Now let's turn together in God's word to Genesis chapter 6 this morning. As we continue our sermon series on the primeval history of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 6. So last week we looked at the wickedness of the world in the days of Noah. Today we want to read on and look at Noah himself. One righteous man in his generation and how the Lord instructed this man Noah to build an ark for himself and for his family in anticipation of the coming judgment of the great flood. We'll be beginning today going back a little bit to verse 5 for the sake of context. So our sermon text is Genesis 6 verse 5 through the end of the chapter. It's verse 22. When you've found your place, please stand with me for the reading of God's Word today. And let us pray. Lord, it is true, as we have read, that all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man is the flower of the grass. Quickly it springs up, as quickly it fades, and it's gone. But the word of the Lord endures forever. So as we read now in your word, this ancient account of our world's primeval history grants us, God, a present blessing through the abiding truth of your word. especially we seek that blessing in the glorious gospel of your son. For it is Jesus Christ whom we seek now in your word which we hear, as we as disciples seek to follow him in our lives. As we pray in his name, amen. So Genesis chapter six, beginning at verse five, listen now, saints, to the word of God. Then 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 continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy men whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Jephthah. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 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, but the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make runes 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, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing 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 kind, 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. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. The story of Noah in the Bible is, among other things, the story of a rescue. How the Lord rescued Noah and his family from the flood. My sermon today is also an attempted rescue, and that I hope to rescue the story of Noah from some unfortunate things that people have done with him. Some people saw animals in Noah's story, decided it was a great children's story for that reason, and made a cartoon of it. Others saw the flood described in Noah's story as the key to deciphering the geological record and made it the cornerstone of Young Earth apologetics. And still others saw Noah's story as this fantastic, mythical background for a rather dull life lesson, something like, so now let us all go be industrious like Noah and build our little arks. All of these people mean well, perhaps have done well in their own way, but unfortunately, the enthusiastic use of Noah's story in the Bible for these and other ends has had a tendency to obscure the true gospel purpose in it, and so its power. And that's what this sermon is about. Setting aside cartoons, apologetics, and moral lessons, so that we can focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ in Noah's story. So here's the plan for the sermon. First, I'm going to look at the Genesis account with you and make some observations about three things. The flood, Noah, and the ark. And secondly, I'll talk briefly about how this account relates to Moses' efforts to prepare Israel in his day for their Jordan crossing into the land of Canaan. And then finally, we will cross from the Old Testament into the New Testament to see how Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of all this. of the flood of Noah and also of the ark, making this familiar account a very gospel one, an insight which unfortunately is not familiar to a lot of Christians. And then we'll close with some observations from Noah's story about God's great plan of salvation according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we'll start with this account, noting some things that Moses particularly highlights about the flood, Noah, and the ark. First let's talk about the flood and how it was both a just judgment and also a great purge of the earth. A just judgment and also at the same time a great purge of the earth. Look at verse 11. It says that the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Notice the repetition of the word corrupt. The Hebrew word translated corrupt is shekath, which also means ruined or destroyed. So what's being told here is that men by their wickedness and their violence had corrupted, had ruined, had destroyed the world. So God then in announcing to Noah the coming judgment of the flood in verse 13 invokes the same Hebrew word saying, quote, the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them And behold, I will she-cath, I will ruin, destroy them with the earth. So God's use of the same word indicates that there's sort of a poetic justice in what's coming. It's like what men have destroyed in their way, God will now destroy in his way. So this is a just judgment that's coming. But we should be careful with the English word destroy here. But the flood will come with destructive force and in a sense destroy the old world. That doesn't mean that God is now going to annihilate the cosmos, including the planet Earth. Rather, God is sending the waters of the flood to purge the world of wicked men and all of their wickedness, which has corrupted the world. And you should ask here, well, why would God bother to do that? And the answer is because he has plans for the world beyond the storm. So if you have, let's say, a rusted bicycle in your basement with flat tires and a broken chain, and you have no use for that old thing, take it to the dump. But if it's salvageable, and you have grandchildren now that might enjoy riding it, Then you go to the trouble to bring it out in the driveway, clean it, and fix it up. That process might involve steel wool and a hammer, unrusted bolts, maybe even a blowtorch. I don't know. It depends on how bad off it is. But in this way, soon, it will be as good as new. And that's what we see in Noah's story. The flood was both a just judgment upon this wicked world and also a purge to cleanse it of that wickedness in preparation for God's making it as good as new. Secondly, let's look at Noah, one righteous man in the world in those days for whose sake God introduced a plan to rescue his family. As we follow the Genesis account, Noah is the lone representative of the godly line of Seth that we've been following all this time. After the disastrous intermarriages with the reprobate line of Cain, mentioned in verse 2, Noah is all that's left of those who call upon the name of the Lord. And so Noah, we're told in verse 8, quote, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So this is the idea of election, which is so prominent in the later stories of Israel's patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of all the men in this generation, God has chosen this man, Noah, and set his love, his favor upon him, placed him under his protection. And that's why Noah is so different from everyone else, including his neighbors, described by Moses in verse 9 as a righteous or just man in the midst of this wicked world, a man perfect or blameless in his generation, even a man like his great ancestor Enoch, who walked with God. Noah, in other words, is he's the Abel. He's the Seth. He's the Enoch of his generation. He now represents God's elect. So he is the seed of the woman here in the midst of all these snakes. And strikingly stands here all alone on that side of the great spiritual divide. But it's a good thing for the world that someone is there. In mathematics, there's no greater difference than the difference between zero and one. Between nothing and something. Between, in this case, no one and someone. And in Noah, we see that by God's grace, there is still one. Someone to find grace in his eyes, even if it is only now one man. And as the story goes, it's for the sake of that man, then, that God reveals a plan, a plan to rescue Noah and his family from the coming judgment of the flood. And so in verse 18, the Lord establishes, we read, his covenant with Noah, revealing to Noah his favored status and also the way of salvation that God has appointed for him and his family. And Noah, as a man in covenant with the Lord, clings to God's promise and exhibits throughout this account what the Apostle Paul calls the obedience of faith, in that Noah is said to have done all that the Lord, his God, commanded him to do. Thirdly, and finally then, let's look at the Ark. as the vessel which Noah was to build and by which the Lord would bring Noah and his family through the flood as heirs of the new world beyond. In verse 14, the Lord tells Noah that he is now to build an ark, a great ark. Literally, that means a box or a chest. And that it must be built according to certain specifications. So we hear God dictating to Noah the material, gopher wood from which the ark is to be made, as well as the architectural design, the dimensions of the ark and cubits, and also the substance, pitch or tar with which the ark is to be covered. And once this vessel has been built, as the storm clouds are gathering, God then instructs Noah to take certain things with him into the ark. And notice first what's not mentioned. There's no mention of weapons. So Noah is not going to be an admiral on what is to be a battleship. That's not what's going on here. Noah will not need navigational equipment, since he won't be steering this floating box, which has neither a rudder nor a sail. And Noah will have no need, apparently, of a cell phone. or any other news source to keep up with everything that's going on outside the ark, just one window in this vessel so that Noah can poke his head out from time to time and see when the storms blow him. That'll do. But Noah is instructed by God to bring with him on the ark his family. particularly his wife, along with his three sons and their wives, and with them animals, male, female, of each kind of animal, and some food. So what is God doing here? He is preparing Noah to be a second Adam. That's what he's doing. As we'll read when the storm is over and the old world is destroyed, purged of its wickedness, the Noah and his family will emerge from the ark and take up again the blessing of the first Adam. To be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion as the heirs of the new creation. So you can think of the ark as like a little bag in which you put a little seed to be stored over the winter and brought out again to plant in the spring. And Noah and his family, as God's elect, are themselves the seed of humanity in that bag. And it's the ark which they must now build, that God will put them in and use to get them from the old world into the new world. And that's the plan. Right, so now before we get to Jesus Christ as the true fulfillment of all this, let's consider, as we've done repeatedly in this series, how this account of Noah and the flood relates to Israel and the Canaan campaign in Moses' time. As Moses writes this account of Noah's story, he is preparing to send the Israelites across the Jordan into Canaan. That's what's going on in the book of Deuteronomy. So that's where we are in time as Moses writes. And like everything in the book of Genesis, this account is designed to show Israel its special place in God's unfolding plan. So how is Deuteronomy's Israel to see itself in Noah's story? That's the question. First, the flood. It is, I think, seems to me, the invading Israelite army that is the flood, like a flood about to overwhelm the land of Canaan. Joshua and the Israelites are the agents of God's judgment upon the wickedness of that land, so that it is the Lord's own holy wrath that is being poured out and sending Joshua on this army in. Joshua's orders are to destroy the wicked Canaanite people, destroy their cities, destroy all trace of their faults, gods, purge the land, in other words, of all that Canaanite wickedness. And so it's like the storm clouds of judgment are gathering in the plains of Moab in Moses' last days, and this is the great flood that's coming. But the nation of Israel, as God's covenant people, is also to see itself in the person of Noah. As Noah was chosen, favored by God in his generation, so now it is the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are chosen and favored by God among all the nations in their generation. And when the storm is over, the enemy vanquished, the land purged of its wickedness, and it is God's covenant people who will then emerge, bring their wives and children in to settle to farm this good land as its rightful heirs. And, we're made to understand, things will be different in the land of Canaan then, as the Israelites are different from Canaanites. Where once idols were worshipped in the land of Canaan, people will instead call upon the name of the Lord in this land. And they will walk in his ways, and the Lord God will be with these people as his people, and he will bless them with the now familiar blessing of Adam. Tell them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the land, subdue it, and have dominion. So like Noah and his sons, that's what Israel and her sons are to look forward to as they are preparing to cross the Jordan into the promised land. They're going to inherit there a new world. But finally, we ask, how then will God bring the Israelites to the enjoyment of this better life? Well, like Noah, they're going to have to build an ark. Only in Israel's story, that means a temple. In everything that Moses wrote from Genesis to Deuteronomy, the temple of the Lord is emphasized. And nowhere more so than in the book of Exodus, when Moses stands on Mount Sinai and receives from God instructions for building the tabernacle of the Lord. Included in those destructions are materials, architectural design and dimensions, and coveralls. And as Moses relates in that book, he and the first generation did the work of building the tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded them. And the striking parallels to Noah's building the ark here are clearly intentional. For example, Moses writes of Noah here in verse 22, if you look at that verse. This is Moses writing, he says, thus Noah did, according to all that God commanded him, so he did. That is in building the ark, just as God had specified. Well, later in the book of Exodus, after the tabernacle is completed, the same author in Exodus 40.16 writes this, thus Moses did, according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. With the exception of the name, Noah, Moses, it's exactly the same sentence. So you see, as Noah and his sons built the ark, and Moses and the first generation built the tabernacle, so the coming generation of Israelites and their leader are to build the temple of the Lord in the land of Canaan. A project which was finally completed on Mount Zion under the reign of King Solomon Davidson some 500 years after Israel crossed the Jordan. But as for this story in Genesis 6, as read by the Israelites in the time of Moses, Noah, I want you to appreciate, is not just a man with some animals on a boat. Noah is the high priest of a floating temple, which he and his sons have built in obedience to God, and by which God has brought them through the purge of the coming storm to emerge again as the Adamic lords of the new creation. And that's the national identity of Israel. as represented to them in the story of Noah and the flood. But of course, as we'll see soon enough, the world wasn't much changed by Noah and the flood. Wickedness not only survived the flood, it actually survived inside the ark, being still in Noah and his sons. And likewise, Canaan wasn't much changed by the Israelites, who no sooner had conquered the land than they began to turn to Canaanite gods and were corrupted by Canaanite ways. So in the Bible, neither of these Old Testament events and their respective atoms is the true solution to sin in the world. Though conceptually they do prepare the way for later, greater events under the New Testament, and a greater Adam who is the solution to the great problem of sin. That great man is the Lord Jesus Christ and to him we now turn. The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the unfulfilled promises of the Old Testament. Every hope that God encouraged in his people and that the people cherished but yet was never realized under Israel's disappointing leaders, awaits its fulfillment in another, the true Messiah. And that includes the unfulfilled hope inherent in the ancient story of Noah and the flood, as told by Moses. So according to the New Testament, there is a dark storm that is coming. At the end of the world, The Lord Jesus Christ himself will appear in the clouds, something like Joshua and the Israelites, riding through the Jordan to execute the holy wrath of God's final judgment upon the race of men. And that just wrath of God will be poured out upon the world like a flood. as Christ and his angels burn up the wicked like chaff, purging the world of that which has so long corrupted it and grieves the heart of God. But as in Noah's story, not all will perish in this great flood at the world's end. For the sake of one just man, perfect in his generations, God has introduced a plan to rescue that man and his family and bring them through this storm. And that man is also Jesus Christ. He executes the final judgment, but he is also God's elect. and the head of his blessed family. Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman. Jesus Christ, the crucified Abel. Jesus Christ, the resurrected Seth. Jesus Christ, the Enoch who walked with God and obtained eternal life. And Jesus Christ, the true Noah, whose name, I remind you, means rest. The promise of this greater Noah's life is the comfort of believers. of those who lived before him, and it is the joy of those who are blessed to see his day. Men like the Apostle John, who said famously in words that certainly might suggest in John's mind some remembrance of the flood. John said, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him, one man, might be saved. Saved. Rescued. Shall God save the world and rescue believers in the world for the sake of one righteous man in the world? Noah's story says yes. That is the story. And it was God himself who encouraged that hope early in the Bible and showed us the fulfillment of that hope later in the Bible in his son. And we're here this morning to thank God for that life, the life of his son. What Noah's life didn't do and couldn't do, the life of Jesus Christ has and will. And how shall God bring him, Jesus Christ, the son and his bride, his children through the flood of the final judgment? Well, Jesus must raise up an ark like Noah, a tabernacle like Moses, a temple like King Solomon. And what is Jesus's temple? It is his body. It is his body. Remember how Jesus stood in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and said to the snakes who wanted to kill him, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And of what temple was Jesus speaking? God tells us he was speaking of the temple of his body. All right, so here's the gospel. God, the eternal son, entered into our world and into our humanity. and died at Calvary in the flood of God's holy wrath against our sin, and was resurrected on the third day, raising his glorified body, his temple, and so our humanity from death unto everlasting life. And so the enemy being vanquished at Calvary and the church purged of her sin by the blood of Jesus, the victorious son of God stands forth at last upon the earth in the light of the first Easter Sunday morning, and he is Adam, the last Adam, having prevailed where all others failed. And so by right, Lord of many exalted titles among them, the first father of the new creation. and we're his family. We're his family whom he loves, for whom he has undertaken all of this. And what he has been through, he has also brought us through in him. So why did I preach this sermon? The story in the Bible that you all know so well, even from childhood. I just didn't want you to miss Christ then. Because sometimes he gets missed here, and that's a shame. Among all the cute animals, the geological detective work, the salient moral lessons of Noah's life, sometimes Jesus Christ just gets missed in this account of Noah and the flood. Even though it's really all about him. But as we close, there are three things about God's gospel plan of rescue which are suggested in this story and I think are worth mentioning, so allow me to mention those. First, God does have a plan. I think it's important to say that. God has a plan. I would not have you doubt it. Even when the world is its darkest, even when wickedness seems to be everywhere and has taken over everything, still God has a plan to rescue his people, to save the world, to fulfill every hope which he has ever encouraged in this beloved book that we call the Bible. As in Noah's story, so in life there is a plan. Secondly, there are, however, phases in this plan. of God's, especially in the early phases. Sometimes we wonder what happened to the plan. There's a phase here in Noah's story where God doesn't really seem to be doing anything, while his people are busy working on the project, the boat that God told them to build. Meanwhile, The world is as wicked as ever, heaping contempt upon arc builders blaspheming God, and the world's meteorological forecast sees nothing but sunny days as far as the eye can see. And then follows a phase in Noah's story where God is definitely doing something and it seems like he's going to destroy the world. And there's nothing for his people to do in that great storm but to huddle inside the boat and hope that the Lord remembers them and his covenant. So both of these phases of the plan to be trying times for God's people in their own way. But as you look at Noah's story, appreciate that God is actually doing great things for his people during both of these trying phases. The boat that they're building in the first phase, along with the time that they've been granted to build it, these are the means by which God will finally bring them through the flood. So it's well that God should have sat them to that work and given them the time to work on it so that they would be ready when the flood came. And while they're huddling inside of the ark during the second phase as the great storm descends, remember here that the Lord of glory is outside destroying evil, preparing a new world for them. So whether we're here with Christ, And our churches, carrying on the work of the Great Commission, trying to preach the gospel, trying to make disciples of Jesus Christ, may be doubting our impact, whether it's making any difference, or if we find ourselves desperately clinging to Christ's body here at the Lord's table as the storm clouds gather and the world grows dark outside of our churches. Either way, we find in Noah's story encouragement that this too is part of God's plan to save his people and to give them and their children ultimately a better world. So hang in there. And thirdly, I'll conclude with this. If you want to follow God's plan as it unfolds, then you have to follow the life of Jesus Christ. What do you follow? I don't try to follow everything that's going on in the news. I don't. And I don't bother to follow anyone on social media. I don't. I find it all to be disorienting and distracting, among other things. Brother, I'm here in the church studying the Bible with you, my fellow Christians, trying to remain focused on following Christ, because that is the proper focus of God's elect in the world. There are a lot of people in Noah's story, even all the people in the world, and no doubt they're doing all kinds of things in their lives all over the world. There's plenty of drama there to get and to keep your attention, I'm sure. But once Moses introduces Noah in verse 8, that's the focus. The life of that man, that one man for his sake, God saved the world. And Moses has Israel's focus on that man and follows him in his life to the end. So likewise, once Jesus Christ has entered the picture, has entered into the world and to our humanity, and has made known to us that we are his people, whom he loves, and the eyes of all Ark builders are to be on Christ and Christ alone. We are, if nothing else, his followers, so let us be following him. Shall we pray?