself through that remnant.

indicates that Enoch was a prophet.

One relationship that I have seen break down over the years through a lack of maintenance is marriage.

One of my uncles was a truck driver so he spent many days away from home.

Eventually because he wasn’t around to maintain his relationship, his wife left him for another man.

In particularly busy times we all are susceptible to having our marriages and all of our relationships fall apart because we are unwilling to put in the work that is necessary to maintain them.

Your relationship with God requires the same kind of work.

I have an uncle who was a truck driver so he spent many days away from home.

Eventually because he wasn’t around to maintain his relationship, his wife left him for another man.

In particularly busy times we all are susceptible to having our marriages and all of our relationships fall apart because we are unwilling to put in the work that is necessary to maintain them.

Your relationship with God requires the same kind of work.

One relationship that I have seen break down over the years through a lack of maintenance is marriage.

One of my uncles was a truck driver so he spent many days away from home.

Eventually because he wasn’t around to maintain his relationship, his wife left him for another man.

In particularly busy times we all are susceptible to having our marriages and all of our relationships fall apart because we are unwilling to put in the work that is necessary to maintain them.

Your relationship with God requires the same kind of work.

introduces key concepts of our theological groundwork for our worldview.

It introduces God in His creative sovereignty and power, humanity made in God’s image, marriage between one man and one woman, sin and rebellion, inherited depravity, sin’s progressive growth, and the reality of God’s judgment on sin.

In the midst of all of this we see God’s mercy and grace at work.

God continues to show His mercy by withholding the judgment that humanity deserves for their sin (even earlier in this chapter, God gives humanity another 120 years to repent before He will destroy them).

God’s grace is evident in the believing remnant all the way from Adam to Noah who according to proclaimed God’s revelation in some capacity.

Although God’s grace is evident in these early chapters of Genesis, the only time it’s mentioned specifically is in

That word favor is grace; it is defined as “an action from a superior to an inferior who has no real claim for gracious treatment” (Edwin Yamauchi, TWOT).

In other words grace is God kindness to undeserving sinners.

Noah had no claim to God’s favor, because he had inherited the sinfulness of Adam just like everyone else, but God in His grace gave Noah parents and grandparents who loved and followed God.

God’s grace also declared Noah righteous in response to His faith, and gave him the instructions for the ark.

“an action from a superior to an inferior who has no real claim for gracious treatment.”

In response to God’s grace, Noah didn’t become arrogant, thinking he deserved it, nor did he take it for granted and ignore it.

Instead he responded to God’s grace by trusting God and pursuing a relationship with Him.

This is the right response to God’s grace.

Think of all the grace you’ve received: Even if you’re not a believer you’ve received grace because God gives you mercy and you’re still alive.

Also, you are hearing God’s Word proclaimed.

But if you are a believe you can recognize even more grace in your life: God has opened your eyes to your need of Him and called you to faith; His Spirit is helping you live a godly life; you have a new identity in Christ; and His Word teaches you His will.

(Edwin Yamauchi, TWOT)

The question then is: How do you respond to God’s grace?

Are you proud, thinking you deserve it, or do you take it for granted and ignore it?

v9 describes Noah’s response to God’s grace:

Noah’s response to God’s grace in his life was to walk with God.

The phrase blameless in his time means that he was “wholehearted in his commitment to the person and requirements of God” (J.

Barton Payne, TWOT).

That phrase together with the statement that Noah walked with God reveals that Noah was pursuing a relationship of constant fellowship with God.

He saw God’s grace, recognized it as grace, and let it guide Him to God.

So in light of Noah’s example take this truth home today: In response to God’s grace in our lives, we must walk with God as Noah did.

says that Enoch preached

wholehearted in his commitment to the person and requirements of God.

J. Barton Payne, “2522 תָּמַם,” ed.

R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 974.

To walk with God is to pursue a relationship with Him, fellowshipping with Him.

This is the truth that I want you to take home with you today: In response to God’s grace in our lives, we must walk with God as Noah did.

In response to God’s grace in our lives, we must walk with God as Noah did.

How do we walk with God?

Noah’s example provides us with three aspects of walking with God.

Walking with God requires righteousness from God (v9)

This seen in v9

What does it mean that “Noah was a righteous man”?

Well, it doesn’t mean that Noah was sinless; we’ll see in ch9 that Noah still sinned.

Whenever we see the idea of someone being called righteous in the Old Testament we must remember two facts: 1) all people are sinners— makes it pretty clear that we have all inherited sin and are therefore not righteous in and of ourselves; 2) God declares people righteous.

says that Abraham believed God’s promises and God counted his faith as righteousness.

This is the same message that the Psalm we sang this morning emphasizes:

ps 32:

So what’s the point?

In order to walk with God you have to be a believer, made right with God through His declaration of righteousness, but that raise the question: How does God do this?

All of us have enough of a sense of justice to know that God cannot just ignore sin and declare someone righteous.

Sin demands punishment; we recognize it when we grow incensed at the thought of some guilty criminal going free through a legal loophole.

So in order for God to be just, which He is, and declare us righteous, which He can, sin must be punished, but how can the sin be punished and the sinner walk away free?

The only way that God can declare anyone righteous is for a righteous person to exist first.

Who is righteous?

God is righteous, so we start with God as the standard of righteousness as the only righteous One.

Then because it is the sins of humanity that are the injustice against God’s righteousness, we need a righteous man.

Where do we find a righteous man?

Since God is the only righteous One, this righteous man must be a God-man, one who is at the same time God and humanity.

Then God must put our sin on this God-man so that when He dies in His innocence, He is vicariously dying for human sin.

Jesus Christ is this God-man; in Paul summarizes how it all works.

God’s righteousness is shown in that even though all have sinned God offers justification (a declaration of righteousness) by grace through Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus took God’s wrath on sin on Himself in order to redeem us; therefore, God is just and yet can be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

You can be righteous before God today; start your walk with God by trusting the sacrifice of Christ to pay the penalty for your sin and trust God to declare you righteous.

This is a first requirement for you to walk with God, you must be righteous before God, but also walking with God requires separation from the world.

Walking with God requires separation from the world (v11-12)

We see this in v11-12

These verses don’t specifically teach separation from the world, but the implication is there considering the explicit contrast between Noah and his society.

We start in v1-7 and God’s disapproval of the relationships between the sons of God and daughters of men along with the behavior of the Nephilim.

Then here in v11-12 we have two references to society’s corruption and violence.

That presents a quite a contrast with the description of Noah in v9.

Noah is righteous; society is corrupt.