Sin Don’t Float (Genesis 7:1-24)
Sin Don’t Float
Genesis 7:1-24
January 12, 2014
Last week we talked about the inevitable response to sin.
We asked the question: “Where did you think this was headed?”
Ever since that moment in the garden when Eve took the fruit
And gave some to her husband Adam,
This was the only way the story could end.
Judgment has always been God’s only means of dealing with sin.
And as we pointed out last week,
Even the cross was an act of divine judgment.
Surely the cross is our means of redemption and atonement, but only because Jesus Christ bore the full force of God’s wrath and judgment.
• That is why the sky went dark
• That is why Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
• That is why Isaiah 53:10 says:
Isaiah 53:10a “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering…”
From the time of the first sin judgment was inevitable.
Sure we saw consequences of sin right away.
• Adam and Eve left the garden…
• We saw that every man was dying…
• We saw that man was lamenting the curse on the ground…
Yes sin brought consequences, but that is the natural effect of sin.
But God still had to deal with it.
And for that, judgment has always been the only answer.
Last week we saw that sin was spreading on this earth in rapid fashion.
Demonic activity was at an all-time high.
As the sons of God were marrying the daughters of men
And creating some strange kind of demonic human race.
A race which was terribly violent and fierce and consumed with sin.
As God looked at the earth His evaluation was sobering:
Genesis 6:5 “Then the LORD 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.”
All humanity wanted sin.
And this reality drove God to a drastic decision.
Genesis 6:6-7 “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD 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.”
• God was fed up with humanity.
• God was grieved with sinners.
• And the sin of humanity pushed God to judgment.
He was so grieved with sin
That He determined it was time to destroy all sinners.
And in case you missed it last week, let me remind you that the problem with sin is not just that it brings negative consequences into your life.
It does do that:
• Adam and Eve left the garden
• Cain killed Abel
• The curse made farming miserable
But the problem with sin is not negative consequences,
The problem with sin is that it grieves God.
Sin drives God to judgment – that is the problem with sin.
Otherwise you might just decide if the sin you desired
Was worth the consequence.
People do that all the time.
They stay clear of murder or rape or robbery
Because the consequences are too severe.
But gossip and lust and cheating are ok, because even if you are caught,
Chances are the consequences won’t be that severe.
But that is to misunderstand the danger of sin.
Sin isn’t just about the consequences in this life.
Sin is about the consequences for eternity.
The wages of sin is death.
God judges sin – all sin – even small sin – even secret sin
And that reality is what we saw last week.
God determined to blot out all humanity on the earth.
With one exception:
Genesis 6:8-9 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”
There was one man on planet earth that was pleasing to God,
And because of this God had mercy on Noah
And revealed His coming plan of judgment to him.
Noah was commanded to build an ark to carry him through the judgment
And verse 22 of that chapter said that is precisely what Noah did.
God is fed up with sin and is about to judge the world,
And Noah is charged with the task of building an ark
For the salvation of himself and his family.
That is where we left off last week.
This morning the story moves forward, and what we see here
Is perhaps the most drastic event in all of Scripture.
Honestly, this event makes Sodom and Gomorrah look mild.
Here we have the first ever global killer.
THE POINT?
(as if we didn’t know by now)
The consequences of sin is severe.
It brings death and it brings judgment.
RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ESSENTIAL FOR SURVIVAL
There are four points I want us to see in this chapter.
#1 THE EXAMINATION
Genesis 7:1
“Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household”
You probably should recognize that 120 years passed
Between Genesis 6:22 and Genesis 7:1
• 120 years of labor for Noah who built the ark of God.
• 120 years of preaching for Noah who was a preacher of righteousness.
• 120 years of scorn endured by Noah who was most certainly mocked.
The Bible silently passes over what that 120 years must have been like.
But by the time we get to chapter 7 the ark is completed
And God commands Noah to enter it.
And please notice why:
“for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.”
Please know that this is NOT just some insignificant statement
That Moses is throwing in the story.
If Moses would skip the entire 120 years of boat building and all that that entailed then you should know Moses is not one to throw in useless information.
Moses is driving home his second theological point.
In effect Moses is beginning to shape his gospel message.
We saw that sin brings judgment,
Now we are learning that righteousness brings salvation.
The only reason that Noah was able to be saved from the judgment
Is because he possessed something that the rest of the world did not.
Noah was “righteous”
It is also important to grasp the parameters that God said,
That Noah was “righteous before Me”
You should know that that is the only place it counts.
• It doesn’t matter if I declare you righteous
• It doesn’t matter if you declare you righteous
• It doesn’t matter if society declares you righteous
God is the assayer of righteousness.
God is the One who must be pleased.
Noah’s righteousness passed God’s test.
And that poses for us a very important question.
WHY?
What was it about Noah’s righteousness that pleased God?
TURN TO: HEBREWS 11
You are familiar with Hebrews 11.
Often referred to as “The Faith Chapter” or “The Hall of Faith” or “The Faith Hall of Fame”
It is such an important chapter in the pages of Scripture.
Now it is important to gain context of all things
So you must know the writer is writing to a group of Jews
Who are contemplating defecting from Jesus.
Following Christ has been so hard that they are contemplating returning to Judaism and leaving Christ behind.
The writer is seriously begging them not to do so,
And reminding them of the necessity of faith.
READ HEBREWS 10:32-39
He is calling them to live by faith, and then he reveals what faith is.
READ HEBREWS 11:1-2
So many people can quote Hebrews 11:1,
And yet very few are even aware that verse 2 exists at all.
“For by it the men of old gained approval.”
How many times someone has asked
How people were saved in the Old Testament.
Well there is your answer.
They were saved the same way you are, by grace through faith.
They believed in the One who was to come, we believe in the One who came.
And if you follow the narrative of chapter 11
You see the faith of those who were saved.
(VERSE 4) Abel shows us the worship of faith
(VERSE 5) Enoch shows us the walk of faith
And then we come down to VERSE 7.
Where Noah shows us the work of faith.
“By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in 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.”
Noah was “warned by God about things not yet seen”
(namely a flood)
And when God warned Noah, Noah responded in “reverence”
That is to say Noah responded in fear or submission to God
What did he do?
He “prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world”
Don’t think lightly of this statement.
James taught us that faith without works is dead.
• We don’t work to get saved
• We don’t work to stay saved
• But if we don’t work then we don’t have faith
I don’t know a person in this room
That would want to put their works up against Noah’s.
120 years of boat building to prepare for a flood he couldn’t fathom
What must it have felt like to chop down that first gopher tree?
We saw the measurements of the ark … just to put it in perspective:
The ark was approximately 450 feet long and 75 feet wide
(That is 1 ½ times the length and width of a regular football field)
It was four stories high.
And with three decks it had about 100,000 square feet of living space.
And Noah was supposed to build it.
• No power tools
• No lumber yards
• No “how to” manuals
• No models to look at
• And no help beyond his sons
I don’t think there is any doubt that when God told Noah
There was going to be a flood that Noah believed him.
The ark is proof of that.
Not only that, but through his building Noah “condemned the world.”
2 Peter 2:5 says that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness”
We live in a day of modern marvels.
• We have the Hoover Dam
• We have the Statue of Liberty
• We have Mount Rushmore
But even today if someone decided to build a boat that big because of a coming flood, it would get attention.
I would imagine Noah had visitors every day.
And what did he do?
He preached to them.
How successful was he in his preaching?
None of them entered the ark with him.
But Noah pressed on.
One task that took 120 years and Noah continued.
And what was the outcome of this reverent obedience?
What was the outcome of this faith?
Noah “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Noah was not saved by works.
Noah was saved by grace through faith.
Just as we will see with Abraham;
Noah believed God and righteousness was given to him.
Moses’ point in Genesis 7 is unmistakable.
The children of Israel must see that sin kills but faith saves
Because through faith God grants righteousness.
Noah is the first in Genesis to be called righteous.
And that is because Moses is using him to reveal the answer to sin.
Noah had what might be called “Unsinkable Faith”
And that is all that God was looking for.
Because Noah was the only one who had it,
Noah was the only one who was saved.
The Examination
#2 THE EXPECTATION
Genesis 7:2-5
Simply put, here we see the next command for Noah.
The flood is now 7 days away.
Mankind is about to be blotted out.
And God does something here that is characteristic of His nature.
God preserves a remnant.
(2-3) “You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.”
No, those animals were not righteous
Neither were Noah’s children
God was clear when He said, “you alone I have seen to be righteous”
Here we have the mercy of God to save a remnant.
Psalms 103:6-14 “The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
We have here that kind of mercy being demonstrated.
Noah alone was righteous, but many others were being saved.
Incidentally, for the first time we also have God distinguishing
Between the “clean” and the “unclean”.
These would have been very important points to the children of Israel.
And through this remnant God was going to
“keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.”
Even in His great judgment, there is mercy.
And as we would expect:
(5) “Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.”
There again is the obedient faith of Noah.
No, building the ark from scratch was no small chore.
But I don’t suppose gathering all the animals was easy either.
But Noah did it.
Noah was a man who believed God and he did what God said,
And through his obedience God preserved a remnant.
The Examination, The Expectation
#3 THE ENTRANCE
Genesis 7:6-16
Again, it seems like a simple point,
But one that is important to our salvation.
In verse 1 God told Noah to enter the ark,
And in verse 7 that is precisely what he did.
And it wasn’t hard to get the animals to enter,
Verses 11 and 12 took care of that.
(11-12) “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.”
When the waters rose, the animals entered.
And I promise you this was no minor deal.
• Suppose God warns of judgment…
• Suppose an ark is built…
• Suppose you are standing outside the ark…
• Suppose the judgment comes…
BUT YOU DON’T ENTER THE ARK
The result? No salvation
• Being near the ark was good, but that wouldn’t save
• Working on the ark was good, but that wouldn’t save
• Being an acquaintance of Noah’s was good, but that wouldn’t save
YOU HAD TO ENTER THE ARK
Salvation is offered, mercy is available, but you must in fact accept it.
God warned, God commanded, God revealed, God called, God drew,
BUT MAN STILL HAD TO DECIDE TO ENTER.
I love the sovereignty of God in regard to salvation.
• I love that He foreknows us
• I love that He chose us
• I love that He elects us
• I love that He predestines us
• I love that He draws us
• I love that He saves us
But don’t swing so far on that pendulum
That you fail to see that man still has a responsibility.
Man must enter!
Now there is a message the children of Israel
Would have done good to heed.
That is the one thing they failed to do.
God delivered, God chose, God saved, God called, God drew
And then when Israel came to the border of the Promised Land,
They would not enter.
Hebrews 4:1-2 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
How many people today hang around the circle of Christianity?
• They know all about Jesus (the ark)
• They know all about the coming judgment
• They associate with God’s people
But for whatever reason still refuse to enter the ark.
Noah entered – His family entered – The animals entered
(16) “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.”
Then God closed the door.
God sealed the deal.
God warns, God calls, God saves, and God seals
The mercy of God is available, but you must receive it.
You must confess Jesus as Lord
You must enter the ark of salvation
And then the dark hour
#4 THE EXECUTION
Genesis 7:17-24
Well here it is:
(17) “Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.”
Just like God said.
And then a verse I’m sure Noah was pleased to find:
(18) “The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.”
“and the ark floated”
Don’t think there weren’t some high fives going on inside the ark,
When that thing stayed on top of the water.
The salvation God had ordained for Noah was a sure salvation.
And the water continued to rise so that it is said to have “prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered”
Since Everest is 29,029 feet, that means the water was
At least 29,050 feet above sea level.
The elevation of Spur is about 2300 feet.
That means the place where you are sitting
Was once 26,750 feet under water.
(21-23) “All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.”
All of humanity died
It was a global judgment
It was the inevitable end of sinners
And we learned that sin don’t float
But it does burn – as we will see in the next judgment
And here is the cold hard reality.
If you reject salvation, then judgment is the only option.
Hebrews 2:3 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,”
Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
And that is such a horrific reality.
• For 120 years Noah preached righteousness to those around him.
• For 120 years God was patiently waiting and pleading with sinners.
• God was striving with sinners.
1 Peter 3:20 “who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”
And yet none of them entered the ark with Noah.
• They loved their sin
• They chose their sin
And even when the floods came,
They would rather die than accept salvation ON GOD’S TERMS.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
God’s terms are repentance and faith,
And the people of Noah’s day chose judgment over repentance.
I know it sounds unbelievable, but people do it still today
And they will do it still to the end.
Matthew 24:37-39 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
FRIEND LISTEN TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MOSES.
• Sin is terrible and judgment is inevitable
• The only thing that saves man from judgment is righteousness.
You must have it.
You must repent and turn to Christ, for only in Christ
Is that required righteousness available.
Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
The righteousness God requires is available to you,
And there is only one way to get it.
You obtain righteousness by faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
• You believe God about the judgment
• You believe God about the ark (which is Jesus)
• And you leave your sin and enter that ark
When you place your faith in Christ,
God credits you with His perfect righteousness
And you will be saved from His coming wrath.
But failure to obtain that righteousness means certain judgment.
God did it once, He will do it again.
• Now He is patiently waiting, just as He did in the days of Noah.
• Now He is persistently calling, just as He did in the days of Noah.
• Now He is striving with your soul, just as He did in the days of Noah.
Respond to Him.
Repent of sin, trust in Christ, receive His righteousness
And be saved from the coming judgment.
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”
