"The Water Prevailed"

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to be approved by God? What, if any benefit comes by being either righteous or approved?

Involvement:

These are the questions that we will discover answers to this evening as we come back to our series through the first 11 chapters of book of Genesis. You may recall that we started this series last summer. Because of a several interruptions, we made rather slow progress and then set the study aside in October when I made my trip to Myanmar. For various reasons we have left it set aside until now. Well, after many months, we are finally ready to return to it.

Context:

It is a bit unfortunate where we ended up setting this series aside as we were right in the middle of Noah's story. At the same time, I guess since it surely took Noah and his son several decades to build the Ark it is not that significant that we're taking a few months gap during that effort. As we return to the series tonight, we will be picking it up right as the Ark is finished.

My goal in this series has been to teach the content of what is in these chapters carefully. For that reason, we have gone deeper into the text then we typically would on, say, a Sunday morning. As we return to the series my plan is to continue taking us into the text.

Since it has been so long since we looked at the first 6 chapters of Genesis, I'm going to take just a few minutes to recap them for you. The overall purpose of Genesis is to show a theological history. Moses wrote these chapters, along with the entire book, while the nation of Israel was in the wilderness, having been rescued from their enslavement in Egypt. They are coming into their own is a great nation. Moses is recording why God has selected them and why he is acting on their behalf. In other words, this is a theological interpretation of selected events; this is not a complete history for the sake of simply recording history. Special revelation played a key role throughout to ensure the accuracy of the accounts as well as selecting which events to record. As we look at Genesis, we must always remember that its original purpose was to inform Israel about her origin, purpose, and destiny. It provided a theological and historical foundation for God’s covenant with the nation and helped teach them that they are the vehicle for establishing God’s kingdom on earth. These chapters specifically show convincingly and graphically the need for God’s blessing in the world.

As we pick back up in chapter 7 tonight, we are actually picking up in the middle of the fourth main section of the book of Genesis. The sections after the initial one are introduced by the Hebrew word, toledot, which is usually translated along the lines of “these are the generations of…”

The first section contains the creation account of Gen 1:1–2:3. It demonstrates what kind of God was establishing His theocracy with Israel and how powerful His word was—He speaks, and the universe responds. The implied question was that if the whole universe will respond to the word of this powerful God, coming into existence from nothing, should not the nation of Israel do likewise?

The second section, found in chapter 2:4 through 4:26, explained what had happened to God’s original “very good” creation. In a short time this “very good” creation was corrupted by sin.

The third section runs from chapter 5:1–6:8. The bulk of this section (all of chapter 5) is built around a list of the descendants of Adam that focuses on ten men, emphasizing that death is now the natural condition for men. The final 8 verses, 6:1–8 portray how wicked humanity had become and indicate that death will be the judgment for the sinful race.

The fourth section began at 6:9 and runs through chapter 9; as I said, we are right in the middle of this section. This section traces what becomes of Noah who was introduced suddenly in 6:8 as the object of God’s “favor.” The account of the swift and terrible judgment on sinful rebellion began by contrasting Noah with the open rebellion against God of his generation; unlike the rest of the generation, Noah was “a righteous man, blameless in his time,” who “walked with God.” (6:9). The main overall purpose of the story seems to be to show why God saves Noah rather than why God sends a flood to destroy the rest of mankind.

Preview:

Which brings us back to where we begin, picking up the story in Chapter 7. Ideally, I would love to cover the entire Noah narrative in a single sermon. Of course, covering nearly four chapters, that would be rather difficult so we will break it up obviously. Still, all we will look at this evening is an incomplete story And I want to make sure that we remember that.

Tonight, we will look at the flood itself. Yet, as I just mentioned the focus of our text is upon God's Salvation of Noah. The main lesson That we should walk away with this evening is that Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises.

This evening I would like to look at our chapter in three sections. I believe there are things we can learn in each section , but as we do so let's keep this main idea in our minds.

Transition from introduction to body:

The first section is found in verses 1 through 10 . Here we see,…

BODY:

I. The Display of Righteousness, vv 1–10

Let's go ahead and read these verses…<read Gen 7:1-10>

I don't plan to take us verse by verse through this entire chapter, but I do want to make several observations about significant elements that are found in some of the verses. I believe it is important for you to see these things in the text in order to understand the message that God is conveying in this chapter.

The first thing that we see is found in verse 1. Here we find that God commands “righteous” Noah to “enter the Ark.” We really have no way of knowing how long it may have taken Noah and his sons to construct the Ark; we can assume a significant amount of time. Still, all that we know is that in chapter 6 God told Noah to build the Ark and the chapter ended with the record that Noah did what God had commanded him to do. Obviously now the Ark is finished, and it is time for Noah and his family to take refuge within it. Yet even as God gives this command to Noah, we are reminded about the striking contrast between him and the rest of humanity. Noah is righteous. the reason that he is being sent into the Ark is attributed to his character. Notice as well that the focus is entirely upon Noah. His family is secondary, it is his righteousness that matters.

In verses two and three I want to just quickly call your attention to the fact that God also makes special provisions for the clean animals. the distinction is made between animals that are “clean” and animals that are “not clean.” When we went through the book of Leviticus several years back, we learned that the ritual status of “clean” and “unclean” was very important for the nation of Israel when it came to matters of obeying the Mosaic Law. Here, Moses is careful to use a word that means “not clean” rather than the Levitical word for “unclean,” but the distinction would have jumped out to the Israelites when they read this; It is clear that God ensured that there would be sufficient clean animals to replenish the earth for sacrificial availability.

Moving on to verse 4, we need to recognize that God is very clear that He is the one who is about to cause the impending judgment. He does not shy away from taking responsibility for what is to come. He will blot out every living thing from the face of the earth. In other words, God is about to erase the living portion of his creation. And the way in which he is going to do that will be through a 40 day and 40 night rain.

Remember, Noah is a righteous man. That righteousness is displayed prominently in the short verse 5 when we're told that Noah did exactly what God told him to do. That same idea will be repeated in verse 9 as well. Noah is a man who obeys God. The specific way in which Noah obeys God will be through entering the Ark with his family and animals. This action shows not only that Noah does what God has said; it also shows that he trusted that God would do all that He said He would do, including bringing the flood that He had announced.

We won't pick our way through all of these details and the repetition that begins here in verses 6 through 9 , but what I want you to recognize is that we are given several details that seemed somewhat extraneous and some of the details are repeated multiple times starting in these verses and continuing on through the rest of the chapter. Whenever that happens in Hebrew narrative, we need to ask, “Why is the author slowing us down? What is his purpose?” For example, we're told here in verse six that Noah is 600 years old. Interesting piece of information that that tells us by comparison to chapter 5 verse 32 that 100 years has passed since at least his first son was born. But why do we need to know that? Same with suddenly being told in verse 7 that Noah along with his sons and his wife and his sons wives all entered the Ark. We were already told that Noah did what God had said. Why is that expanded now? What our author, Moses, is doing is slowing things down so that Noah's salvation by God stays in front of us for an extended period of time as we read. Those who will be destroyed by the flood are not even mentioned until versus 21–23. We might expect that those judged by the flood in this chapter would be more prominent as the reason for the flood is because of their wickedness. Yet, God is focusing our attention on the salvation He brings to Noah.

By the way, this first section ends in verse 10 with the record that God brings the flood exactly as He said He would after the seven-day period He announced in verse four had ended.

Transition:

Remember our main idea? Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises. During the first section, the display of righteousness, shows how Noah faithfully followed the word of God. This has been the main emphasis. Noah's Salvation is carefully linked to his faithful obedience of God, obedience that displayed his righteousness.

Moving on, the second section is found in verses 11 through 16,…

II. The Day of Preservation, vv. 11–16

We will go ahead and read these verses now…<read Gen 7:11–16>.

The cataclysmic day is carefully marked using Noah's life as the frame of reference. According to what we will see in chapter 8 verse 14, it will take one year and 11 days from this date for the earth to return to its former state.

As the flood begins, two sources of water are listed: the fountains of the great deep and the flood gates of the sky. This seems to be an undoing of what God did in Genesis 1:6–7 when He separated the waters to produce land during the days of creation.

In verse 12 we are told with a few short words that the flood unfolds exactly as God predicted. There is no deviation—40 days and night of rain were predicted; 40 days and nights of rain fall. At every opportunity Moses is stressing the point that God is entirely faithful to his word.

In verses 13 through 16 the narrative again grinds to a near halt as Moses slows things down to carefully record those who are saved from the flood. We already know that Noah and the animals had entered the Ark. Now we're told again that Noah, along with Shem and Ham and Japheth who are named for the first time in this chapter, and Noah’s wife and the sons’ wives, all entered Ark. Detail and repetition again. We are also told again that the animals entered the Ark. We are also reminded in verse 16 again that they are doing this in obedience to God's commands.

This time, though, we have all the categories from the creation account carefully used. If you remember back to Genesis 1, the word “kind” was an important word. It was used to specify the various groups within the categories of living creatures that were capable of reproducing—the dog kind and the cat kind and so forth that were part of the beast category.

Illustration

This last summer, as many of you know, we took a trip as a church to the creation museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. If you were on that trip, you will remember that the idea of kind played a significant role in determining how many animals would have been on the Ark. I'm sure as we read through this chapter, you're envisioning the massive Ark built at the Ark Encounter in your mind. I appreciated when we were there that the process they used to demonstrate that Noah’s Ark would have been large enough to house all the animals was to conservatively estimate the maximum number of kinds based on our current understanding of biology.

This word “kind” shows up here to emphasize that God saved the creatures of the earth according to their kind. In other words, none of God's living creatures were annihilated by the flood. Just as He created animals according to their kind so that they could reproduce and fill the earth after creation, God arranged to have the same kinds saved through the flood in couples, male and female, so that following the flood they could reproduce once more. Of course, there was no need to save the fish of the sea in the Ark as they had plenty of natural habitat during the flood in which to survive according to their kinds.

Please look carefully with me at the final phrase verse 16. This is a key phrase, The Lord closed it behind them. The emphasis is carefully placed on the fact that God initiates the protective care necessary to ensure that the Ark would survive the flood. God is the one who seals up the door of the vessel. God is the one who guarantees that the occupants will survive. The point that Moses is making is that God protects those he chooses to save.

Application

This would certainly have been a wonderful message for the nation of Israel to hear as they were wandering round in the wilderness for 40 years. They needed to hear that God would continue to protect them because he had chosen to save them. This is a point that we need to remember as well. God protects those He chooses to save.

Transition:

Let’s review our main idea again: Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises. As we conclude this brief review of this center section of our chapter, The Day of Preservation, we see the connection to God’s protection over those He chooses to save, who we are reminded are those who faithfully obeyed His commands.

The final section of this chapter finally focuses in on…

III. The Days of Judgment, vv. 17–24

We’ll read these verses as well before we make a few observations…<read Gen 7:17–24>

The attention finally switches to those who are outside the Ark. Really from this point on nothing is said about those within the Ark.

In verses 17 and 18 the Ark becomes a passive participant in the flood event. The water rises as the rain continues and the Ark is simply lifted by the water and begins to float as the water rises higher and higher. The occupants within the Ark are not even mentioned; they serve no role in the record.

Of course, we can surmise that Noah and his family were undoubtedly occupied caring for the animals and themselves within the Ark. The focus, though, is theological; God provided their salvation without any action necessary on their part.

The focus in verses 19 through 23 is on the universal destructive nature of the flood. The language is inclusive, emphasizing that the flood brought total destruction to all life. In these five verses, the words “all” or “every” are used eight times. Even the high mountains are covered by the water. There can be no doubt that only death was left behind as a result of the flood. No living creature of the categories that were brought into the Ark survived the purging floodwaters outside the Ark. In fact, Moses very specifically uses the word “died” in verse 22 rather than drowned. This word deliberately reflects the promise that God made to Adam in the Garden back in Genesis chapter 2, the same promise that found its fulfillment in Genesis chapter 3; death would be the consequences of sin.

Also significant is how in the second half of verse 23 says that “they were blotted out,” referring to all the living creatures upon the earth, And Noah was left. In both cases passive verbs are used which strongly suggests that God is the one who is controlling their internal destiny. God is the One who is acting, bringing judgment on those who die and Salvation to those who live.

In the final verse of the chapter we are told that the flood waters lasted for five months. The water prevailed upon the earth 150 days. Using the lunar calendar of Israel, that would be five months of 30 days.

Transition:

Even in the midst of the great destruction of this final section, the days of judgment, our main lesson still lurks in the background: Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises. It comes to those in the Ark because God saves them from His judgment.

Now, before we conclude tonight, I would like us to spend a few minutes asking ourselves about…

IV. Applications for Today

It is a little difficult to think about applications for this chapter when, really, we're still in the middle of the story of Noah. Most applications from narratives are discovered when you understand the entire narrative. Still, even here in the middle of the story, I believe there are a couple specific applications that we should make to apply the overall lesson to ourselves.

The first of these is that because Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises we must recognize that Judgment is coming! The New Testament is clear; it points multiple times back to the flood account to show that this destructive flood was not only designed by God to remove the wickedness from the world of that day, but it was also intended to be a warning to us. God is going to destroy the world again; judgment is coming!

Illustration

We rightly are concerned by the magnitude of death that the coronavirus is bringing upon our world at this time, but from our passage we should recognize that this is nothing compared to the destruction that is coming. Total destruction is coming to all who rebel against God.

Death is coming because God has promised that it will come. God does not shy away from taking credit for bringing judgment upon those who rebel against him. Too often we confuse God's longsuffering nature with a reticence to bring judgment. What we should recognize from this passage is that God is not reticent to judge; He has promised that He will. God will bring is death to those who rebel against His commandments. Living in the New Testament time we recognize that this judgment will come when Christ returns, but be assured, that day is coming. We don't know when it will come, but we know that it will from the words of the very One who destroyed the earth through the flood. Numerous times we saw the emphasis placed on the precision by which God fulfilled his word. Be assured that God will fulfill his promise of judgment upon the earth.

The second application that we should see in this chapter is that because Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises, we must trust in Jesus alone. The emphasis in this chapter has been on the Righteousness of Noah. The narrative was much more interested in the moral aspects of Noah's obedience then in the physical details of the destruction that the flood brought or even the details of how the Ark provided security and Salvation for Noah. Its main message was that while the wicked were destroyed because of their sin, God chose to save Noah because of his righteousness.

Now we know from all of scripture that Noah was not righteous because of his actions, rather his actions demonstrated his righteous faith that he had in God. In other words, Noah's Salvation were not a result of earning it through his actions. Noah's actions are evidence that he trusted God. He followed God's promises faithfully because he had faith in God. When we bring this into the New Testament we understand that God has promised Salvation can only come through trusting in Jesus alone. If we are to faithfully follow God's promises we must trust in Jesus and not in any of our own efforts to earn righteousness before God. As we celebrated last week with Easter, the only righteousness that we have is the righteousness that we receive by a declaration from God when he applies Jesus’ righteousness to us through our faith. If we're going to have salvation by faithfully following God's promises, we must faithfully trust in Jesus alone.

Transition from body to conclusion:

Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises.

CONCLUSION

Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises. That is the overall lesson that we see in this chapter. In the first set of verses we saw the display of righteousness as Noah faithfully did what God had commanded. In the second section we saw the day of preparation that zeroed in on the fact that Noah's Salvation came through God's actions. The last section showed the days of judgment as God purged the wicked from the earth according to his promises. Through all of this we were reminded repeatedly that Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises.

I trust that you know the salvation that comes by faithfully following God's promises which begins by placing your faith in Jesus Christ, his son, for salvation. He has promised to save those who trust in Jesus alone.

Salvation only comes by faithfully following God’s promises.