Genesis 6:9-22
The Coming Judgment and the New Creation

  1. Noah Contrasted with his Contemporaries (9-14)
    1. Noah, the Only Righteous Man
      1. He is "just" and "perfect"
        1. We know this already from 6:8
        2. And this helps define "righteous man"
        3. He is one who has found favor in God's eyes
        4. "Perfectly righteous," Right before God and blameless
          1. How can this be true of a mere man?
          2. He is not righteous because of his deeds, no one can be.
          3. But his righteousness is by faith
        5. By faith he condemns the world by counting the riches of Christ better than all the world has to offer.
        6. If only he may have that treasure and that righteousness
        7. He alone is righteous in all his generations = Type of Christ
      2. He walked with God
        1. Where have we seen this language before?
          1. Enoch in 5:22-24
          2. Enoch was so righteous that God took him out of this corrupt world
        2. So Noah has preserved the faith of his father Enoch
        3. And like Enoch he will be taken out of the present world
        4. This time God will destroy the world around him and rebuild it.
      3. He has 3 sons
        1. Contrasted with the 3 sons of Lamech
        2. Noah is bearing children of promise, i.e. children whom he will raise to walk with God by faith.
        3. He is blessed by God to be fruitful and multiply
        4. And he bears his children in hope of the promise seed.
    2. The Earth Is Corrupt
      1. All mankind had become polluted by sin and worldliness.
      2. They were filled with violence
        1. Just like Cain slaying Abel
        2. Just like Lamech bragging at the end of chapter 4
        3. The whole world is like that now, an entire world of Cains against a solitary Abel
      3. All flesh had corrupted their way before God.
      4. Romans 3:10-18
        10"There is none righteous, no, not one;
        11There is none who understands;
        There is none who seeks after God.
        12They have all turned aside;
        They have together become unprofitable;
        There is none who does good, no, not one."
        13"Their throat is an open tomb;
        With their tongues they have practiced deceit";
        "The poison of asps is under their lips";
        14"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
        15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
        16Destruction and misery are in their ways;
        17And the way of peace they have not known."
        18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
      5. No one hoped for the coming of the seed of the woman
      6. No one longed for God to come and establish his covenant with men to be their God and they his people.
      7. The uncreation language begins
        1. v. 12 - "God looked"
        2. Just like he "looked" in creation, same phrase
          1. Yet in creation he saw that it was good
          2. 1.4 - The light
          3. 1.10 - Sea and dry land
          4. 1.12 - All the food-bearing plants and trees
          5. 1.18 - Sun, moon, and stars
          6. 1.21 - Sea creatures and birds
          7. 1.25 - Land animals
          8. 1.31 - Everything he'd made
        3. Now he looks and, behold, it's corrupt. A total mess
        4. Jeremiah 18:1ff - The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
    3. God Decides to "Corrupt" the Earth (13)
      1. God announces a plan to "destroy" the earth
        1. Same word as "corrupt" in vv. 11,12
        2. In effect, God is announcing that he has decided to finish the job.
        3. They have sought out sin to their own destruction, he's going to finish the job.
      2. Beware the deceitfulness of sin!
        1. It whispers prettily in your ear.
        2. To fulfil that lust would bring such wonderful momentary pleasure
        3. To speak evil of a co-worker or neighbor would enhance your reputation among those you wish to speak well of you.
        4. To respond in anger or impatience is so easy and so tempting.
        5. Are we not in our flesh like this generation?
        6. And what is this sin? It is the destroyer!
        7. We destroy ourselves. May God save us from his own fierce wrath and teach us to walk with him!
      3. Note the penalty of sin
        1. destruction
        2. Away from the presence and the fellowship of God
        3. God will by no means clear the guilty
        4. This is hell.
        5. Unbeliever - this is what your sins deserve.
        6. Lest we forget - this is what our sins deserved.
  2. The Significance of the Ark and its Builder(15-21)
    1. The Ark - Redemption to a New Creation
      1. a Second Creation
        1. God is about to destroy the entire world.
        2. Only the ark and its contents will be saved.
        3. This ark is the new world, the new creation
        4. The ark reflects this with its 3-tiered structure
          1. lower, middle, and upper deck
          2. The standard 3-fold division of creation
            1. Heaven above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth
            2. It's all here in microcosm, in miniature form
        5. Thus the ark is the new creation existing in the midst of the old
      2. a vehicle of redemption
        1. The word "ark" is use only one place else in scripture
          1. Not, as English would lead us to believe, in "ark of the covenant." That "ark" is a different Hebrew word.
          2. But the "basket" that Moses is placed in by his mother
        2. This is not accidental
          1. She even daubs it with asphalt and pitch, just as Noah is supposed to coat his ark with pitch
          2. And she puts him into the waters in response to Pharaoh's judgment that all children should be put in the water
          3. And Moses's ark carries him safely through the waters to redemption.
        3. Everything on earth will die except what is placed in the ark
      3. Thus the ark is Christ
        1. I've said earlier that Noah is a picture of Christ, and so he is
        2. Christ is everywhere in the Old Testament
        3. Only if you are hidden in Christ can you hope to escape the judgment of God
        4. This is like God hiding Moses in the cleft of the rock - the rock is Christ.
        5. In Christ, you are already in the new creation
    2. Noah - a Second Adam and a World Redeemer
      1. The second Adam
        1. God will establish his covenant with Noah (18)
          1. Just as he did with Adam in the garden
          2. The faithful had been wondering when this would take place
          3. Adam broke the first covenant
          4. God promised the woman seed
          5. Adam and Eve believed the promise and it was reckoned to them as righteousness and thus God was gracious to them.
          6. But where was the covenant?
          7. God could not be gracious to them under the terms of the covenant made with Adam
          8. That covenant was a covenant of works.
          9. But now God announces a gracious covenant--a redemptive covenant--with Noah.
          10. Noah will build an ark that by God's grace will be the salvation of his household.
        2. God will bring the animals to Noah
          1. Where have we seen this before?
          2. God bringing the animals to Adam to see what he would call them
          3. God is again giving a man dominion over all creation, the animals will come to him
          4. He is repeating this creation event with his second Adam from whom he will build a new people
        3. And Noah will bring food for himself
      2. The Savior of the world
        1. Thus all the animals that will be saved, will be saved because of Noah.
        2. And Noah's family will be saved because of him
        3. It is not because they are righteous that they will enter the ark.
          1. It is useless to speculate whether they also are righteous
            • We know that one of the sons, Shem, will be righteous
            • And one, Ham, definitely will not
            • And Japheth seems to, but he drops out of the picture quickly
            • Of Noah's wives and daughters-in-law we know nothing
          2. But even of Shem, we don't know he is righteous right then
          3. It's irrelevant
          4. They're all getting in on Noah's ticket
      3. Thus Noah is Christ
  3. Noah's Response (22)
    1. Noah's Works Justify His Faith and Condemn the World
      1. Hebrews 11:7 - By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.
      2. He condemns their worldliness
    2. A Call to Imitate Noah's Faith
      1. Are your days any different from Noah's
      2. Only what you have on the ark will remain
      3. Don't condemn the world by yelling and screaming and holding up a sign that THE END IS NEAR
      4. Walk according to this faith and you will hold up a much larger sign.

[Genesis Sermons] [Sermons and Studies] [Main Menu]