The sermon titled 'The God Who Raised Up Noah' explores the chapters of Genesis that focus on the life of Noah, emphasizing that these chapters are primarily about God's self-revelation rather than Noah himself. God raised up Noah to demonstrate His grace and reveal His nature to humanity. The speaker highlights that Noah's admirable qualities and actions were products of God's grace rather than personal achievements. The key phrase 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord' is central to understanding the narrative. The sermon is divided into three parts, examining the genealogy and lifespan of Noah, summarizing the chapters about his life, and extracting five major takeaways. The genealogy emphasizes the pattern of life and death, underscoring the consequences of sin. The sermon reviews the chapters, discussing the flood and its significance, Noah's obedience, and God's covenant with humanity. The speaker draws out lessons about human nature, God's judgment on sin, and the necessity of grace. The sermon concludes with reflections on the power of prompt and careful obedience to God's commands.

The title of the message today is The God Who Raised Up Noah. We've been saying from the start of the book of Genesis that Genesis is primarily a self-revelation of God, meaning it's God telling us who He is. And so these four chapters that we've been studying about the life of Noah have been about Noah and they haven't been about Noah. They've been primarily about God telling us who He is. God raised up Noah to reveal Himself to mankind.

So I hope I've titled the message appropriately in titling it, the God who raised up Noah. Though there are things in Noah's life to admire and imitate. And we come across those things, things in Noah's life to admire, things in Noah's life to imitate. I think the answer to that is certainly these things are the work of God in his life. Why is Noah to be admired?

Why is Noah to be imitated? It's because God went to work in his life and produced that and we should envy that. We should desire that God would take hold of us and work in our lives like that. So Noah is not the hero of these four chapters. God is a great God and he's the hero of these these four chapters.

This sermon spans four full chapters plus a little. We get we see Noah for the first time at the very end of chapter 5 but then chapter 6 is all about Noah chapter 7 is chapter 8 is chapter 9 has been This is actually the 13th sermon having to do with Noah and his life. For me, the key phrase in these four chapters is chapter six, verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. If you don't understand that verse and don't get that fixed in the center of your thinking that you're going to miss this chapter, think Noah is the hero, think Noah was the good guy who was saved from the flood when everybody else was bad, None of that is true. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

That really is the hinge pin of these four chapters. I'm gonna divide this message into three parts. First, we'll look at the last two verses of chapter nine. We haven't done that yet, so we'll look at chapter 9 verses 28 and 29. Then I'll run through a chapter by chapter review of Noah's life.

It will be a run through, it's a summary of 12 separate sermons. And then I'll give you the big takeaways in my opinion. If you have other takeaways, more power to you, but I'm gonna give you kind of my big five, and then we'll eat lunch. How does that sound? All right.

God, I thank you for these 13 weeks. And they've been very profitable to my own soul in many ways. And I pray that in the months and years to come that we would find that our minds and souls are still extracting profit from these four chapters where you show us yourself by showing us a man that you raised up to preserve the human race. Thank you for Noah, how you raised him up, how you worked in his life, and we do envy that in the sense that we desire that you would take hold of us and work in our lives to bring honor to your name in the earth, to reveal yourself to others in the earth. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, if you have your Bibles open to Genesis chapter 9, this hasn't been read yet this morning, but I'll read it now. The last two verses of Genesis chapter 9, verses 28 and 29, and Noah lived after the flood 350 years. So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. In these two verses we have Noah's years after the flood and his total lifespan. If you're taking notes on the handout after fills in the first blank, lifespan fills in the second.

Noah's years after the flood and his total lifespan. These verses actually tie us back to chapter five. So if you go back to where all this started, we had been given a genealogy we've been given a family tree. And there was a pattern. You would have a name in the family tree and then the name of the next son down the line in the family tree and then the total lifespan of the person and then a death announcement and he died.

This is unlike any other genealogy in the whole Bible. None of the other genealogy is punctuated by and he died. But we're at the beginning of Genesis where we're being taught for the first time and very powerfully that the wages of sin is death, that when Adam and Eve brought sin into the world that we all get to partake of that. So you get a genealogy, a name, the next name, the name of his son that is going to be the next in the chain, the total lifespan, and then this punctuation, and he died. So in Noah's case, he was introduced, but instead of just moving on in the genealogy to son, grandson, great-grandson, we got four chapters of his life.

We didn't get that in any of the other names associated in chapter five but now we've had this big break where we get an extended section explaining the history of Noah. But now we're returning to the pattern. We get the total lifespan like everybody else in chapter 5 and this punctuation mark like everybody else had in chapter 5 and he died. We're returning to and bringing a conclusion to that pattern. Noah lived a long time after the flood.

How long? 350 years. So if God gave you a really long life, let's say he gives you a 100 year life, Noah's life just after the flood was three of those long lifespans and a half, 350 years after. You're seeing after the flood, lifespans really come down a lot. We were seeing 900, 900, 700, 900 in terms of total lifespan.

Now after the flood, you see it shrink down pretty quickly to a cap of about 120 years. I don't think after a few more chapters, you see anyone living longer than 120 years. What does that mean? What does Noah living another 350 years, even after he got off the ark, what does that mean in terms of the family tree? It means that Noah lived into the 58th year of Abraham's life.

At least that's what the Jewish scholars say. And it actually matches up, if you look at the timelines, matches up pretty well. The Jewish scholar says that Noah didn't die until the 58th year of Abraham's life. And because you have genealogies in between, you don't really see that unless you put the life span side by side. Think about that.

Though many other generations are mentioned in chapter 10, and we don't even get to Abraham in chapter 10, Noah outlived many of them because of the decreasing lifespans after the flood. Noah didn't have that decreasing lifespan. He lived in 950 years. I think at men's Bible study we calculate that he had the third longest, is that right? The third longest lifespan mentioned in scripture.

Methuselah is the first and then there was somebody in between and then Noah at 950 years. So Noah could give a first person account of the flood, meaning he saw it with his own two eyes, he's reporting it as someone who was there. He could give a first-person account of the flood to many succeeding generations. There's another generation and another and another and another and Noah's still alive and he's still giving a first-person account of God destroying everybody else on the earth except for Noah and his sons and his wife and their wives from the face of the earth and Noah can tell you that with supreme confidence because he was there and he experienced it and saw it with his own two eyes. If you look at a chart of the overlapping lifespans, Abraham could have known Noah.

Did he know Noah? We don't know for sure, but Noah died in Abraham's 58th year, so he could have known Noah. Noah very likely knew his grandfather Methuselah. Do you know your grandfather? I know mine.

I knew both of mine. And Methuselah could have known Adam. Okay, so I'm taking this all the way back to the very beginning of human history. Adam lived into the lifetime of Methuselah, who lived into the lifetime of Noah, who lived into the lifetime of Abraham. So just with these four names you can get across 1500 years of Earth history.

That means that Adam could have told first person accounts, an eyewitness account of day six of creation and the fall to Methuselah, and Methuselah could have passed those down to his grandson Noah, and Noah could have told those accounts as well as his own first person account of the flood to Abraham. So just know you're getting really good reliable accounts all the way down to Abraham because of the life spans of these men. Listen to this note from the Nelson Study Bible. Noah's death was the end of an era. Only he and his family span two worlds, that of the earth before and after the flood." Those really were two different worlds, before the flood and after the war.

Only Noah and his family spanned that time. His long life, 950 years, gave him opportunity to transmit to his many descendants the dramatic story that he had lived out with his family. Peoples in places and cultures the world over have memories and stories of a great flood in antiquity. The details differ but the stories remain. We should be asking ourselves, why do all these different cultures in these different places all have a great flood story?

This is why. Because Noah lived 350 years after the flood and he was giving first person accounts to many generations and so all these different cultures as they spread out, they spread out with some knowledge of this great worldwide flood. And so you find this in so many different cultures. Now a chapter by chapter review of Noah's life. Are you ready for the sprint?

Four chapters and 30 minutes, we hope. The end of chapter five got us genealogically to Noah and his sons and the generation of the flood. So the end of chapter five really had one great purpose. Get us to the generation of the global flood. So that genealogy does that, the end of chapter five.

Chapter six sets the stage for the flood in the life of Noah. Chapter 6 begins with what I called at the time indiscriminate marriage. That doesn't sound good. What does indiscriminate marriage, it's not good. What does indiscriminate marriage mean?

It means the sons of God, same usage as we have today, what is a son of God? It's someone who is joined to God by faith, part of God's family by faith. A son of God marrying for beauty without regard to spiritual state and spiritual vitality. So I just want to submit to you that I think the results of that are very predictable. When the sons of God, people who God has entered their life and made them his own but they don't act like that and how they marry They just marry for beauty.

They have no regard for spiritual state and spiritual vitality So they marry the daughters of men just whoever as long as they're pretty okay, the The outcome of that is predictable in that environment good diminished to very little and evil increased to a dominant position. So, sons of God, who you marry matters a lot for the next generation and the generations to come. If you just marry for beauty without regard to spiritual state and spiritual vitality, good will diminish to very little in your family line, and evil will increase to a dominant position. How do we know? Because even if we didn't have the scriptures, you can see it with your own two eyes, over and over and over again in the world, and that's what happened in Genesis chapter six.

Chapter six, verse three, and the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. So God sets the countdown clock to judgment ticking. There's a hundred and twenty years until God brings judgment on the earth and in a hundred and twenty years we have the global flood. One thing we have to notice in the history of the flood is the condition of human nature. This means the condition of the core condition, the fundamental condition of all the descendants of Adam and we're given it's given to us in chapter six verse five.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously. The bad people, right? It's describing the bad people, right? No, it's describing the people. It's describing all the people.

All the people are bad people. I'm sure there were some that were very polite and yet This was an accurate description of them. There's probably sophisticated people and polite people, but at their core they could be described this way, every intent of the thought of the heart, only evil continually. God made men and women as image bearers. So fundamentally what are we supposed to do on planet earth?

We're supposed to reflect the image of this good God and this great God but our sin brought such deep and universal corruption into human nature that God was sorry he made man. He made us good, very good. He made us to reflect his image but our sin brought such deep and universal corruption into the nature of all of mankind that God was sorry that He had made man. As a result, God declares that He will destroy mankind, But, I'll destroy mankind, he declares that. But there is an exception, chapter six, verse eight.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Everyone can be described by the way I just described, every thought and intent of the heart, only evil continually but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But God decided to raise up a man in order to save the human race. Why? Because Noah was righteous?

No. Noah's life was the effect of God's grace. And you can actually see it in the sequence of the chapter. He is called a perfect man in his generation, but that is after it is said that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah's righteous life was the effect of God's grace, not the cause that somehow drew the attention and goodwill of God.

If you don't get this, you misunderstand all. Noah's life was the effect of God's grace in his life. God's grace producing good things in his life. Not the cause that somehow drew God's attention and goodwill into his life. Oh look, I see one good man down there.

I think I'll use him. No, no, no. It's quite the contrary. God decided to use Noah and he acted out of grace in his life and produced what we see in God's life. Finally in chapter six, God spoke to Noah.

God tells Noah that the end of all flesh has come But that he's going to save Noah and a reproducing pair of every kind of creeping thing and bird and animal So You get a pair that will be able to have offspring and they'll have offspring and so every species, every kind will be reproducing in the earth after the flood as well. And God says that They'll come to Noah and be saved with Noah and his family on the ark that God instructs Noah to make. So God instructs Noah to make the own instrument of his salvation. But still God saving him, of course. This floating box, you remember ark, the literal translation of the Hebrew words that we see in the Bible is box.

So don't think fancy ship that's meant to be sailed somewhere. Think of a floating box that's meant to be stable and not turn over in a massive worldwide flood. It would be 450 feet long. So a football field is 300 feet long. So a football field and a half long and 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.

We don't know how long it took to build, but it easily took decades and possibly the better part of a century. When you look at the timeline, Noah had his sons at 500 years, and the floodwaters were on the earth in the 600th year of Noah's life. So it's easily decades that they worked on this massive floating box and maybe the better part of a century. In the final verse of chapter 6, chapter 6 verse 22, we read, thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did. And this is actually a pretty good summary verse of something very important across the four chapters, which is God speaks to Noah and then Noah obeys.

It happens over and over again in these four chapters. God says and Noah does. This is worthy of imitation on our part for sure. Imagine the difficulty of doing what God said to do. Imagine the effort required to do what God said to do.

Imagine the ridicule if you're building a giant floating box, maybe on a plane, maybe not even near water, we don't know. But you can believe the story got out, the story of Noah and his giant structure. And it's not raining. And it's not raining. And it's not raining.

And it's not raining. 2 Peter 2 verse 5 says, Noah was a preacher of righteousness So it's not raining but Noah is building and Noah is preaching for a long period of time. Noah's building, building, building, preaching, preaching, preaching because God spoke and Noah believed him. It's not raining, but Noah's building and Noah's preaching because God spoke to him and he believed what God told him and he bet his life on it and acted on it. Chapter 7 is about the rising of the flood waters to cover all the earth.

We read this in chapter 7 verse 11, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were open. So there's water from below, the fountains of the great deep were broken up and there's water from above. The windows of heaven were opened. Have you ever been in one of those torrential downpours where you feel like, wow the windows of heaven are opened up? It's like this massive dump from above.

You wonder how could all that water even be up there? Is gravity not even working or something? It just started working after not working for a long period of time. Here comes all the rain. That was happening.

Water from beneath, water from above. God says, come into the ark, you and all your household. Maybe after decades of work, God says, finally says, come into the ark, you and all your household. It's still not raining. It's not going to rain for another seven days, but God says, come into the ark.

God sends seven pairs of clean animals and one pair of unclean animals will know in later chapters that there will be sacrifice so it won't do to just have one pair. How are you going to sacrifice out of just one pair? You're going to lose a kind every time you sacrifice something. And little did we know at the time that God is going to give other living creatures for food. And what we learned from this is that God's provision is ahead of the need.

He's sending multiple pairs of the clean animals because there's going to be sacrifice and they're going to be Lawful as a food source, but God hasn't said any of that yet and yet He's providing in advance of the need that's just like God you can you know You don't need that story for this. You can find this across the Bible. God anticipating needs. He's a thousand moves ahead on the chessboard. He knows what you need so far before you even have any sense of that need and the provision is often on the way.

You didn't even know you needed it. Chapter 7 verse 5, we hear it again, and Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. It's just another statement. God spoke, Noah obeyed. Key phrase in this chapter, a phrase which appears four times is, the waters prevailed.

So if you're just judging by repetition, what do you need to know from chapter seven? The waters prevailed. The waters prevailed against everyone and against everything that wasn't in the ark. If you weren't in the ark, you didn't live, you died. The waters prevailed against you.

The text is clear that the highest mountains under heaven were underwater, so this was definitely a global flood. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. This was across the whole earth. The highest mountain peaks were, I think it was 15 cubits underwater. Definitely a global flood.

As Ken Ham says, let's quote Ken Ham again, you couldn't summarize these four chapters and not quote Ken Ham, he would probably burst in the door and demand to be quoted. Ken Ham says, if Noah's flood is true, you'd find billions of dead things buried in rock, laid down by water all over the earth. And what do you find? Billions of dead things buried in rock, laid down by water all over the earth, which is why you can find fossilized seashells on mountain tops all over the world. Did you know that?

You can find fossilized seashells on mountain tops. Just think about that. Let that blow your mind for a minute all over the world. The Bible begins with the Spirit of God hovering over the waters before the waters were separated from the land. That's chapter one verse two.

Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. There's been no separation of waters from land at that point. So it is not absurd to think that there could be a global flood. It is not, it is not, it is not absurd that the Bible actually starts in that condition. Second, the second to the last verse in chapter 7 is this, only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

Everything else perished in the flood. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Chapter eight is about the waters receding and the inhabitants of the ark emerging onto dry land. In terms of a timeline, the waters increased for five months. So the fountains of the great deep are broken up and the windows of heaven are opened and the waters are increasing and increasing and increasing for five months till even the highest mountain peak is covered then they began to recede and they receded for two and a half months when the ark came to rest on a mountain.

The waters continued to recede and Noah to obtain information about what was out there you know they're on the ark they're on one barren mountaintop as the water continues to recede he wants to know what's out there. And so he sends out a raven, then he sends out a dove. It doesn't find anywhere to rest. And so it comes back to him. Then he sends the dove out again.

The second time that dove comes back with an olive branch. So he knows things are starting to grow out there again. He sends the dove out a third time and it never comes back. So he knows that there are actually inhabitable places for that dove. About seven and a half months after the ark came to rest on the mountain, God finally says, go out of the ark.

So the ark has actually been on land for seven and a half months, but the waters continue to recede. And then God finally says, go out of the ark. So every living thing on the ark emerges. Then Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings of every clean animal. So here are these extra pairs of clean animals that came onto the ark start to be used for offering.

And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma then the Lord said in his heart I will never again curse the ground for man's sake. Although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. So we get we get two things out of that one is God says I'm never doing it says in his heart, never doing that again, I'm never destroying the earth that way again. And the second thing we learn is that mankind gets off the ark in the same condition of the people who were flooded. That's almost an identical description of human nature as we had in chapter six when God determines to destroy the earth.

Of course, we can and should connect everything about these burnt offerings to Jesus. Okay, The point of the burnt offerings we know now after the coming of Jesus and him accomplishing his work is that we're actually just being taught that God will accept a substitute. What was soothing about that aroma to God? It wasn't that animals were sacrificed. Hebrews makes so clear that the blood of bulls and goats could never pay the price for sins, but that it was pointing forward to and teaching about the coming Messiah.

What was soothing to God about these burnt offerings was that he was thinking on the work of his son when Noah was offering these offerings. Chapter nine is about God's dealings with Noah and his family once they came off the ark. The chapter starts with these words, so God blessed Noah and his sons. That's a good start. People are coming off the ark, their nature hasn't changed.

What's God's disposition towards Noah and his family? It's a disposition of blessing. God blessed Noah and his sons. And God tells them what he told Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This is the restarting of the human race.

What God told Adam and Eve, He tells Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God also put the fear and dread of humans on the other living creatures. So all the other living creatures would now fear and dread human beings and he gave them to us as a source of food. God also taught Noah and his family that life belongs to him and it is precious. The global flood might have made us conclude that life is cheap, but no.

So you can see all this death in the global flood, all the living creatures, all human beings wiped off the face of the earth except the few that were on the ark and you could draw a conclusion from that life is life is worth nothing gotta just wipe all that out life is cheap no that's not what we should draw from it Sin is terrible is the conclusion we should draw from it. Sin is awful. The wages of sin is death is the right conclusion, not that life is cheap. And so God teaches us That life belongs to him and it is precious so they can eat meat but they are not to eat meat with the blood in it because the life is in the blood the blood is to be poured out on the ground and if any person or other living creature kills a human, an image bearer of God, that life is forfeit as punishment for killing an image bearer. So human beings are different than the other creatures.

Even the other creatures, their lives, life belongs to God and it's precious too, but human beings are in a completely different category as image bearers and if I kill another human being then my life is forfeit as punishment for killing an image bearer. This is actually a needed and powerful deterrent against murder. The earth was filled with violence before the flood and human nature hasn't changed. It's gonna be filled with violence again. And So there is the need for a powerful deterrent against murder.

So by God saying this, by God saying, if you kill an image bearer, you forfeit your life, God is actually protecting human life. The more we hold to that, the less murder we'll have. I'll say that to you, U.S. Citizens. The more we hold to what God says here, the less murder we'll have in our culture.

Then God entered into an unconditional covenant with Noah and his descendants. That's us. You're a descendant of Noah. I'm a descendant of Noah. So God entered into an unconditional covenant with you.

You weren't born yet. You couldn't meet any preconditions and There are no preconditions. God just made it as a promise to the human race that he would never again destroy the world through a global flood with actually every living creature this covenant is. God gave us a sign, the rainbow in the clouds, so that every time it clouds up and it looks like the heavens, the windows of heaven are going to be opened again and it starts pouring down rain and the waters start rising that we'll know that God remembers His promise. He gives us the rainbow and the clouds.

Why did God enter into this covenant? Because mankind had finally gotten our act together and no longer deserves to be wiped off the face of the earth. Nope, that's not the reason why God entered into this covenant. We hadn't gotten our act together at that time, and we haven't gotten our act together at this time. It's not that we no longer deserve to be wiped off the face of the earth.

No, it's because God delights in mercy. That's why He made this covenant. With no preconditions, We didn't have to do anything to earn not being wiped off the face of the earth by a global flood. It's simply because God delights in mercy. Finally, last week we had a message titled, Three Very Different Moments.

And this was years after coming off the ark so we we know it has to be because Ham has had a son named Canaan and they've been farming he planted a vineyard the vineyard came to maturity He made wine so this is a good amount of time after coming off the ark moment number one was Noah and the wine He planted a vineyard Harvested grapes made wine drank too much of it Lost his senses and we find him naked in the tent. Moment number two was Ham, his son Ham, his eyes and his mouth. He comes into that tent And instead of turning right back around and leaving, he takes in the scene. And then he opens his mouth and reports, brings a report of one of the worst moments in his dad's life to his brothers, dishonoring his father. Moment number three was Shem and Japheth, the other two brothers, and this wonderful garment.

I put one corner over it over my shoulder, you put the other corner over your shoulder and we back in and we turn our heads away because we don't want to take in the same, we don't want to have any memory of one of the worst moments of our dad's life. We want to honor him just by covering him up. They let lover love cover sin literally. When Peter says let love cover a multitude of sins, he wasn't actually speaking literally, but they literally do it here. They literally cover up their father in his condition of shame.

Then there was this prophetic aftermath where Noah prophesied things about Canaan, the son of Ham, not Ham, Canaan his son, and Shem and Japheth, that may very well have played out in the lives of these individual men in ways not recorded in Scripture, but we can't prove it because it wasn't recorded in Scripture, but has definitely played out in the nations that came from them. So you can look at this prophetic aftermath and say the descendants of Shem, Abraham is one of them, and then David, and then Jesus. And so this is fulfilled. And the descendants of Canaan became this mighty nation that was in the promised land and was conquered and subjugated by the descendants of Shem and then Abraham. And so this has come to pass in the history of nations.

All right. The big takeaways, let me give you five. Five big takeaways. Number one, the flood shows us what happens if God leaves us alone to follow our own inclinations. The flood shows us what happens if God leaves us alone to follow our own inclinations.

What would happen to you if God didn't enter your life proactively, uninvited, entered your life to work in your life, if He just left you alone, left you with your own natural inclinations to just do what you wanted to do. This teaches us that. Let's do an experiment. What happens if God just lets us go our own way? Oh wait, this experiment has already played out.

It played out before us in the last four chapters. Mankind, we will plunge ourselves into destruction without exception unless we find grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God decides to enter into all that sin and rebellion and say, you're mine. Why? Because you did something to deserve it?

No, because I want to make my name great in the earth. I want to reveal myself to people and show that I'm a God of grace. That's number one. Number two. The flood shows us how bad our sin is.

God's hatred of sin on display at the flood is an accurate assessment of how bad our sin is. Quoted it in the call to worship, Psalm 27 10. The Lord sat enthroned at the flood and the Lord sits as king forever. God was sitting enthroned at the flood rendering a judgment on what he thinks about sin. If you want to know what God thinks about sin, you look at this flood history.

If you want to know what God thinks about sin, you look at the cross and His anger poured out on His Son at the cross. Yes, the earth was filled with violence, but many were just living carelessly. Please don't miss this point. We can read chapter 6, the earth is filled with violence, and we see this description of human nature and we think, well, everyone was as bad as they could be. That's not actually what Jesus says.

I'm going to quote Luke 17 in a minute, but for now, let me just say that Jesus' assessment of the time of the flood was many people, maybe most people, were simply living carelessly. They were eating, they were drinking, They were marrying and being given in marriage, just doing normal things, but godlessly. Did you know just doing normal acceptable things godlessly, that God hates that, that the cross would be required by just that if no one ever murdered anyone, if no one ever actually committed physical adultery just for you living carelessly and godlessly, the cross would be required to reconcile you to God. We're so slow to think this, but that is the truth of scripture and it's so helpful that Jesus doesn't say, as in the days of Noah they were killing each other and having adultery and committing adultery. He says, no, he says as in the days of Noah they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, and then the flood came and destroyed them all.

That's number two, the flood shows us how bad our sin is God's hatred of sin on display in the flood is an accurate Assessment of how bad our sin is we get so comfortable with it that we play patty cake with sin Just watch the flood unfold in these four chapters and know that God doesn't play patty cake with sin. He hates it and He's right to hate it. Who's right? Us and our insensitivity to sin, it just feels like no big deal, or God who says somebody dies for that even careless godless living number three let me answer that question God is right we are wrong number three Noah's great achievement was that he built an ark. No.

It was righteous in his generation. No. Noah's great achievement was that he attained to the righteousness that is by faith. All would be for naught in Noah's life if this wasn't true of Noah. Hebrews 11 verse 7.

Hebrews 11 verse 7. By faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen, things maybe decades into the future, by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Noah's claim to fame is that he became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. You can know for sure that you'll see Noah in heaven if you get there. He's there. He's gone ahead of you.

Question is, will that be the mark of your life? It's out of question with Noah. The verdict has been rendered by the author of Hebrews. Noah became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. He was not a self-righteous man, righteousness of his own.

He heard God, he believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, just like Abraham. Noah was far, far from being a perfect man. The best of men are men at best. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Noah believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Number four.

This history in the physical realm. So we've been studying a history in the physical realm. A real physical deluge of water, a flood on a real earth that we stand on and still experience today, this history in the physical realm exists in large part to prove what is true in the spiritual realm. Meaning, why do we even have the account of the flood? In large part, it's to prove something that's true in the spiritual realm which is that God and God alone can save.

If God didn't save Noah and his family and the other inhabitants on the ark, no one would have been saved. Only God could have saved and only God saved there and when God saves he saves to the uttermost Listen to Luke 17. I just referenced it but I'll quote it now Luke 17 verses 26 and 27 Jesus says and as it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. So he's saying, as it was in those days in the past, So it will be in these days in the future. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Jesus is saying that this global flood is a type. What is a type? A type is something that God brings about to point forward to and to teach about a greater reality. So the type is real but it's a teaching tool to teach about something that's even greater, to point forward to something that's greater that will happen in the future and to teach about it. And in that type Jesus is the ark.

There's a judgment on sin. The wages of sin is paid out, which is death. Death is paid out. But there's a place where you can be safe. You can run to it and be safe, and Jesus is that.

The global flood is a type, something that points forward to and teaches about the greater reality. The greater reality is when Jesus is going to come back and there's a final judgment and the safe place, the only safe place to be will be in Jesus Christ by faith. So why is the type so important? Meaning why do we even need a type? Because God's patience is the norm God's patience is the norm Are you are you dead No, you're not dead.

Have you sinned? Yes. Did you deserve to die for your sin? It is cosmic treason. R.C.

Sproul called it cosmic treason, maybe others did before him. But it's helpful to think of sin that way. It is treason against the God who gave you your life. Disobedience to this God is treason against him, and you deserve death for that. Well, I've sinned so many times.

I've lived in rebellion in so many ways to this God, and yet I'm still alive. I haven't been paid my wages for my sins. Why is that? Because the patience of God is the norm. And that can lull you into thinking, he's never going to deal with sin.

And so we need this type to point forward to and to teach about what is coming. It is appointed for man once to die. And then the judgment, if we didn't have these types, we'd think, God's never going to deal with sin. He either doesn't see or he doesn't care. Neither of those things is true.

He does see and he does care and you can misinterpret his long suffering as if sin is never going to be dealt with. But the flood comes and screams, God is going to deal with sin. We need those types. Number five, this demonstrates the power of what God is pleased to do through prompt careful obedience. These four chapters demonstrate the power of what God is pleased to do through prompt, careful obedience.

We should ask ourselves, what might God be pleased to do in us and through us if we give ourselves to prompt, careful obedience and just dream about what God might be pleased to do if we get infinitely more serious about obeying fast and obeying carefully. He's often pleased to do earth-shaking things through a people who give themselves to prompt careful obedience. Let's pray. God, thank you for revealing yourself to us through these four chapters. Thank you for showing us what you're like and how You interact with your image bearers through this and ways that help us so much.

I pray that this would continue to benefit us for a long time into the future. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.