The Days of Noah - Part 1

The Scarlet Thread

Last time I preached I said I believed we were in the last days, the days of Noah. God had a prearranged plan for rescuing the human race. It is what we call the “Scarlet Thread”. The scarlet thread refers to Christ and his sacrifice. There are shadowy pictures of God’s plan of redemption throughout the Old Testament.

There are two pictures here, one of salvation and one of judgement. These will be two sermons, and today we focus on the salvation aspect of Noah’s story.

I also want to acknowledge that I got a lot of what I am about to preach is from a book I read a while ago called, “Jesus Unmasked” by Todd Friel.

I am going to go over a few things, things that are pretty basic to our beliefs, but I hope as we go on this journey together, they will be in a much sharper focus to you - mean more to you.

Back to Adam and Eve

I said last time about Adam and Eve that they only had one commandment to obey, “Do not eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. It never took us long to break that law. Even in the early days in the Days of Noah, it didn’t take us long to go so far as to merit a punishment to wipe us from the earth.

Less than 1,700 years after creation the human race fell into depravity.

Genesis 6:5–6 NIV84

5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

I think we think too much of ourselves in this day and age. This is going to run counter-intuiitive to the the “self-esteem” movement of our current age, but the people of Genesis 6 were not a special class of people, but people like you and me who probably just lived a little longer than us.

Left to ourselves, we will also do evil continually. Not much has changed really. Just 17 centuries after we were made in His image, we behaved so badly as to make God sorry He created us.

Why Did God Want a Clean Slate?

Does the statement that it grieved God mean that He made a mistake in making us? No - it is just a word used that we can dimly understand as humans how God felt about our sins.

God has feelings, but not as we understand it. God is not ruled by emotions because He is what we call “impassible”, that is without passions.

What does the Bible say?

God grieves - Ephesians 4:30

Ephesians 4:30 NIV84

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

God rejoices Zeph 3:17

Zephaniah 3:17 NIV84

17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

God gets angry Romans 2:5-8

Romans 2:5–8 NIV84

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

God can be sad John 11:35

John 11:35 NIV84

35 Jesus wept.

Like I said, God is not ruled by emotions. Even though Christ sweated blood on the night of His betrayal, He still held fast, “Not my will, but yours” he prayed to His Father.

He was grieved, yet shows mercy. Though He has feelings, He isn’t ruled by them like we do. As His image bearers, that is where get our feelings from, but He has attributes of His own, that are unique to Him:

He alone is all powerful (omnipotent) Matt: 19:26

Matthew 19:26 NIV84

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

He alone is all knowing (omniscient) Isa 46:10

Isaiah 46:10 NIV84

10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

He alone is everywhere (omnipresent) Ps 139:8

Psalm 139:8 NIV84

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

Those things we share with Him are:

God thinks; we think Isa 55:8

Isaiah 55:8 NIV84

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

God Works; we work Psalm 139:13-14

Psalm 139:13–14 NIV84

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

God as emotions; we have emotions.

What is Sin?

Sin is not just a violation of His commandments; Sin is totally contrary to the nature of God, of who God is.

God is not just a judge in a courtroom who hands out sentences to the human race, in obedience to laws written by someone else.

God didn’t write the moral code as something He Himself must keep, but they are a perfect representation of God’s Character. They are not simply things written down that we need to observe, God is the law. Romans 2:17-24

When break the law we are striking out at God’s Character. We are essentially saying “I hate who you are”.

This is why Paul says in Romans 7:13 that sin is “utterly sinful”. It is filthy. It is a slight against a perfect and holy God.

Romans 7:13 NIV84

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

The Human Race is Sinful

If we have one innate skill as a human race, it is that we sin. We naturally sin, because it is our nature to do so. If we pour out a carton of milk, milk comes out because milk is in it.

Ask any mother, or father for that matter, about the behavior of our seemingly innocent children:

From the moment we arrive, we cry because we want food. Now

The antics that go on because we are told to go to bed.

Sulking because we are told what to do by our parents.

Do we really need to go into what we do as teenagers?

I could go on, but you get the point, we are sinful.

So Why Such a Big punishment?

While the sins we commit are bad, it is nothing in comparison to who they are committed against that truly makes them horrific

If I as Abby and Jonathan’s father take money from their piggy bank, nothing is going to happen to me?

Same offense, but in reverse, the child takes money from my wallet, the child might find him or herself in a little bit of trouble. I might sit them down and explain what they did wrong and a light sort of punishment be given out.

If an employee takes money from their boss, you will get fired.

If you steal from a bank, or don’t pay your taxes - steal from the government - well…you might be sharing a bunk with some sort of unsavory character in the near future.

Same crime of theft, but the punishment increased in proportion to whom the crime was committed -each time greater and more powerful.

Now imagine stealing from God. God is infinite, eternal, infinitely powerful, all knowing, righteous, Holy. Crimes against God are eternal and infinitely awful.

When God judges, it is not because He is being mean, it is because is nature demands it. Because God is just, He cannot overlook sin.

The Cross

Over 2,000 years ago Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that we might have the means of restoring the broken relationship between God and Man.

Jesus Christ the infinite God, had to come down as a representative of man so He could take our place. The wages of our sin are infinite, so an infinite sacrifice was needed that needed to human, but also God.

This was the man Jesus Christ. The only way our sins could have been forgiven, the only one who could have done it, to pay the infinite consequences of our sin.

The Bible records a shadowy picture for us in Noah’s Ark of what Christ Did.

Are Humans Valuable?

The short answer is no, we are not. We are however valued by God. As you can see we are quite unlovely.

God places His special love upon us anyway, despite what we are worth. We are just dirt and water.

God’s love for you is not based on you and what you are worth, but based on Himself, and that should come as a huge relief.

You and I change, but God never changes. Our zeal for Him can go up and down, but He will love us constantly.

James 1:17 NIV84

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

If you are in Christ, God loves you as much as he Loves His Son.

When Love and Justice Meet

God hates sin because of His righteous nature. These attributes, God’s holiness (hatred of sin) and righteous nature collided on the Cross.

How much does he hate sin? He crushed His own Son on your behalf.

The sinless Son of God was credit your sin, and God poured out His wrath on Him instead of you. We are credited with His righteousness, and sees our sin no more and we are forgiven.

If you ever doubt God’s settled anger at sin, look at the Cross. If you ever doubt God’s kindness and goodness and mercy. Look at the Cross.

It is God’s most clearest demonstration of His wrath and His love.

Jesus the Ark

We have a shadowy picture recorded in the Old Testament. The people of Genesis 6 were sinning continually, we do.

Genesis 6:7 NIV84

7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Here we see God’s Anger. In the next verse however, we start to see God’s kindness.

Genesis 6:8 NIV84

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

God’s plan of redemption takes place.

Genesis 6:13–14 NIV84

13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

God said he would put an end to all people and the earth, but had provided a way of escape - the ark. What did God ask of Noah however?

Build and Ark.

Preach to the people to repent and turn from their sin.

Notice what God has done. He didn’t just wipe us out. God is slow to anger is He not? The heavens didn’t pour down with rain immediately, but only after 120 years. What patience and love!

Noah, despite the foolishness of his message, that rain would come and flood the lands, had no converts.

Evangelistic Success Rate: 0

I think there is a lesson here as well for those who preach but never see any results!

Genesis 7:15–16 NIV84

15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

God opened up the heavens, and as promised -those who were not in the Ark, as we are in Jesus Christ, would be destroyed.

Those who had believe in him and repented were saved. He showed mercy and judgement at the same time. The water was the instrument of judgement, and the Ark the means of salvation or rescue.

New Testament Picture

1 Peter 3:18–22 NIV84

18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

The Ark saved people from Judgement, and now Jesus saves us from Judgement. God was dimly revealing what would be fulfilled in Christ.

Those in the ark were spared; those in Christ will be spared

The ark saved; Jesus saves.

More than Pitch

Genesis 6:14 NIV84

14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

The pitch made the ark watertight inside and out. The Hebrew word for pitch is facinating. I was so stunned by when I looked at the meaning of it, I took a screenshot to show you - it says it all too well for me to mess with it.

You pronounce it kaphar - and is used over 70 times to mean atonement as it related to blood sacrifice. This is one of the many superanatural features of the Bible, where sometimes it just floors you at the insight and meaning in the words.

This points to Christ. He covers our multitude of sins. He waterproofs the believer, and once covered by the blood of Christ, we can have assurance in our salvation.

The New Testament word for pitch is translated as propitiation.

More than a Door

The ark was a big boat. Maybe you would think it would have multiple doors? It just had one. Like the ark, Jesus the Ark only has one door.

John 10:9 NKJV

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

There is only one door by which we might enter to have eternal life.

You cannot create your own door. Sincerity in other doors will not help on the day of judgement. I am sure many in Noah’s day thought they might find refuge on the highest mountain tops. But they were covered over, only the in the Ark was there any salvation from this calamity.

When we enter the Ark of Salvation, Jesus Christ He will protect us and keep us. It doesn’t mean we aren’t subject to the conditions surrounding us. The ark didn’t have any means of propulsion, but she was wide and stable and wouldn’t tip. We will be buffeted by the water & the wind, but when all is said and done, the ark will bring us safely to dry land.

Wrap-up

Jesus is our Ark of Salvation

Jesus is our propitiation (pitch), our atonement who appeases the wrath of God and saves us from judgement.

Jesus is the only door that we must enter by.

Acts 4:12 NIV84

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

The story of Noah’s Ark is a story of Salvation and Judgement. A shadowy picture of what is to happen. It is a story of God’s loving kindness, reflecting what would be eventually done on the cross.

How would you treat people who continually hate you? I am ashamed to admit it , but I am human after all. God is truely a God of love, but we must see this in the right context. The people of Noah’s day were evil continually, yet he still provided a way of salvation for those who hated him. We must enter the ark before that door is shut by God himself.

God’s forbearance is is beyond our comprehension,but the human race ignores him. Years of non-stop blessings are delivered to us from His gracious hand, and how many times do we, do I stop to thank Him.

In this message I condemn myself a lot of the time - it is so hard to keep eternity in perspective when we are walking the troubles of this life. So easy to forget that nothing we do or achieve in this material world will ever count for anything. T

he only thing that really matters is that we live for Him, no matter how foolish with think it is, like for example building a massive ark for a rain event that has never before in history occurred. What matters is we are faithful to Him for,

Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV84

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NIV84

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

We need to change our hearts and focus on eternity and what He has done for us. He is saying, run to the Ark, run through the door and be saved from the Wrath that is to come.

This is what the next sermon will focus on: the pre-flood conditions of Noah’s time and comparing it to ours. I want to close with an excerpt from one of Billy Graham’s sermons he preached in1960:

There are thousands of people today who think they are saved, who have a false notion that they can be a Christian and live any way they like. In their manner of living, they are indistinguishable from the world. It is true that they attend church with some regularity and do many good works, but they are not resting in the blood of Jesus Christ for their salvation, and they are not doing the works of faith that are required as an evidence of one’s relationship with God.

The Bible says there will come a day when we shall call upon God, but He will not answer. There will come a day when we will seek God, but we will not find Him. The Bible teaches that we will have had our chance. The Bible warns against hardening our hearts against God. The Bible warned the people of Noah’s day, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Genesis 6:3). You cannot come to Jesus Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you, and unless you yield to the prompting and urging of the Holy Spirit. I beg of you to come to Christ while there is yet time.

Outside the ark, men and women were struggling for their lives, clutching at pieces of driftwood until the pitiless hand of death reached up and drew them down beneath those cruel and relentless waves. All were lost. There was not one soul outside the ark who did not perish. They had had their chance but tossed it away. There were hundreds that day who were close to the ark and yet lost.

Are you in? You may be close, but are you inside? The universal and terrible storm is coming. The days of Noah may be soon upon us. Are you ready for the Day of Judgment?

Even if the world does not end in your lifetime in a cataclysmic judgment, the moment you die will be the end of the world for you. The world that you live in will die with you. Are you ready for death? Are you ready for the judgment that is to come the 
moment you step out into eternity?

History repeats itself. What happened thousands of years ago will happen again. There is a possibility it could happen in this century or even in this decade. However, while there is life, there is hope. The Spirit of God is knocking faithfully at the door. If we repent, mend our ways and throw off our sins, we can yet be used of God to bring healing and help to a dying civilization.

Let me ask you—do you know Christ? He is the only One who can redeem us. But before He can come in, we must be broken, repentant and contrite. The Lord will not despise a broken and a contrite heart. The Bible says that during Israel’s crisis, God sought for a man who would stand in the gap, but He found none (see Ezekiel 22:30). Will you be one who will stand in the gap to stop the floodtide of evil that is deluging the world?

Let Christ into your heart today. You can then be saved and be inside the ark. The storm of judgment can break; but it will never touch you, because you are in Christ Jesus. And “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).