Sermon Tone Analysis

8 But Noah gfound grace in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the generations of Noah: hNoah was a just man and ||perfect in his generations, and Noah iwalked with God. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt kbefore God, and the earth was lfilled with violence.

12 And God mlooked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, nThe end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them ||with the earth.

THE DECLARATION FOR NOAH

GENESIS 6:8–13

NOAH WAS INFORMED by a declaration from God (“God said unto Noah” [Genesis 6:13]) about God’s intentions for the future of the world in which Noah lived, and what Noah was to do about it.

This declaration actually takes in more text than the text we have taken for this chapter.

But the text for this chapter speaks of the part of the declaration that informed Noah of God’s intentions for the future of the world.

Other parts of the declaration included more particulars about God’s detailing of Noah’s duty as well as the form of judgment God was going to bring upon the world for its evil.

In the chapters that follow this chapter of our book, we will look into these additional details of the declaration of God for Noah.

To study our text for this chapter in more detail regarding the declaration of God for Noah concerning God’s intentions for the future of the world in which Noah lived, we will consider the person for the declaration (Genesis 6:8–10), the prompting for the declaration (Genesis 6:11, 12) and the punishment in the declaration (Genesis 6:13).

A. THE PERSON FOR THE DECLARATION

Our text gives us some significant introductory facts about Noah, the person to whom God gave this important declaration.

These facts include the conversion of Noah, the centrality of Noah, the conduct of Noah, and the children of Noah.

1.

The Conversion of Noah

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).

This sentence speaks of the conversion of Noah.

All men are saved by grace, and it was this grace which saved Noah from Divine judgment.

To further examine this grace from God for Noah, we note four things about it.

They include the source of grace, the sovereignty of grace, the sanctification from grace, and the sequence of grace.

The source of grace.

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

The word “found” does indicate that Noah was looking for grace and in looking for it was able to find it.

Rather it indicates that Noah received grace from God.

Thus God was the source of the grace.

“There was no grace in Noah, the grace was in the eyes of the Lord” (Barnhouse).

The sovereignty of grace.

This is the first place in the Bible where this word translated “grace” occurs.

And here “it clearly signifies the same thing as in Romans 4 and 5; Ephesians 2, Galatians 2, [namely], the gratuitous favor of God to sinful men” (Whitelaw).

Grace is unmerited favor from God, which means grace is prompted by a sovereign act of God, not by our deeds.

No man merits grace; it comes from God as God pleases, not as we deserve.

We deserve judgment, not grace.

The sanctification from grace.

This grace from God gave Noah high character which we will note more about later.

“Noah was no different from any other son of Adam.

If the grace of God had not restrained him, the evil in his heart, which was just as great as the evil in the other hearts that were destroyed, would have manifested itself in a wickedness as great as theirs” (Barnhouse).

Here in the sanctification from grace, we have the sequence of grace.

Grace for man is followed by the goodness of man.

Goodness comes after grace, not before grace.

Grace comes before we read of Noah being a “just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).

We do not do good works then grace comes, rather, grace comes and then we do good works.

It is first, “By grace are ye saved” (Ephesians 2:8); then it is, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Noah’s goodness was a result of grace.

Grace was not a result of his goodness.

Man has a hard time learning this truth.

He habitually thinks that if he acts better he will obtain more grace from God.

He thinks if he is righteous, he will obtain grace from God for salvation.

But it does not work that way.

The sequence of grace is goodness—it is not the sequence of goodness is grace.

The sequence of grace.

This declaration by God given to Noah was one of judgment upon the earth for sin.

But in the order of God’s reaction to the sinfulness of the world, God first sent grace to man before He sent judgment.

Scripture records Noah receiving grace before it records Divine judgment upon man.

We noted in our previous chapter that God extended grace to man before the flood judgment.

Before judgment came upon man for their sin, God first in grace gave man one hundred and twenty years respite to repent (Genesis 6:3).

Do not criticize God for sending judgment.

His grace is always sent first.

God’s judgment is not apart from God’s grace.

Some folk view God’s judgment as the cruelty of God—these folks ignore the fact that before judgment God always sends grace.

Judgment is deserved, but grace is not.

And we can be thankful that in the order of God’s actions, grace is sent to man before judgment.

2. The Centrality of Noah

“These are the generations of Noah” (Genesis 6:9).

By the phrase “the centrality of Noah” we refer to the fact that this record of the flood is primarily a record of Noah.

He is the central human figure in it all.

There certainly is plenty of evidence in the Scriptures that the flood story before, during, and after has Noah as the central human figure in it all.

God’s great declaration for him (the first part of which we are studying in this chapter) emphasizes this fact in what it says.

And the mention of Noah in Genesis 6, 7 and 8 also emphasizes the centrality of Noah in this flood story.

Noah’s name is mentioned at least twenty-four times in these three chapters, and a pronoun referring to Noah is found over sixty times in these three chapters.

Thus over eighty times in these three chapters there is a different reference to Noah which certainly underscores the centrality of Noah in the Biblical record of the flood.

In fact, Noah is so prominent in the flood story that we often call the flood “Noah’s flood.”

The word translated “generations” is the key word in this understanding of the text.

“The term never means ‘generations’ or ‘origins.’

It never tells how things or persons came into being.

It tells what happened after such things or persons had appeared on the scene.

Another rendering is ‘history’ … This is not the story of the Flood.

It is Noah’s story” (Leupold).

In the book of Genesis, the author divides the text up into ten sections, each with this word translated “generation.”

These ten sections are first, “generations of the heavens and of the earth” (Genesis 2:4); second, “the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1); third, “the generations of Noah (Genesis 6:9); fourth, “the generations of the sons of Noah” (Genesis 10:1); fifth, “the generations of Shem” (Genesis 11:10); sixth, “the generations of Terah” (Genesis 11:27); seventh, “the generations of Ishmael” (Genesis 25:12); eighth, “the generations of Isaac” (Genesis 25:19); ninth, “the generations of Esau” (Genesis 36:1); and tenth, “the generations of Jacob” (Genesis 37:2).

One time in the New Testament we have this thought appearing.

It is significantly found in the first verse of the New Testament.

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1).

The New Testament is His story.

It especially focuses on Jesus Christ.

That the flood story is Noah’s story is seen in what is said of Noah in the Scriptures.

We have outlined the major parts of the story by the various chapter headings of our book.

But his life can also be described from the Scripture text by his coming (found especially in Genesis 5), his community (a very defiled world), his conversion (grace), his character (just and perfect before man), his children (three significant sons), his communication (from God—this declaration, and for God—he was a preacher of righteousness), his construction (of the ark), his compliance (to the commands of God about preparing for the flood is emphasized in Genesis 6:22; 7:5, 9), his care (by God in the flood via the ark), his consecration (his sacrificing after the flood), his corruption (drunkenness), his curse (upon Canaan), his conclusion (his death).

3. The Conduct of Noah

“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).

This report of Noah’s conduct is most complimentary.

Though it is brief, it says plenty about the excellent conduct of Noah.

To examine our text regarding his excellent conduct, we note his conduct in regards to man and his conduct in regards to God.

His conduct in regards to man.

“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.”

Here we note the purity of his conduct, the place of his conduct, and the persecution for his conduct in regards to man.

First, the purity of his conduct.

The words “just” and “perfect” demonstrate an obvious purity and holiness of Noah’s conduct.

He lived according to God’s law.