Today, we will walk through Genesis 6-9, the account of Noah and the flood – however, in order for us to understand Genesis 6-9 and the account of Noah, we have to take a few minutes to unpack what happened from Genesis 3 to Genesis 6 – Beginning in Genesis 3, we see the effects of sin on mankind – Sin entered through an individual in Genesis 3, was passed on to a family as evidenced in Genesis 4, and infects society through bloodline as we see in the genealogy in Genesis 5

If you can recall the COVID-19 pandemic, remember it started in a small region of the world, Wuhan, China, in January 2020 and eventually spread all over the world, infecting close to 600 million people and killing around 6 million – What a sobering picture of SIN, how it starts small, and spreads like wildfire over the ENITRE GLOBE

Side note: Genesis 6:1-4, much talked about text about “sons of god” who married the “daughters of men” and through that union were born the Nephilim, who are written about in v4 as “heroes of old, men of renown” – total side issue, only spend a little time here – There is clearly more to this text than we can understand – scholars tend to classify these “sons” as either angels or rulers of the lands who saw themselves as gods – the fact that more isn’t written about them tells us that the original readers understood who they were, so little explanation was needed – early Mesopotamian literature would favor “gods” as rulers who saw themselves as half-god, half-man, which makes more sense than angels mating with humans, so, it is what I lean toward – Whatever you believe about them, most important thing we see in those verses is V3: God is done with sin – He is now limiting the lifespan of humankind because of SIN

Another interesting finding in Genesis 6-9 is that we see once again a cycle, or retelling of the narrative we have already seen – remember the contrast of Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel? Now we see a Re-creation story, where water, or chaos is over the earth – Genesis 1:2, ruach, or Spirit, breath, wind – Genesis 3:8, “cool” of the day is the word ruach or wind – Genesis 6:3, Spirit is sustainer of life, Genesis 6:17, ruach, or breath of life – Genesis 7:22, Ruach, breath of life - Genesis 8:1, ruach, just like in Genesis 1:2, moving over water, then land appears, followed by man and animals re-inabiting the earth and told to be fruitful and multiply – Most important thing to see about this cycle are two things: Justice of God and grace of God – God must judge sin, but his grace is also on full display in that he preserved life to recreate what he started – with this as backdrop, let’s see what we can learn from life of Noah -

Genesis 6:5-7 – v5 says, “every inclination of the heart was evil all the time.” – the infection was deep – and here are some context clues that God is not vengeful – “deeply troubled” – he is sad, not angry – but the word “regret” in Hebrew is used in context here as more of an accounting term – he is balancing the ledger, and SIN needs to be brought to account because the world is out of balance – enter Noah

V8 – Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord – in a landscape that was incredibly dark, Noah was a light – reminds me of Matt 5:16 – what was it about Noah that stood out?

V9 – righteous man, blameless among people of his time, WALKED FAITHFULLY W GOD – Noah sought righteousness , had a good reputation with people, but, most importantly, he WALKED W GOD – so important to note: if you want to hear God’s voice, it will be heard when you are in close proximity to him- Often hear people frustrated about not being able to hear God’s voice – digging deeper, not spending time with him – not walking faithfully w God – if you want to hear God, you have to walk faithfully –

Hebrews 11:7- three things we see about Noah:
a. Noah heard and responded to God.
b. Noah rebuked the world through a counter-cultural life
c. Noah became an heir, or banner, of God’s righteousness

Let’s look at these three things in the passage:
a. Noah heard and responded to God.
V13 – God confides in Noah – because Noah was living in close proximity to God, God told him about his view of earth and his plan to destroy it

V14 – Build an ark – just to put this in perspective, Noah had likely never seen a boat or know what it was – he didn’t live near an ocean, not in a long line of ship builders – so, the thought of building a boat in a desert was bizarre, and even crazier, a boat that was more than a football field long and 4 stories high, was likely a little overwhelming to Noah - Think about mindset of Noah – he had to rationalize in his mind the massive undertaking of building massive structure with no real knowledge of how to do it – made no sense with what was in front of him – dry land and a bunch of trees – if Noah only responded to what he could see, he would’ve died with the rest of humanity – but Noah, walking in close proximity with God, believed what was unseen

V22 – Noah did EVERYTHING as God commanded him – Walking in close proximity, heard and OBEYED – not enough to simply hear from God – have to do it –James 1:22 – Don’t merely listen, Do it!

Q: What “ARK” is God asking you to build? E210 - Are you living in close enough proximity for God to confide in you?

b. Noah rebuked the world through his counter-cultural life. It’s an interesting choice of words from the writer of Hebrews – paints picture of Noah as a preacher – a “turn or burn” kind of evangelist – Genesis never says he spoke to anyone during his ark building days – we know he was about 500 when he started and 600 when the flood came – so, 120 years spent building an ark – what happened during that 120 years?

2 Peter 2:5 – “Noah, a preacher of righteousness…” – what was Noah’s message? Judgment is coming – how did he preach? By building an ark – imagine the scene for 100 years, all of the hired help that assisted with he and his 3 sons – “Now, why are you building this again?”

Noah, with every tree chopped down was preaching to the world – St. Augustine – “Preach the gospel, and if necessary use words”- imagine this 4-story monstrosity you could see for miles around – judgment is coming – everyone could see it – topic of great conversation around dinner table – people prob coming from miles around to watch – fascinating

Light is a rebuke to darkness – why? b/c of the contrast- Is your life a rebuke to the world? What are you building that stands in contrast to the world? - What does a counter-cultural life look like? Jesus – FOS – where we spend our time, store our treasures, how we love those who don’t look, act, agree w us – our house should look different – a little crazy, impractical – almost as if we know something they don’t –

From time it started raining, flooded for 150 days, water receded for 150 days – in ark for a year – sure Noah got nervous many times – Do I trust God? When all I can see is water, will he make good on his promise?
Genesis 8:1 – God remembered Noah – middle of the flood, middle of chaos, not forgotten -assignment didn’t change, opinion didn’t change – COMPLETES what he starts – Phil1:6

c. Noah became heir of God’s righteousness.
V18 – “I will establish my covenant w you…” The promise of God to covenant with his people – pre-ark
Genesis 9:9 – “I will establish my covenant w you…” – post-ark – God’s promise of covenant was fulfilled through Noah’s obedience – Noah believed what he couldn’t see, what wasn’t clearly in front of him, moved in faith, and the result was LIFE

1 Peter 2 – we are in the royal bloodline, heirs of righteousness b/c of Jesus – Romans 8:17 – joint heirs - God gave Noah a lifeline, an ark, to preserve the future for you and me – God was engineering history from the future – God has always had a goal in mind, and it is LIFE – It is said if you want to understand Bible, look for Jesus. He is on every page – Ark beautiful picture of Jesus - carried all who believed to safety and LIFE

CLOSING THOUGHTS/QUESTIONS:
1. Are you living in close proximity to hear and respond to God’s call?
2. As a follower of Jesus, does your life stand in contrast to the world?
3. How are you living as an heir to the throne in the Kingdom of God?
4. What “ARK” is God calling you to build?