In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia begins examining the flood Catastrophe. Why did God send the flood? What does it mean that God regretted making man? Why did God spare Noah? And how does Noah’s situation parallel our own today? The main text for this lesson is Genesis 6:5-7:1.
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and welcome to Sunday school let’s open with a word of prayer God in heaven please bless your people now by the instruction of your word encourage us in your truth and who you are and help us to defend your word even when people speak against it in the world in Jesus name amen this is lesson six in our the consequences of sin study on Genesis 3-11 and at this point we’ve come to the third C in the outline from Answers in Genesis the Seven Seas of History this is also the second SE of the subtitle of this class remember we had the first sea creation around 4,000 BC then we have the second sea corruption which is the fall of Man we looked at that together and I presented to you that that would probably have also taken place around 4,000 BC but now we have the third seat catastrophe creation corruption catastrophe The Great Flood now when did the great flood take place again if we follow the time information given to us in Genesis add up the how long each descendant lived in the genealogy from Adam to Noah then the flood took place around 1,750 years after creation or about 2350 BC now that that number like the date of creation itself 4,000 BC approximately that contradicts a lot of modern history books and their dates for the beginnings of ancient civilizations for example Sumer or Egypt it is commonly asserted that the Kingdom of Egypt began around 3,150 BC but that’s impossible if the flood took place afterwards and if Babble took place afterwards so what do we do with that well remember as Christians we are to operate with a Biblical worldview so we don’t look to reinterpret the Bible to fit assertions from anti-biblical archaeologists those who are ignoring or rejecting what the Bible says and coming up with their own ideas rather we interpret archaeological data and we assess assertions from archaeologists according to what is revealed in the trustworthy and authoritative word of God so what that’s going to mean practically is that where we have elongated dates in the world’s theories we’re going to compress them because we say but the Bible’s reliable so it wasn’t around 3,150 that Egypt started it was sometime later but this is what it means to have a Biblical worldview you don’t reinterpret the Bible to fit man’s ideas you reinterpret man’s ideas or you rather you interpret the data presented by man according to what the Bible says now because the catastrophe of the great flood is so important yet so often ignored and dismissed we’re going to spend several lessons discussing the flood and we’re also going to be spending a lot of time looking at the account of the flood in Genesis 6-9 in this first lesson on the flood we’re going to focus on two main questions why did God send the flood and why does God choose to save Noah and his family from the flood here’s our approach to answering those questions we’ll investigate and observe the beginning of the flood narrative Genesis 65- 71 we’ll work through some important interpretation questions on that passage and then we’ll consider how the world in the days of Noah parallels our own day now we thinking about Noah and the flood I’m reminded of a certain Babylon B headline that I saw some years ago if you don’t know about the Babylon B it’s a web publication that describes itself as your trusted source for Christian news satire your trusted source for Christian news satire the site publishes many fictional articles that are both humorous and poignant well one such article has this head line and photo toddler horrified by image of God’s terrible wrath on bedroom wall if you think about it the Babylon be is making a serious point it’s common even for non-christians to make cute depictions of Noah’s Arc and the various animals gathered by Noah before the coming flood or after the coming flood many considered the event an appropriate decoration for children’s nursery or a fitting setting for a child’s birthday card mostly because it’s just a great excuse to get a bunch of cute animals on one scene but when you think about what the flood really was and what the ark really represented a much more sobering reality emerges the flood was a comprehensive Act of divine judgment in which all life on Earth apart from what was in the sea and apart from what was in the ark all life on Earth was violently and utterly destroyed imagine if the flood as described in the Bible were Unleashed on the world today the tallest skyscrapers toppled or submerged in water every ill-prepared ship broken up by the violence of giant waves produced by seismic and Volcanic disturbances every person Soul upon soul of men women children made in the image of God every land animal every bird covered crushed drowned by unceasing water imagine today all landbased life perishing except for a tiny Remnant specifically preserved on one large Lifeboat is that the kind of event that we would want to depict in a child’s nursery now don’t misunderstand my point is not that we need to reconsider our children’s Decor my point is that we need to remember aresh what the flood really represents it’s an overwhelming display of both the wrath of God but also the mercy of God why the flood what would cause such a good God to destroy his creation let’s find out from God’s Bible if you haven’t yet please open your Bibles to the account of the flood which begins in Genesis 6 Genesis 65 is where we’re starting today we’re just going to read the first part of the flood narrative 65 to 71 as context remember that this is many gener ations after the fall even long lived Adam and he lived 900 years more than 900 years according to the scriptures he’s long dead things have descended to such a level in humanity that even some of the sons of God which I take to be angels have wickedly co-mingled with the daughters of men that’s according to Genesis 61:4 now the details of how that happened are not fully given to us but verse three of Genesis 6 clarifies how god holds man at least partly responsible for this heinous act this is partly where the world is but we find out more in the passage we’re about to read Genesis 65- 71 then the Lord that is Yahweh then Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved and his heart Yahweh said I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky for I am sorry that I have made them but Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh these are the records of the generations of Noah Noah was a righteous man blameless in his time Noah walked with God Noah became the father of three sons Shem H and japheth now the Earth was corrupt in the sight of God and the Earth was filled with violence God looked on the earth and behold it was corrupt for All Flesh had corrupted their way upon the Earth then God said to Noah the end of All Flesh has come before me for the Earth is filled with violence because of them and behold I am about to destroy them with the Earth make for yourself an ark of gopherwood you shall make the ark with rooms and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch this is how you shall make it the length of the Ark 300 cubits its breath 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits you shall make a window for the ark and finish it to a cubit from the top and set the door of the Ark in the side of it you shall make it with lower second and third decks behold I even I am bringing the flood of water upon the Earth To Destroy All Flesh in which is the Breath of Life from under Heaven everything that is on the earth Shall Perish but I will establish my Covenant with you and you shall enter the ark you and your sons and your wife and your sons wives with you and of every living thing of All Flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you they shall be male and female of the birds after their kind of the and of the animals after their kind of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive as for you take for yourself some of all food which is edible and gather it to yourself and it shall be for food for you and for them thus Noah did according to all that God had commanded him so he did oh and I’ll read the verse verse of chapter 7 then Yahweh said to Noah and to the ark you and all your household for you alone I have seen to be righteous before me in this time all right well as always when we look to steud a passage of scripture we want to start by just making simple observations of the text is what we’ll do now notice the phrase in verse 9 these are the records of the generations of Noah now this phrase these are the records of the generations of or more literally these are the generations of it appears throughout the Book of Genesis we actually saw the same phrase back in Genesis 2:4 though it is translated slightly differently in our English Bible it’s the same phrase in Hebrew this phrase these are the records of these are the records of the generations of what does it affirm about the type of literature that this passage presents itself to be it’s historical it’s history this is historical narrative that’s what a record is it’s a record of what actually happened to Noah that’s an important observation now notice the descriptions of the people on Earth in the days of Noah verse five the wickedness of man was great on the earth verse 5 every thought of man’s heart was only evil continually verse 11 the Earth was corrupt verse 11 the Earth was filled with violence verse 12 corrupt verse 12 All Flesh had corrupted their way verse 13 the Earth is filled with violence because of them 71 Noah alone is righteous on Earth eight different times God refers to man’s Universal wickedness and what is God’s attitude according to the text toward what he sees in man so he sees the wickedness continually and and what’s God’s attitude towards that so all okay so Glenda you said as an affront to his face he can’t even stand to look upon wickedness that is a just inference based on what we know about God and and based on what God does in the text but what is the emotion what is the reaction that is explicitly stated in the text he was sorry he was grieved in his heart he was grieved in his heart he was sorry he made man now that is a surprising statement is it not God was sorry God was grieved and as a result and that would include what Glenda also brought up this affront to his Holiness God is determined to destroy all mankind not just man notice the land animals and birds are included in the Judgment now in contrast to all other men notice what descriptions are given of Noah In this passage verse eight Noah found favor with God verse n he was a righteous man blameless in his time Noah walked with God verse one of chapter 7 Noah alone is righteous before God what about Noah’s family members are they also righteous well there aren’t any descriptions of their righteousness in the passage it is interesting that they’re not listed as righteousness or righteous along with Noah it’s not like you and your family are the only righteous ones in the earth it just says you alone that being said the family as we go with the narrative they do seem to support and Obey Noah at least to some extent as Noah seeks to obey God’s commands so it’s hard to say what God thought of this rest of this family notice Verse 18 now where God mentions a covenant who establishes the Covenant between God and Noah God does he says I will establish the Covenant besides build an ark what commands does God give to Noah notice Verse 18 He says enter the ark with your family verse 19 and 20 take two of all animal kinds into the ark male and female verse 21 gather food for whom an for him the people and the animals and it’s interesting as in Genesis 1 we see here human and animal food talked about at the same time talked about together and humans are only eating what at this time what grows from the ground it’s only after the flood that God permits them to eat meat and if they’re eating the same food as the animals what does that suggest about what the animals eat I’ll leave that for your interpretation you may notice the term cubit in your Bibles what is a cubit does anyone know it’s approximately 18 inches but it’s based on a part of the body it’s right look at you guys you guys know cubid is an ancient unit of measurement representing the distance of the elbow to the fingertips about 18 in but it kind of varied over time we’ll talk more about the cubit in later lessons on the flood now notice what is Noah’s response to All God’s commands did everything that the Lord commanded him okay there’s more we can observe but that we’ll have to do for now but now that we’ve made these observations let’s proceed to some interpretation questions why does God send a flood on mankind because man is so reprehensibly Wicked This is demonstrated over and over in the text almost to the point of being obnoxious God cannot stand to endure man’s incessant and increasing evil anymore so he sends the flood what then does this pronouncement of judgment reveal to us about the character of God he’s holy God is extremely holy holy God is a pure God he is a God who cannot stand sin his Holiness must Blaze forth in hot anger against sin we see that but what else Justice God is just the one true God is a God who will give to everyone according to what they deserve unless there’s merciful intervention through his son God sees that man’s earn man earns wrath by his sin therefore God is only just descended this is what you deserve he is a just God he punishes wickedness but what else is it just his Holiness and Justice that we see we see his mercy and patience consider that we are centuries after the fall centuries after the first murder of Abel by Cain but what has man done since those first sins has he amended his ways and turned to God no man has only gotten worse worse and worse and worse violence has multiplied the entire Earth is corrupt all of this has been surely crying out to God for a holy response for years but what has God done he he has waited he has given more time another year another decade another Century another thousand years for 1700 years God has watched man’s evil multiply in more and more Rebellion against him more and more harm against man’s neighbor and he is not judged God is like the vineyard owner that Jesus speaks about in the parable of Luke 13 keeps coming to the tree year after year looking for fruit keeps finding nothing it’s timed uproot the tree servant tells him so but he says let’s give it another year let’s give it another year before we uproot and burn it God is very patient it’s demonstrated he shows Mercy even though he’s just he also shows Mercy but though God is merciful though he’s slow to anger though he is very longsuffering in his heart there is a limit to his patience God does eventually say enough is enough in my wisdom I’ve determined I’ve given you enough time think just how terrible the sin in the world in the days of Noah it must have been consider how long it went on God was patient but because God is also holy and just he could not let it go undal with forever so he sends the flood there is something else that we should notice about God’s character here and that is God is extremely good you say how does the flood demonstrate the goodness of God well don’t forget all of God’s attributes are connected we have to constantly integrate the attributes in our mind we have we often think about them separately because of the way our minds work but God is one and all his attributes are one in him God’s Wrath and God’s goodness are not in conflict with each other rather his wrath is good and his goodness is wrathful how can that be well actually we see the connection in what’s presented in the passage God according to the text was greatly grieved by the sin and violence that he saw why would that be well that can only be if God is himself good and compassionate these things that he sees on the earth therefore bother him it makes him sorrowful to see evil being done instead of good in fact it is his goodness that moves him to act he’s too good to let evil continue undal with otherwise God would be like a corrupt King whose kingdom is filled with violence Injustice evil and he just sits in his Palace and does nothing if we were to see a human King like that we’d say that person doesn’t deserve to be king look at how he’s tolerating all this evil doesn’t care about it but God is no such King his goodness mov moves him to deal with evil which is what we see coming back to the idea of God’s mercy something else we can say even when God finally decides to send the Wrath it’s not total God does not choose to destroy all he determines to preserve Noah and his family and even all the animals in the world at that time all the kinds of animals that is this means that God allows the human race to continue and the stewardship of the animals that’s going to continue God could have brought an end to man’s under rule here it could have brought an end to human rule on the earth I mean man is really proven to be the worst image Bearer The Worst under ruler it seems that God could have set up but God shows the children of Adam undeserved favor by letting the line of Noah continue the human race this is God’s mercy and it’s connected with God’s faithfulness because what have we already seen even at the fall God promised that the seed of the woman would continue and remain in conflict with the seed of the serpent till one ultimately came to defeat and deliver from the serpent at this point it sure looks like the seed of the serpent has m multiplied so that there’s basically no seat of the woman left so would the serpent Triumph would God be forced to end Humanity due to the Serpent’s widespread Corruption of mankind would God be forced to break his garden promise never as is the case so often in the Old Testament even when God’s promise seems to hang by a thread God proves himself faithful and here God judges the world and he preserves Noah and ultimately a Godly line side note that should be a comfort when God’s promises seem to hang by a thread for us God is faithful well this meditation on God’s attributes it probably provokes another question how is it that God can feel sorrow and even be sorry that he made man this Revelation in our passage is indeed profound we sometimes think of God being stoic basically not showing any emotions or we only think of him as being angry or only think of him as being happy but God can feel sorrow yes the perfect God worthy of all worship the one who’s eternal satisfied in himself he’s able to experience grief and according to the Bible he does sometimes what makes God sorrowful according to this passage Sin Sin wickedness Injustice violence these make God sorrowful it Grieves God to see people hurting one another to see people fail to imitate him to see people serve false Idols that cannot satisfy to see people rebel against him it Grieves him to his heart heart see the Bible is very clear that God has emotions this is actually part of it being made in the image of God really if God didn’t react emotionally at all to sin what would it indicate about God he’s not he’s not he’s not that’s right he’s not good he’s not holy he’s not just sin is not a big deal remember we did a lesson on emotions in our proverb study I think it was last year or two years ago in Iron Man and if you think about the emotions that God has given us their main purpose is to help us appreciate the significance of things especially their goodness or Badness when something’s really good it provokes a an emotion usually a positive one in you if something’s really bad it’s supposed to provoke a negative emotion in you if you didn’t have those emotions how would you know how would you appreciate the significance of anything the same thing in God if God didn’t care if God was just stowed if we didn’t have emotions it would mean that God didn’t care God isn’t that good but the Bible is clear God is grieved by evil and again this this parallels in some ways what we are to experience as imitators of God a good man is grieved at and in a righteous way angry at evil and those who do it a good God is also grieved and angry at evil and those who do it God Is So grieved the text says that he was sorry that he made man now that’s intense but it might make you ask does that mean that God made a mistake he regrets he’s sorry he wants to go back does this mean that God was surprised at the terrible outcome of man and he therefore wanted to change his plans that despite God’s claim to the contrary later in the scriptures God actually is changeable I thought this was a good idea I don’t think so anymore God changes just like man does some people have gone so far as to make this claim oh yeah God is changeable God learns and therefore God regrets but the rest of the Bible precludes that conclusion you’re not being honest with the scriptures if that’s what you come to but how are we to understand this if God is immutable if he does not change then how can God God experience emotion and even experience repentance a change of heart the solution here is to understand that both God’s emotions and God’s repentance God’s changing of mind they are eternally ordained and sovereignly decided God’s emotions God’s repentance they are eternally ordained and sovereignly decided now follow me closely here God has always willed to experience certain emotions in time he is the Eternal God outside of time but he has willed he has decreed to experience certain emotions in time and even to react to circumstances by an apparent regret and changing of course in this instance it was always God’s plan to send a flood in response to man’s wickedness God’s sorrow and regret were forn and for ordained as by the means or as the means by which he would carry out this purpose we see similar situations in other parts of the Bible remember when God and anger tells Moses this is actually what we’re coming up to in our Iron Man study this week or whenever next time we meet God and anger tells Moses after Israel creates the golden calf let me alone that I may destroy them and I’ll make of you a great nation what happens well Moses intercedes for Israel and he turns aside God’s burning wrath was God’s foreign knowledge God’s sovereignty compromised there not at all God had forn and for ordained that he would be angry over Israel’s sin but also that Moses would rescue Israel as an intercessor that whole exchange was decreed beforehand to show forth the glory of God same situation appears with Jonah and Nineveh God relents of sure destruction on that Assyrian City because of the repentance of the people did God change his mind did God suddenly have a change of heart in which he said I guess I’ll be gracious today no God had always ordained in of us repentance and thus his own forestalling of judgment now none of this means that God’s emotions aren’t real no God doesn’t lie and his emotions are real the doctrine of divine impassibility if you’ve ever heard of that it does not mean that God does not experience emotion but rather that God is Not controlled by emotion as the Eternal all satisfied God God is Not subject to passions or moods in which he’s out of control no God himself Wills every emotion that he experiences in this way God demonstrates to us that his emotions are not quite like our emotions they are in some ways like but they’re not all the way like I strongly disagree with those who say that God’s emotions in the Bible are only metaphorical they are apparent accommodations to man’s understanding no if that were the case then every time God speaks about his emotions in the Bible that doesn’t mean anything his emotions aren’t real those texts have no real meaning that would be to undermine the communication of the scriptures but clearly God’s emotions are different than ours in some ways they are like and some ways they are different than what we experience we can be subject to passions and moods we can go out of control with our emotions but God never does and he Wills he has for decreed whatever emotions he experiences so this idea of God’s sovereignty overseeing his emotions doesn’t mean they are they aren’t real but it also doesn’t mean this for ordaining of emotions and even repentance does not mean that God is deceptive about his purposes because really if God’s foreordained means of bringing about certain situations were absent then when God says he’s going to do something he would indeed proceed with that originally expressed intention so without Moses’s intercession if that didn’t happen if that were not ordained and God says let me alone that I may destroy Israel he would have done that God was not joking when he expressed that intention without Jonah’s preaching without the people’s repentance Nineveh would have been obliterated God was not simply pulling their legs God was not pretending God was not joking he expressed that intention Because unless something happened to intercede he would do it God’s expressed intentions in each in these passages are real his emotions are real yet even these are Under the Umbrella of God’s Sovereign power and decree though these alternative situations would have happened if not for intervening circumstances and people they could never have happened because God ordained the intercession God ordained the intervention God was not going to destroy destroy the people of Israel even though it was expressed intention to because he had ordained that Moses would intercede now part of this is beyond our understanding I might not be able to see how God’s expressed intention can be genuine even when he knows the outcome will be different than he expresses I think some people even connect us with the Call of the gospel God has an ordained that everybody will be saved so when he says come to me and be saved he doesn’t mean it no God does mean it it comes from his heart as a loving and generous God but at the same time he has put it all under his Sovereign decree if you don’t totally see how that fits together that’s okay God is God you’re not but get this however you’re able to understand how it fits together or not God is able to do both of those things he is able to express genuine intention while he has sovereignly decreed that nothing will happen unless he’s ordained it think of how Jesus Grieves over his friend Lazarus death this is so interesting because Jesus knows even while he Grieves that he will L he will raise Lazarus shortly from the dead so was it all an act he like I’m going to mourn for him but it’s not really a big deal cuz I’m going to get him real soon was it an all an act no because that otherwise would be the height of hypocrisy so how is Jesus able to experience and manifest such genuine grief even while knowing a happy future we may not know exactly but he was able to do that God’s ways are above ours so bringing this all back to our present passage the regret of God and in Genesis 6 is real because of God’s perfect Eternal character he chooses to feel this emotion in time in light of man’s extreme wickedness if God no let me say it this way because God is a good God if he didn’t experience regret after seeing such terrible wickedness come from what the creatures he’s created I already lost the train of thought of that sentence because God is a good God if he didn’t experience the regret we would say there’s a problem what’s wrong with you so he must experience the regret he does experience the regret but even this experience of strong emotion and regret it does not make God the least bit disingenuous or the least bit unsatisfied with himself or the least bit out of control in his sovereignty focusing on the uh the satisfaction part this is maybe hard for us to understand but the joy of God the fundamental Joy Of God is Not diminished At All by his sorrow or his regret we sometimes might wonder why God would choose to experience grief I mean who wants to experience grief doesn’t that contradict the experience of Happiness the experience of Joy but even we can be joyful in the midst of sorrow and apparently it is not impossible for God to remain completely satisfied why he also chooses to experience sorrow in time and my own thought is God’s experience of grief in the face of evil is actually for his joy that may seem like a contradictory thought because but I say it for this reason what is it that God enjoys most well definitely he he enjoys sin his repenting but there’s even something higher than that what does God enjoy most his glory he enjoys himself he enjoys his greatness he enjoys his character he enjoys his Works he enjoys his glory and the fact that he is grieved or regretful over sin is a Showcase of his glory it’s a Showcase of his wonderful character and that is what he enjoys so in a sense the grief was for his Joy the regret was for his Joy because it manifests that all satisfying character which he has yeah Mark no just what you said is I think summ up in Ephesians 2 so that in the ages to come he might show The Riches of his glory right through his grace right so it really fits together right his salvation is what puts his glory on full this BL yeah I think that’s beautiful that’s uh definitely connected there just mentioning for the recording Ephesians 2 speaking about God doing his whole Arc of redemption which includes a whole bunch of things that you wouldn’t think are very enjoyable for God but it is going to be for the display of the riches of his glory in the end and that is what God enjoys and that’s ultimately where we find our highest Joy now I know that some of this has gotten into more abstract Theology and maybe you’re like I still have questions well we can talk about that another time but hopefully this this addresses some of the basic issues with God’s regret and God’s sorrow in his good sorrow and his righteous anger God promises to destroy the Earth with water but God says he will spare Noah and his family why to car his because he no the seed of Christ yeah that’s very good Glenda so we we broached this a little bit already but God’s faithfulness God’s Redemption plan God’s plan for the human race to continue it requires God to save Noah it requires God to save the animals though we could say well why didn’t he just save somebody else why Noah why is Noah highlighted in the text as the one that God chose to save is be okay that’s true God is Sovereign but there is a reason suggested in the text he found favor in the eyes of the Lord and he was righteous he was uniquely righteous in the world now this is abundantly clear we saw five different times Noah is highlighted as righteous does that mean that Noah was not a sinner no clearly that could not mean that because everyone was everyone who’s born of Adam even as we talked about last time is sinful and they are born with a sin nature that God must recreate which is what he does in Salvation but that that’s that means that person can still sin because the flesh is still there so Noah was born a sinner even after trusting in God Noah would remain a sinner so from where did Noah’s righteousness ultimately come his record couldn’t be that even though he was generally obedient to God why was he did Noah just try harder than most people we get a helpful clarification uh we could I think infer the answer from what’s presented in this passage but we get it stated for us clearly when we go to the New Testament Hebrews 11 Hebrews 116-7 Hebrews 11 6-7 says this in regard to Noah and without faith it is impossible to please him that is God for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him by faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen and reverence prepared an ark for the Salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to Faith so why is it that Noah obeyed God according to this passage in Hebrews because Noah had faith because Noah believed God he obeyed because he believed then from where ultimately did Noah’s righteousness come from not by his own effort but it came from God by the way of Faith Noah became an heir of righteousness according to Hebrews according to Faith and my next question we kind of already answered from where to know has Faith come from God had to give it to him Ephesians 289 makes that quite clear right faith is a gift it is not of yourselves why so that no one will boast and this is consistent with what we see in Genesis 6 right God unilaterally says to Noah I will establish my Covenant with you not let’s establish a covenant together you do this I’ll do that he says I’m going to do it no conditions mentioned no permission asked God acts all by himself and he chooses to show favor to Noah you see Noah was part of that same seed of which Abel was also a part the very seed promised by God to the serpent in Genesis 3 I God says will place enemity between you and the woman and between her seed and your seed the seed of the woman as we’ve already discussed is the seed of Faith the ones that God unilaterally promised to create really Genesis and the whole Bible in one sense it’s just about tracing this seed God chose Noah to be part of this seed therefore God gave Noah Faith Noah’s Faith then caused Noah to be obedient to God and to be at odds with the world sometimes people say that salvation was achieved differently by people in the Old Testament that in Christ we have the Covenant of Grace but before Christ it was the Covenant works now we believe by faith and are saved but before people were saved based on their obedience to God’s law is that true no no no no no no that is not true God’s commands have never been a means of Salvation as Paul says in the New Testament the law was introduced actually to increase the awareness of sin and the need for a savior from God even God to be be the Savior people have get this people have always people are and have always been saved by grace through faith and God’s promised provision who is Jesus Christ now it’s true that God has progressively revealed the details of this salvation not all the details were revealed in the beginning but the basics were there even in the garden even in Genesis 3 the main message has always been man needs God to provide a savior Our Savior for mankind Adam and Eve were shown that they needed God to cover their shame and to defeat the serpent on their behalf the people of Israel were shown through various means that they needed God to provide a substitute on their behalf to Bear their sins and to make them righteous later Israelites were shown that this substitute would be a special anointed one the Messiah the king of Israel and even that this Messiah would be a sufferer and a Man of Sorrows but the mystery of the gospel was fully revealed when Jesus actually came it became clear at that point that God would not simply provide a substitute God is the substitute he provided the substitute of himself God sent his own son to be the Savior that Adam Noah Moses Isaiah and all the other Old Testament saints were looking forward to as Believers today we have the mystery of the Gospel fully revealed this good news news therefore that is what we preach that is what we share that is what we declare that is what we call others to believe in this is the full glorious message we declare the whole thing we say with the apostles there is no other name under Heaven by which men can be saved you didn’t have to know the name of Jesus before Jesus came but now you do because God has revealed it this is the savior no one else only faith in Jesus Christ the God man has the power to save so in case it wasn’t clear salvation has always been by faith in Jesus Christ they didn’t know the name Jesus Christ in the Old Testament but it was ultimately looking forward to God’s provision which turned out to be Jesus Christ it has always been salvation has always been by grace through faith it never was by meritorious works even the faith of each Old Testament Saint was an unearned gift from God so to come back to our question that I raised here before this discussion why does God spare Noah and his family why does God spare Noah from the flood a just way to answer it according to everything we just discussed is because of the righteousness of faith that God himself put in Noah or we could just say it like this as I think Glenda said and maybe Mark or someone else God simply chose to be gracious to Noah and faithful to his promise no his obedience was the result of God’s grace to him not the reason that God was gracious to him so what were the Israelites supposed to learn from this beginning of the flood account what is the point talking about the wickedness of the world and the righteousness of Noah can it be for any other reason to draw the Israelites themselves in faith to God they were to understand just as we’ve talked about that God is holy God is just God is patient God is good God is faithful they are therefore to believe in God as Noah did and be rescued from the holy Judgment of God it won’t come in the form of the flood now but it will come in other ways therefore the message to them is walk with God and let his face shine upon you in blessing do not be like the wicked violent dis believing world that once perished in the judgment and isn’t that the same message for us today actually listen to the way that the Apostle Peter puts it in second Peter 2: 4-10 second Peter 2: 4-10 to give you the context Peter is warning Believers against false teachers by the Judgment that is awaiting false teachers and those who follow them listen to Second Peter 2: 4:10 for if God did not spare Angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of Darkness reserved for judgment and did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah a preacher of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly and if he condemn the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter and if he rescued righteous lot oppressed by the sensual conduct of UN principled men for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them felt his righteous Soul tormented day after day by their Lawless Deeds then the Lord knows how to rescue The Godly from Temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who indulge the Flesh in its corrupt desires and despise Authority it’s the same application it’s the same application as what I just discussed for Israel avoid the Judgment that is coming on the ungodly World by you turning to God in faith and consequently obedience that’s the same message for us so may the kindness and severity of God bring you to Faith if you do not know him and if you do know know him may you declare this good but sobering news to others so that they might be brought to Faith and ultimately joyous salvation in Jesus Christ now two more questions of application before we end today’s lesson people often claim that God is cruel to have wiped out every person on the face of the earth and the flood how would you use the text we’ve discussed today to help them understand that God’s actions were just what would you say yeah Mark thing we restraint patience um you know I I heard a sermon recently where someone said you know you know the the cry and protest today said what do we want Justice when do we want it now okay that’s a Death Wish honestly we look at it we look clear what we really deserve so I just at this I see God Inc patience yeah so we can I think you already first of all pointed to the fact that we just go to the text you think God was unjust to send the flood well let’s look at the account of the flood and see if that clarifies things and we see there just as you said God’s amazing restraint and patience but we also see the overwhelming obvious abundant wickedness of man that made sending the flood not only just but anything otherwise would have been inappropriate in this issue and I think we’ve said this before for people to call God unjust they overestimate the goodness of people and they underestimate the goodness of God Genesis 6 not only shows that there were no good people but that the wickedness of all people that time was extreme and incessant Genesis 6 shows God’s sensitivity to goodness and lack of goodness Grieves him to his heart the continual arry to God and His goodness by every person on the earth at that time certainly called for just punishment side note God must be the one to show us what is just our hearts are naturally deceitful and wicked we cannot trust our own sense of right and wrong unless it is based on God’s word really anything else is absurd hang on a second I might say exactly what you’re about to say but maybe not when we encounter those who say that God is unjust It’s actually an opportunity for some presuppositional apologetics you might raise a question like someone says God is unjust to do this thing or I think God is unjust well if you say that God is unjust on what standard are you basing the Judgment are you basing your judgment if they say Society standard or if they say what I feel what I think is the standard well that’s all all subjective that kind of standard varies from culture to culture or person to person if that’s ultimately what you rely on then there is no standard there is no real standard and thus there’s no such thing as Justice or Injustice and thus you have no real ability to condemn God for Injustice you actually contradict yourself if you accuse God of Injustice you have no basis for that because you destroy the basis for justice to even to exist but we all know there is such a thing as Justice there is such a thing as right and wrong but that cannot be without the holy and just God of the Bible and this is just another testimony that God is real the only way True Justice can exist is if that standard is outside of ourselves Mike did you want to say something yeah it just goes back the justice of of God can be preached and taught just as you’ve done but it’s also an answer to your question is like people often claim that God is cruel that well his wrath ISU we have to remind people that his wrath is great people that God love jesuses folks know yes yes so right now I wouldn’t use the word cruel now part of that is just going to be um how you define the word but the word cruel suggests some kind of inappropriateness some sort of Injustice in the giving of Wrath but I think you are right to emphasize and and we don’t want to undermine the truth of scripture that God’s Wrath is overwhelming it is it is a huge deal it is furious it is burning it is hot God is not like I really don’t want to do this but I’m going to do it no he is unleashing his anger he is unleashing his hatred of all that is evil I am struck by the fact that when God talks about people being put in hell it doesn’t say they were put in hell they were set in hell they are thrown into hell that says something about the Holy wrath of God so you’re definitely right to emphasize that we we want to help people see from the scriptures that it is not inappropriate they need to see themselves for who they really are and they need to see God for who he really is um Tina because angs further contaminated with the women created this sub world so in in order to protect that sa line for Christ we had to do it the Earth already and Angels inin Human by okay so you bring up a very interesting thought Tina and that is that was the flood judgment um there another reason that it’s not cool because it was removing this heinous hybrid of Angel and human progyny now it is interesting that that is that whole event is mentioned right before God talks about sending the flood judgment though in when when God actually talks about the flood he doesn’t mention anything that happened with the angels and then there’s if you look at the description of and verse four it talks about the Nephilim being on the earth in those days but it says that they were on the earth before and afterward which makes it seem like the Nephilim are not the product of the Angels because they were on the earth before thaten Angels yeah Fallen Angels so was there really anything special about the children that were born from these unions when I taught a Sunday school lesson on that passage some years ago I argued that there isn’t this was an attempt to create something superum but it only ended up with something that is human now part of that there’s questions of well how did they com mingle did they actually have their own bodies or did they just possess human bodies well there’s a lot that we don’t know there’s a lot here that we don’t understand so it’s possible Tina that there’s something to what you’re saying though I don’t know if we should automatically assume that because it’s I think possible even likely that whatever these unions produced they were nothing more than human but anyways all right one other application question I’m just going to mention and we don’t really have time to talk about it but I think you know the answer Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness to an ungodly world is our situation any different from his how should we live in light of this truth no our position is extremely similar to his second Peter 3: 3- 13 talks all about this saying the mockers are going to come and say where is Jesus coming Where is the judgment that God said he’s going to bring everything’s happening like it always has happened it’s like but did you read the Bible have you looked at the history you know who was thinking that and saying that in times past the people right before the flood it’s going to be the same now people are going to be like there’s no judgment God’s not coming back Jesus is not coming back and then he comes back and then the Wrath and so what are we to do in the in in the meantime the same thing that Noah did we are to be creates of righteousness we are to stand with the Lord we are not to go the way of the world we are to remain faithful until the coming of the Lord therefore we will show that we really belong to God and we will not enter into the Judgment we will be spared from the Judgment we will be rescued from the Judgment all right any other questions you have about today’s lesson have to send those to me by email or talk to me about it sometime in church but that’s it for this week next week we look we take a closer look at the events that occur within the flood itself and will pay special attention to their timing let me close in prayer Lord I believe you answered my prayer at the beginning of this lesson that we would see more of you see more of your great character but Lord I pray that we’d be changed by it Lord I pray that none of these Sunday school lessons even these ones that have some apologetic orientation towards the flood that they would just be intellectually stimulating oh God I pray that the these would be transformative because if we do not have faith in you if we are not covered by the son Jesus Christ then the Judgment your judgment which was made so evident in the example of the flood will fall on us and there will be no Escape just as there was no Escape for the people at that time time the only way as Pastor Bobby says the only way is through the door the only rescue is through the Ark of Jesus thank you for this time I pray that you bless the rest of this service in Jesus name amen amen