The Flood
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called The Story. We’re walking through the biblical narrative from the very beginning in Genesis 1, to the last amen in Revelation 22, and today’s text takes us to the famous story of Noah and The Ark. It’s the story about God sending a global flood to kill everything on the earth, except for a remnant of species. Now immediately this raises a ton of questions like how could a loving God do something so unloving? How could Noah build an ark big enough to carry so many species? How could the ark even float with the weight of so many species? According to Business Insider a group of scientists, a group of physicists who tested the exact dimensions the bible gives for Noah’s Ark. They were surprised to learn the dimensions would’ve held over 70,000 species, and would’ve actually floated, which leads to another set of questions. I mean how much poo could over 70,000 species produce? Whose daily chore was it to scoop it all up? They didn’t have Febreze either, so what did they do about the smell? These are deep logistical theological questions you can address in your small groups, but for now I want to address the primary question which is what’s this story really about? What’s the story of Noah and The Ark, the story of the flood really about, and why would God allow such a catastrophic event to happen? Let’s turn to Genesis 6 to find out. You’ll find Genesis in the front of your bible, it’s the first book in the bible, and we’ll start in Genesis 6:5. Title of today’s message is The Flood, and here’s the big idea. The flood of God’s wrath, demonstrates the flood of God’s love...The flood of God’s wrath, demonstrates the flood of God’s love...
Context:
Here’s your context. In Genesis 1-3 we learn after God created the world, he said it was very good. There was no sin, sickness, sadness, or death, so it was total peace, total paradise. Life was enjoyable, it was very good, but then everything changed when the first humans sinned. It damaged humanity’s relationship with God, each other, and the natural world. When they sinned things went from being very good, to being very bad. Well today’s text teaches things eventually got even worse, and as we study we’ll learn 3 things about the flood. We’ll learn: #1 The Flood of God’s Grief, #2 The Flood of God’s Wrath, #3 The Flood of God’s Love. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Genesis 6:5-6 states, “When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, 6 the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved.” Okay so the 1st thing we’re seeing in the story is The Flood of God’s Grief. The text says God was deeply grieved by humanities wickedness. In vs 5 he’s evaluating humanities wickedness, but in vs 6 he’s grieving humanities wickedness. His heart’s filled with a flood of grief, and when it says he regretted creating humanity, that doesn’t mean he’s saying “I made a mistake...I didn’t see this coming...I was completely blindsided, and if I had the chance to do it again, I’d never create humans.” That isn’t what he’s saying, he isn’t blindsided by any of this, instead he’s deeply grieved over this. In fact the Hebrew word regret is sometimes translated as sorrow or grief. God’s feeling sorrow, he’s feeling grief over the current situation of humanities wickedness. He’s feeling what a loving parent feels when they have to spank or take something away from their child. A truly loving parent doesn’t enjoy disciplining their child...they hate it, they grieve it, they even regret having to be in that situation. But that doesn’t mean they made a mistake having kids, or they wish they never had kids to begin with. We misinterpret the text if we think it says God made a mistake, or he’s wishing he never created humanity, because he has the chance to do that now with the flood but he doesn’t. He has the chance to completely annihilate the human species forever, but instead he allows a remnant to survive which tells you this regret is a grieving over the current situation of having to discipline humanity for its wickedness. There’s a flood of grief in God’s heart over humanities wickedness, which we need to remember to help make sense of what happens next.
Vs. 7, “Then the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky...’” There’s the 2nd thing we’re seeing in the story, we’re seeing The Flood of God’s Wrath. We’ve seen the flood of God’s grief, but now we’re seeing the flood of God’s wrath. God is about to wipe mankind off the face of the earth, and many biblical scholars believe it only took a regional flood instead of a global flood, because the world wasn’t as populated as it is today. But regardless of how it happened, there’s 2 things to remember that can help us make sense of the flood of God’s Wrath.
#1 Remember God grieved over the flood = We need to remember God grieved over the flood too. So if this bothers you, if the thought of God doing something like this bothers you, then your emotions are more in alignment with God than you think. I mean it should bother you, because it bothered God. God isn’t leaping for joy, he’s deeply grieved over this. If you notice the flood of his grief comes before the flood of his wrath. It’s because he knows what he has to do, and he’s grieving over having to do it. One of the most painful things I had to do is put my childhood dog down. He was my dog for 15 yrs, my dog from elementary school. But he was spitting up blood, so I knew I had to let him go, and it grieved me to do it. Sometimes in life there’s things you have to do, even though it grieves you to do it. God knew what he had to do, and it grieved him to do it. “Yeah but couldn’t God have chosen another way? Couldn’t he have chosen something different than wiping out humanity?” This leads to the 2nd thing to remember.
#2 Remember God had a good reason for the flood = We need to remember God had a good reason for the flood. I mean he could’ve stopped his own grief, but he doesn’t. Nobody puts themselves through grief unless there’s good reason for it, like somebody going through chemo. Nobody wants to go through chemo. But you’ll go through that pain to kill the cancer inside you, just like God was willing to go through pain to kill the cancer inside our world. God has infinite wisdom, which means he could have an infinite number of reasons for the flood. One of those reasons is in vs 5, and it’s because humanities wickedness had become so widespread. Now let’s say during that period of history, the world was full of only Hitlers. You’d most likely say “Well yeah, of course it’d be good for God to wipe out people like Hitler.” Well who’s to say it wasn’t full of violent people like Hitler? Contextually the world was much less populated back then, and they didn’t have restraints on evil like we have today. They didn’t have things like the United Nations, global sanctions, or nuclear bombs deterring nations from war. With a small population and little restraints on evil, it’s certainly possible for violent people like Hitler to fill the earth, which is exactly what vs 11-13 says next. It says humanity became violently destructive.
Vs. 11-13 states, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth. 13 Then God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.’” The words “corrupt” and “destroy” are the exact same Hebrew word. The text is saying humanity became so corrupt, that they were literally destroying the world. So God says “Enough is enough. I regret having to do this, I grieve having to do this, but I have to destroy the destroyer. I have to kill the cancer that’s killing creation.” Now here’s why you and I should be thankful that’s true. We should grieve the flood like God did, but we should also be thankful for the flood, and I’ll give two reasons why. The 1st reason is because if you don’t believe in a God who will one day judge humanity for evil, then you can’t claim justice against any evil. Why? Because a godless world can only rely on the natural world, and nature doesn’t care about justice for evil. What do you do when a virus eats another virus, or a Lion eats a Zebra? You don’t say “Well that virus had rights, that Zebra had rights.” Instead you say “Well that’s nature...That violence is a part of nature, it’s a part of the natural world.” But when human violence happens, when big nations eat smaller nations, when the ethnic majority eats the ethnic minority, we say “Well that’s not right! That’s wrong!” Why?...Why is that considered unnatural, but violence in the rest of nature isn’t?...Why is human violence considered unnatural, but a lion eating a zebra isn’t?...If there’s no supernatural Judge setting standards of justice, then nobody gets to play judge, and human evil is just another part of nature, like a virus eating another virus.
Now the 2nd reason we should grieve but be thankful for the flood, is because if God isn’t willing to eventually destroy evil like in the flood, then it means heaven won’t be heaven it’ll be hell. God has to eventually destroy evil, or else evil will reign forever making heaven not heaven but hell. It also would mean God isn’t loving, because a loving God can’t ignore evil. Imagine a judge saying to Hitler “I’m a loving judge, so I’ll just ignore your evil and let it go unpunished.” You’d consider that an unloving, unjust Judge. Why? It’s because you know a loving, just Judge can’t ignore or tolerate evil like that. Randy Alcorn states, “We cry out for true and lasting justice, then fault God for taking evil too seriously by administering eternal punishment. We can’t have it both ways.” So either we want a loving, just God who punishes evil, or an unloving, unjust God who ignores evil. But we can’t have it both ways. So grieve the flood, but also be thankful for the flood, because it’s the flood of God’s wrath, that demonstrates the flood of God’s love. It demonstrates that God isn’t going to tolerate evil forever, just like he didn’t for Noah’s generation. He’s judging the wickedness of humanity and he’s flooded with grief, because he knows the flood of his wrath is coming. But listen to what happens in vs 8.
Vs. 8 states, “Noah, however, found favor with the Lord.” Noah found favor with the Lord, and it wasn’t because he was perfect, because he eventually stumbles too. So it wasn’t because he was perfect, it was because he had faith in the Lord. It was because he believed the Lord’s warnings about the flood, and received God’s offer of salvation. The Lord warned him a flood was coming, vs. 14 God tells him to make an ark, and by faith he starts building the ark.
Ch. 7:5, “And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.” So by faith Noah is doing what God commanded him to do. He isn’t saved because he’s perfect, he’s saved because he had faith, because he trusted the Lord and built the ark, otherwise he would’ve died in the flood too. It took persevering faith too, because you know he got heckled for building an ark in an area that didn’t have an ocean nearby. They’re like “Hey Noah, how’s your mule gonna tow that to the beach? Oh wait, you’re the mule!...Hey Noah, what kind of lights are you building on the ark, is it flood lights?” You know he got heckled, but Noah and his family had persevering faith when nobody else did, and the time finally came to load them and the animals into the ark.
Ch. 7:16-17 states, “Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in. 17 The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth.” There’s the 3rd thing we’re seeing in the story, we’re seeing The Flood of God’s Love. The flood of God’s wrath comes to wipe everything out, but the flood of God’s love comes to save a remnant of humans and animals. It says the ark was lifted up, meaning it floated above the flood of God’s wrath. The same water that was wiping out creation, is also lifting up a remnant of creation. This is a story about the flood of God’s wrath against evil, but also the flood of God’s love saving a remnant of creation. It’s about the salvation and restoration of creation from the sinful humanity that was destroying creation. The flood of God’s love gets displayed even more in ch 9. After the flood waters dry up, God promises Noah he’ll never flood the earth like this again, and he gives us a sign to remember this promise. It’s a promise for all creation and future generations.
Ch 9:12-13 states, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations. 13 I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” God places his ‘bow’ in the sky, and the Hebrew word for bow isn’t rainbow. It’s obviously talking about a rainbow since it says the bow is placed in the clouds after it rains. But the Hebrew word for bow isn’t a rainbow, it’s a war bow, a battle bow. If you look at the curvature of a rainbow, it’s shaped like a war bow, and it’s pointing away from the earth instead of towards the earth. What God’s saying is “I’ve put up my war bow. Instead of shooting arrows at you, I’ve put up my war bow to have a loving friendship with you.” The next time you see a rainbow remember that, remember God put up his war bow to have a loving friendship with you. The next time you see a rainbow remember the good news of the gospel which is that on the cross, Jesus takes the arrows of God’s wrath we deserve to give us the flood of God’s love we don’t deserve. On the cross Jesus takes the arrows of God’s wrathful justice we deserve for our sins, so we can enjoy God’s loving forgiving friendship we don’t deserve. The reality is all of humanity will stumble again in sin including Noah, but Jesus is willing to save and restore anyone who’s willing to trust in him like Noah.
So if you’re a skeptic, you need to remember he’s only laying his bow down temporarily, because he can’t let evil and those who reject him continue forever. Eventually he’ll have to point his war bow at you to shoot the arrows of his wrath at you. But if you repent of your sins, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you’ll be eternally covered by the flood of his love. The reason he’s still allowing you to live as a skeptic, is because he grieves the flood of his wrath and is giving you a chance to be covered by the flood of his love. So turn to Jesus and be covered by the flood of his love today...If you’re a Christian saying “I’m struggling with life right now. I’m in the middle of a stormy season, in the middle of a flood, and it feels like I’m drowning.” You need to remember that isn’t God shooting arrows at you, because Jesus already took the arrows for you. You need to run to Jesus to find shelter in the storm, to find cover under the bow of his love...As Christians we also need to remember it’s our mission to tell others about Jesus, so they can find cover under the bow of his love too...So the question isn’t will the war bow eventually turn again, it’s are you covered by the love of Jesus, and will you help others to be covered too?
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is the flood of God’s wrath, demonstrates the flood of God’s love...The flood of God’s wrath, demonstrates the flood of God’s love, because it means God isn’t willing to let our lives be destroyed by evil forever. He loves us enough to punish evil, and loves us enough to give us a way out of evil. That way is through faith and trust in Jesus...I have one final thought to leave you with, that interesting from a historical perspective.
After the flood happens, the world starts repopulating again, and people start scattering throughout the world. Well scientist Dr. Duane Gish discovered there’s over 270 cultures in the world, that tell similar stories about a catastrophic flood on earth. For example, Hawaiians have a flood story about the world becoming wicked. But a man named Nu-u built a great canoe with a house on it, and when the flood came only Nu-u’s family and the animals inside survived...In China there’s another story about a great flood filling the earth, and only a man named Fuhi and his family survived...Why? Why are there over 270 different cultures, different stories, talking about a catastrophic flood on earth?...It’s because this story is true...It’s because this story, the story of Noah and the ark is true...After the flood the survivors in the arc started repopulating the earth, and they shared this story with future generations. So we now have over 270 cultures, sharing over 270 different stories about a catastrophic flood filling the earth...City Awakening the flood of God’s wrath is true, but so is the flood of God’s love...It’s true for you, and it’s true for me... There’s shelter for you from the flood of God’s wrath, and it’s under the flood of Jesus’ love.