I invite you to turn with me in the scriptures. First, 2 Peter 3. Our scripture reading first will come from 2 Peter 3. There's many places in the New Testament that reflect on the account of Noah and what took place during that time in that world that once existed before the flood. And so I want to read with you this one portion from 2 Peter 3, verses 1 through 9. And then we'll flip over to Genesis 6. So first now, beloved, hear the reading of God's Word from 2 Peter 3. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be of mindful of the words that were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first. that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this, they willfully forget that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are now reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come. to repentance. If you would now please turn with me to Genesis chapter 6. We begin reading in verse 9 through verse 22. Last time we considered the first part of Genesis 6 which showed how the wickedness of man began to increase on the face of the earth and God determined to destroy the earth but in the midst of His determination to destroy the earth He found favor and grace with Noah. We read that in verse eight and we consider that last time. And so here now God's word beginning here in Genesis six, verse nine. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God and Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And so God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood and make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above, and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die. but I will establish my covenant with you. And you shall go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And every living thing and of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female, of the birds after their kinds, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind. Two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself, and it shall be food for you and for them. And thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did. And then the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark and you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation, you shall take with you seven, each of every clean animal, a male and his female to each of an animals that are unclean, a male and his female. And also seven of each birds of the year, male and female to keep the species alive on the face of the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights. And I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him." So far the holy and inspired word this afternoon. It's a bit of a tough text, isn't it? Much of the world laughs at and even mocks the story of Noah. How can a man, an unskilled man with his family, create this massive arc? and build it. How can this man bring all of these animals and fit them inside the ark? How can Noah take care of the ark and feed all of these animals and all of these creatures? How can he get rid of all of their waste? And the objections go on and on concerning what people say about Noah and his ark. And the objections that people give to this account are even more serious when they begin to attack God. One atheist by the name of Bill Meyer has his own talk show. He said this of Noah's story. He says, the story of Noah is immoral because it is about a psychotic mass murderer who gets away and his name is God. What kind of tyrant punishes everyone just to get back at the people that he's mad at? This probably reflects many people's feelings about the story of Noah in the world today. Perhaps there's some here who have serious concerns over a text where we see God bringing such a severe judgment upon the earth. And we can't focus on all of the objections given to the account of Noah, nor do we wanna do that in a sermon. If you wanna talk about any objections or thoughts that you have with Noah and the Ark, I am so happy to talk with you about it. Talk with me after the service or send me an email. But I hope that we can consider in this text the character of God and the justice of God that he does show and learn why it is that he brings such a severe judgment. And I want to consider with you as we look at this text, not only the righteous judgment of God, but also the grace of God and the display of God's mercy and kindness that he shows to a world that frankly does not deserve it at all. And there's two main things I want to think about here in this text with you. In that first section, verses nine through 13, we really see the character of Noah and the corruption of the world. Those are the two main things that stand out from that first section, the character of Noah and the corruption of the earth. In that second section, we see God's covenant with Noah and his call, God's call for Noah to build the ark. God's covenant with Noah and the call to build. So if you look with me first, we're gonna consider the first section, the character of Noah and the corruption of the earth in verses nine through 13. You notice there's that title in verse nine. This is the genealogy of Noah. This is a title in Genesis that shows that we're in a new section. Remember, the English Bibles that we have in the chapters that we read, chapters six and seven, those aren't original to the Hebrew Bible. They didn't have those when the Bible was written. But Moses does have titles for the sections in the book of Genesis. And these section titles are labeled in the Hebrew, toledot, and it's translated here in the English, genealogy. So this is the Toledot of Noah, the genealogy of Noah. And these titles in Genesis are kind of like the titles in Psalms. You know, when you're reading through the Psalms and you see, of David, or when David was in the wilderness, it provides a context of who that Psalm is talking about and what the setting is. And that's what these Toledots, these section titles, do. And here we're focusing in. God is showing us that we're transitioning now to think about Noah and his family and the purposes that God had for him in that day. And the first thing we see about Noah is his character. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man. He was perfect in his generation. And Noah walked with God. And if you look at chapter seven, verse one, we learn more about his character. The Lord says, because I have seen that you are righteous, you and your family come into the ark. Noah is also a righteous man. To be righteous doesn't always refer to being those who are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's one reference point when we think about righteousness in scripture. But righteousness can also mean someone who walks according to God's moral law. And that's what's in view here. Noah is the kind of guy who walks in the law of God. He's obedient to God's word. If you think of Psalm 1, he doesn't walk in the way of the wicked and stand in the way of sinners. He's a righteous man. He follows the Lord. He's also just, the text says in verse 9. He's a just man. Literally, that word is blameless. It's the kind of word used of the sacrifices that God required from his people Israel. They must be blameless, without blemish. And Noah was the kind of guy who didn't entertain sin in his life. He didn't wander off the path and be corrupted by the world that was falling apart. He was a just man. He was blameless. He was righteous. And of course, this ability to be righteous and blameless in God's sight wasn't wrought in Noah himself. Remember verse eight from last time. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Ultimately, the reason why Noah shows forth the fruits of righteousness and of blamelessness in his life is because he's a recipient of sovereign grace. God sought Noah out first and Noah found the forgiveness of his sins in Jesus Christ and the righteousness that does come from outside of himself in Jesus Christ. That's what the book of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11, Noah lived by faith in God. But nevertheless, this text is highlighting for us Noah's character. And notice this third description of Noah's character. He's a man who walks with God. This is probably the most intimate description of Noah's character. This phrase of Noah walking with God is a very rare phrase used of people in the scriptures. We didn't consider it together, but in chapter five, we read of this phrase speaking of Enoch. Enoch walked with God and then he was taken up into heaven. What does it mean to walk with the Lord? Sometimes we ask each other as Christians, do we not? How's your walk going? How's your walk with God going? And the book of Hebrews tells us that first and foremost, to walk with God means to live by faith. We're told by faith, Noah believed the promises of God. Noah was a man who believed in what God promised concerning salvation and the promised seed that would come through Eve who would come and reverse the curse. To walk with God also means to walk in loyalty to his promises. It means to be a friend of God. He's not a stranger to God. He walks with God as an intimate friend and fellowship and in closeness to the Lord. And if you notice in this text, Noah walks by himself. He walks alone in this world that's corrupt. There's no other worshipers alongside Noah giving praise to the creator of all things. Noah walks with God alone. And in our day as well, beloved, God calls us to be a people who do walk by faith as well. Children, as you grow up, and if you go off to school, or you go off to university, or you go into a job, and perhaps you find yourself in a setting where no one else follows Jesus, we're reminded, and we can see in this text, that God desires and requires of his people to walk faithfully to him, even if no one's walking next to you. That's what we see with Noah. And notice the kind of world he walked in. Notice the corruption of the world in verse 11. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And so God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. In other words, Moses is saying, do you get the point? It's all corrupt. It's ruined in God's sight. You know, when we're talking to people like that atheist that I quoted at the beginning, or talking to someone about the justice of God and the fairness of God and why he would bring such severe judgments in Scripture, we always have to talk about these things in the context of sin. That's what Moses is doing. In talking about the judgment, in talking about the wrath of God that is coming, he speaks of it in the context of a world that's corrupt. Verse five of chapter six, every intention of the thoughts of man's heart were only evil continually. And notice the world that God comes to destroy with the flood in many ways, beloved, had already destroyed itself with sin. It had the reputation of a world being filled with violence. And the imagery we have here is of a world before God's sight, a world that he originally created good. He has this world right before him and it's spoiled, it's corrupted, it's tainted by sin. And notice, it's not because God created things defective. It's not because some outside force came in and ruined the world. We're told very clearly at the end of verse 12, it was man. It was all flesh who had corrupted their ways on the earth. It's not God's fault, it was man's. God's image bearers who were created to be good and to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth with worship are now killing each other and oppressing each other. And every sphere of human life has been affected by sin. The marriage covenant with Adam and Eve, the family with Cain and Abel, the state with figures like Lamech, the whole world, all of it, every sphere has been tainted by sin. Does it sound familiar to you? Jesus says in Matthew 24 verse 37, it will be like the days of Noah when the son of man comes in his judgment. It will be like the days of Noah when the son of man comes in his judgment. The judgment that came upon this world that once existed in the days of Noah is a picture, beloved, of the world that will go into ruin and that will bring about the very judgment and wrath of God. We're reminded that a storm is indeed coming for our present earth as well, not because, children, God is some big meanie in the sky and delights in just showing justice wherever he can, but because man continues to corrupt themselves before him, continues to provoke his wrath and his anger by their sins. We see in this text and in this chapter that God is a God who is also patient. He's been patient with His creation, even as they spiral down out of control. He's patient in His judgments. We considered that last time. We looked at chapter six. We saw that 120-year window where God was patient, and Noah built the ark, and Noah preached the gospel, and he preached repentance to the world. In 2 Peter 3, which we read, tells us why God is patient towards a world like this and a world like ours. Why is God patient? Why doesn't he just come in judgment? 2 Peter tells us God is patient because he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. I didn't mention it earlier, but part of what it means to walk with God is also to be a witness for God, to be a light for God. Noah was a man who abstained from sin, but he didn't retreat from the world. Noah was a light in this present world. 2 Peter 2 verse 5 says, was a preacher of righteousness. Noah was a herald of righteousness in his day. Noah feared the Lord. He knew the judgment was coming, and he told people about it. He didn't just keep his mouth shut and go work on the ark and do his thing. Noah was active as a witness for the Lord. In 1 Peter 3, we're told that Jesus himself was preaching through Noah by the Holy Spirit and warning the world of the judgment to come. See, Noah is much like Jonah, who is going to come later, or John the Baptist, people who come in redemptive history and call the world to repentance. But how many converts, Noah? How successful was your ministry? Well, from an earthly perspective, it was a complete failure, not one convert. Not one person he could say, ah, the grace of God really got to this person. Part of his ministry was to confirm this present world in his day in unrighteousness. But God's word never returns void. As J.C. Ryle once said, the same heat that melts the wax hardens the clay. God's word always accomplishes the purposes that he sends it for. And for us, too, as Christians, we're called to be witnesses. We're called to be people who share the gospel and also warn people of the judgment that's to come. We don't preach simply judgment. We don't simply hold a sign up that says the wrath of God is coming. But the judgment of God also has to be a part of our presentation of the gospel to people to tell them that a storm is coming. But God has provided shelter and a refuge in Jesus Christ. If you knew that a real storm was coming, a physical storm that was coming to wipe out your city, and you knew it for certain, you would tell people, take shelter, stay inside, go into the basement. There's one atheist by the name of Paul Gillett, who also has a talk show. He talks about a Christian who came up to him and talked with him after one of his shows. And he was so moved by this Christian who came to him, gave him a Bible, and was very open about his faith and saying pretty much that he was trying to evangelize him. And this atheist was very moved by the sincerity and the kindness of this Christian. And this atheist, Paul Gillett, he goes home after this conversation with this Christian and he makes a video reflecting upon this conversation with this Christian. You could find it on YouTube if you typed in his name. But listen to what he says. This atheist, again, says, I don't respect people who don't evangelize or proselytize. If you believe that there is heaven and hell and people could be going to hell, and you think, well, it's not really worth telling them because it would make me feel socially awkward. How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them about it? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it and it was bearing down on you, there's a certain point where I'd tackle you. And this is more serious than that. It's not often that we get application in a sermon from an atheist, but I think he nails it right on the head. Are we willing as Christians to tell people about Jesus, to warn people about the judgment to come and to call them to faith in the refuge that's founded in Jesus Christ? It's available. Today's the day of salvation. As the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon so powerfully put it, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for. That's our calling, beloved. As Christians today, why are we still on earth? Why aren't we just in heaven? The only reason really that God leaves us here primarily is because what we can do here that we can't do in heaven is to share the gospel, to tell people about Jesus and to invite people into that refuge. That's what we see here with Noah, a man in his character who walked with God upright and blameless, sharing the gospel, preaching both the judgment and the refuge in Christ. And we see here God's covenant with Noah as well in verse 18. In the midst of judgment, God makes a covenant with Noah. Notice, I will establish my covenant with you and you shall go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you. This is the first time in the Scriptures that we see this word covenant show up. As Reformed people, we hear a lot about covenant. It's a very important term in Scripture. It's really the backbone of the whole Bible. God's covenant dealings with His people. A simple definition for a covenant is a commitment with divine sanctions. A commitment that has both blessings and curses attached to the commitment. This word is explicitly here for the first time, but the concept is founded earlier in Genesis with God's relationship with Adam. He has a commitment with him, and Adam has held out to him the promise of eternal life, of everlasting life, with the tree of life in the midst of the garden. And if he is faithful to God, he will be confirmed in righteousness. But we hear the judgment if he does not obey the Lord, that in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die. And so we see this covenant relationship already there. And here in our text in verse 18, this is a personal covenant with Noah and his family that arises out of God's grace. Again, remember verse eight, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is essentially here a covenant of safekeeping and the promise attached to this covenant with Noah is that he will pass safely through the judgment that's to come and he will enter into the new creation, to a new world, where he will see a brighter day. That's God's promise. And notice in chapter 7 verse 1, you see this idea of covenant headship. The Lord says to Noah, 7 verse 1, come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you, and that's in the singular, I have seen that you, Noah, are righteous before me in this generation. The same concept of headship, of someone representing someone else, is also found in Adam. Remember, when Adam fell in the garden, he represented humanity. We were connected with him as our head, and when he fell, we fell with him. Romans chapter five, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. But here, what an amazing thing we see. We see Noah acting on behalf of his family. And by his obedience, he brings out this earthly, temporal salvation for his household. One Old Testament scholar, Derek Kidner, put it this way, eight souls were saved on the ark, that is, but only seven of them owed it to the one. God says, because I've seen you, Noah, are righteous, your household shall come unto the ark. The many were saved because of the one. The family of Noah passed through the judgment waters into a new world because they're connected with righteous Noah. Now, does that sound familiar to you? It's not the application, well, if you're a faithful dad or mom, your whole family is getting into heaven. What's in view here in our text isn't eternal life. It's a temporary salvation. founded in the ark through a temporary judgment falling upon the world. But in this account of Noah, we see a foreshadowing of the work of Jesus Christ. We see a picture of Christ as the savior who will cause us as his people, as his family to pass through the judgment waters and enter into a new creation. We see Christ here. Noah was saved from a temporary judgment with his family because of his obedience, even though it was imperfect. but it's a pointer to the perfect obedience and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Noah's a picture of Jesus here. You know, in the Old Testament, and we often talk about pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament, we see His cross very clearly in the sacrificial system, right? In the Passover lamb, in the different ceremonies of the Old Testament, we see what we call the passive obedience of Christ, His cross. But there's another part of what Christ did that we see in the Old Testament, and that's what you call His active obedience, His perfect life. And we see His active obedience portrayed in the faithfulness of God's people, like Noah, and like Abraham, and even like Enoch. For ultimately, it's Christ, is it not, who walks perfectly before God, his Father, who walks perfectly in the moral law of God and thoughtward indeed. Ultimately, it's Jesus Christ who abstained from sin and was never tainted by sin. Noah couldn't say that. Ultimately, it's Jesus who was perfect in his generation. And yet at the end of his life, we read in 2 Corinthians 5, God made him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The obedience of Noah in our text secures for his family a temporary place of deliverance from an earthly judgment. But again, the obedience of Jesus Christ secures for his church, his family, an everlasting home and delivers them from the final judgment that is indeed to come upon this world. And so we see this covenant relationship here with Noah, and as an outflow of God's covenant that he has with Noah, he calls Noah to build, build the ark. That's the final thing we see here, this ark that's being built, the means by which God will see Noah through the judgment waters is the ark, this vessel. It's interesting, this word for ark is also used only one other time in the Bible, and it's used at Exodus chapter 2, and it refers to Moses. And you remember the vessel that Moses was put in when he was hidden in the Nile River from the wrath of Pharaoh. He was put in an ark, the Scriptures say, a vessel. Now, we can't go into all the details of this ark. Again, I'm happy to talk with you about the different dynamics of it. For your information, there's a Dutchman by the name of Johan Huybers who recently built a replica of Noah's Ark that's gonna set sail this summer from the Netherlands. It's gonna touch down in different places, and it's to teach people about the ark and its size and its structure and how God set things up here. But what we can consider from this text is the structure of the ark and how it's patterned after the temple in the Old Testament and its pattern after creation. Many Old Testament scholars pick up on this idea that it's patterned after creation and the temple. Remember, who's receiving the book of Genesis for the first time? It's the Israelites. It's people who are familiar with the temple and the language associated with the temple. And so we are seeing this ark as almost a sanctuary of God's presence, of his mercy, and of his grace. There's three stories to it, three levels, as it were. Picturing the heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth. There's a window in the highest level, picturing the window that's described to be in heaven, where God sends forth rain. There's a door in the deep, symbolizing, as Job says in Job 38, the door of the deep sea, which holds back the waves. and this three-layer structure really patterns the temple of the holy place and the holy of holies and the outer sanctuary, the place of God's presence. When Noah is told to cover the inside and the outside of the ark with pitch, this word for cover and this word for pitch are the same words that God uses in the temple for atonement, a covering. It's no coincidence. The Lord is showing us that this ark is a place of his special grace, where he shows mercy, where he shows favor to those who are connected with righteous Noah. It's the place where God is faithful to bring about his promises to bring Noah safely through the storm. And today, beloved, we have an infinitely greater ark in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, it's a picture ultimately of Jesus. All of the stories of the Old Testament are about him. Jesus says in John chapter 10 verse 9, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. The wooden cross of Christ is the true ark that we must hide in if we're to escape the wrath of God on the day of judgment. Only in Jesus Christ can we find a hiding place from the storm that is coming and be hidden in him by true faith in what he has done. For each one of us, if you're a spouse or if you're a child, there's no one in your life, in your family, who can bring you safely through the judgment waters that will fall upon this world. There's no refuge, there's no shelter except for Jesus Christ. And each one of us are called to find a refuge and a shelter in him from this coming storm. Each one of us must say, by faith in Jesus Christ, rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. A storm is coming, beloved. But God has said, for those who trust in Jesus Christ, that you need not fear. You need not fear that coming judgment, that awesome day that will fall upon this earth, if you look to Jesus Christ. Because the judgment that you and I deserve has already fallen. The storm waters has already fallen at the cross of Calvary, and it's been swallowed up and satisfied by Jesus Christ. And so God says to us, his people who are looking to Jesus Christ, These words from Isaiah 26. Come my people, enter your chambers and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself for a little while until the fury passes by. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we confess Lord that we are those who do not deserve your grace. We do not deserve your mercies. Lord, we see ourselves mainly in the people that have corrupted themselves in your side and not in Noah. We see, oh Lord, our sins against you and our thoughts and our words and in our deeds. But Father, we're so grateful and our hearts rejoice and are so glad that you have provided a refuge and an ark in Jesus Christ and that we could find a hiding place in him, that truly, Lord, we can withstand not simply the storms of this life, but the great and awesome storm of your judgment that will fall upon this world, that we could be certain in that, that we can know for certain that we belong to you because we belong to Jesus Christ. We thank you for him, Lord. We thank you for his cross. And we pray, Father, if there be any here who have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ, that they would be warned of your judgments, but they would be also encouraged to see your hands extended to a world that is broken. And Lord, an invitation to come to Jesus Christ and to trust in him by faith alone. Help us each one of us, Lord, to do that. For we pray in his precious name. Amen.