Noah\'s Ark

Oct.ober 22, 2006. Noah's Ark. Genesis 6:9-22.

To many people nothing sounds so preposterous as the final judgment. Thus few people actually do anything to prepare for the judgment. They go on living their lives as if the world will continue as it always had. Perhaps even more telling is that they go on living as if they will continue as they always have. Most people rarely take the time to stop and really contemplate the truth that they will one day face a real personal judgment.
As we discovered last week the concept and of judgment is a major theme in Scripture. Scripture teaches that there is coming a time when God will evaluate each individual life by the standard of His word.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; Psalm 1:5

Jesus spoke of the final judgment frequently in His teaching: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. Luke 10:13-14.

Your present lifestyle is probably a good indicator of whether or not you really believe in a final judgment that will be both worldwide and personal.
Noah did however. In fact Noah lived as though a judgment was coming even before God told him it would.

How did God get Noah ready for the coming judgment and in what ways does that apply to us?


God got Noah ready by empowering him to live uprightly before Him. Noah was a righteous man, one who lived according to the word of God as it had been taught him by his father. Like his grandfather Enoch, Noah lived in a corrupt, vile and sinful culture. He also had a choice concerning how he would live out his very long life. Either he would join his contemporaries and follow their perversions or he would consciously walk before God in righteousness. Interestingly Noah appears to have lived this way even before he knew of the judgment to come.

We strive to live according to the right standard of Scripture. To live differently is to proclaim that we’re not taking God seriously.

That righteousness is declared in the Ten commandments and embodied in the life of Jesus Christ. We are to strive to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength and all our soul. We are to strive to love our neighbor like we love ourselves. We should expect an ongoing struggle to live righteously.
We have a constant battle against our own sinful nature, the world around us and satan. Note that of all the things that could be said of Noah the Scriptures chose to focus on his character.

Noah lived blamelessly before the Lord. He gave himself wholeheartedly and completely to the Lord and His service. Every area of his life was yielded to his Lord. Noah didn’t compartmentalize his life. He wasn’t one way at home, another way at church and then completely different at work. (what might happen if we checked out your myspace page after church)
Noah’s life stood out and apart from his contemporaries on purpose. Though Noah didn’t speak a different language, wear a different kind of clothing or eat different food there was something tangibly different about him and the way he lived.
Noah’s life reflected what Peter wrote concerning those who know that the world is coming to and end and judgment is certain.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 2:10-13.

Do our lives stand out and apart from our contemporaries? Do our lives reflect our belief that judgment is certain?

God prepared Noah for the coming judgment explaining what was going to happen. Noah is warned about the judgment to come. He’s told of the reason for judgment, the form of the judgment and the way to escape the judgment. It doesn’t seem he’s told of the exact time of the judgment.
The judgment will happen because of man’s corruption and willful ignorance of His Person, worship, will, agenda and salvation. Mankind wanted to enjoy God’s world apart from obeying His righteous commands. People went about their business as if the world would remain forever. They lived without acknowledging God or His anger against their sinful rebellion.

The term refers to something being spoiled, going to ruin. Something that is being marred and destroyed. The word presupposes that something was good, proper and right at one time but has now fallen into ruin and disrepair.
Corruption infiltrated every area of society including politics, marriage and family, the knowledge of God and man’s view of himself. That this corruption was deep, universal, destructive is seen by how many times the term appears in the account of man before the flood. Gen. 6:11-12.

Now the world carried on with their daily activities amidst this corruption willfully ignoring God’s warnings of judgment. We know these warnings were given by Enoch and Noah himself.
Jesus said that the world will have the same attitude leading up to the final judgment.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man Mt. 24:38-39.

Notice that Jesus says that people were carrying on with the daily activities of life right up until Noah entered the ark.

The form of judgment would be a world-wide deluge. This may have been something that was completely foreign to people in the ancient world. (see Gen. 2:5-6) It could be that they simply couldn’t conceive of water falling from the sky let alone so much water that it would rise above their homes and land. Thus anyone who would escape from the flood would have to believe by faith that God was going to do something that had never been done before. Though the type of judgment will differ both occur at the word of the Lord.

The way of escape would be an ark. Noah was commanded to build an ark that would house him, his family and all the animals the Lord needed to preserve. I have to say all because the ark wouldn’t be needed to preserve sea life. Though God would execute His righteous judgment on those who rebelled against Him, He would graciously save Noah and his family.

Noah’s salvation was certain because God made a covenant with him. That is the Lord made a solemn promise to save Noah from the destruction of the flood through the provision of the ark.

Since a final judgment is certain for this world God has prepared His people in the same ways He prepared Noah.
The ongoing corruption of our nature and world testify to the truthfulness of God’s word and the rightness of God’s coming judgment. Though we’ve grown more technologically sophisticated we’re still perverse, selfish and filled with violence.
The Lord has warned us about judgment and even told us the manner of judgment. Like the world of Noah’s time it is only those who believe God’s word regarding judgment who will believe in and embrace His means of salvation.
Of course we know that Jesus Christ is the means of salvation from that judgment. All those and only those who are in union with Christ will escape from the certain judgment to come. We are absolutely sure of this because the cross of Christ is the guarantee of God’s covenant with His people. God has made a solemn bond to save those who believe in Christ and will not renege on His covenant.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance