This is the second in a 7 part series on Noah and the Flood from Genesis 6.
The Days of Noah: Part 2, Noah the Person
Noah lived 4,600 years ago. He was a real, historical person and has a very detailed family tree. The flood is also a real, historical event. Genesis and the Lord Jesus say so, there are many references to Noah and the flood in the bible. In almost every continent, there are flood stories.
What type of a man was Noah? he has a reputation as the man who built the ark, and sinned after the flood was over in drunkenness. But let us truly look at Noah as the person he was.
Noah was descended from Seth. Why is this important? Noah was brought up in a godly home. Who is Seth? Adam's third son. First Cain, then Abel but Cain murdered Abel and was sent away. From Cain came the godless line. After this another son was born to Adam called Seth and the godly line continued through that line. Genesis 4:25-26 "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD." Noah was from this line. Noah's great-grandfather was so much a man of God that he was taken straight from earth to heaven, that being Enoch. Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him".
Noah's father, Lamech, called his son Noah because Noah means "rest" or "comfort". Lamech knew that toil and hardship was in this world and it was a result of human sin and God's curse.. Gen 5:28-29 "And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: and he called his name Noah saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." So Lamech named his son Noah because he knew that the reason why things were hard and life was troubled was because of human sin. Lamech knew far more than most modern people. Lamech knew far more than many Christians in the western world today. People wonder why bad things happen to Christians. Lamech knew why bad things happen to good people and this was 4,600 years ago. Today Christians ask "why did this happen to me?" Because we live in a cursed, fallen world and these bad thing happen because of human sin. Lamech lived in a world in which he needed comfort and rest, so he named his son Noah. God's name would have been mentioned in Noah's home and this influenced the boy Noah.
Noah was a man of God. Genesis 6:8-9 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." God raised up a man different from the whole generation in which he lived. Noah was a man of God, and how did he become a man of God? Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found undeserved favor and mercy in God's eyes. Noah found grace and was found just, (righteous) and upright (perfect) in his generation. Here is a man who stood out in his generation as being different in the generation in which he lived. Because God saw in Gen 6:5, 11 that the whole world, society was wicked. But here was a man who was different, walking with God. Society hadn't squeezed Noah into its mold. Human nature has never changed since the fall. Anyone who sticks out is look upon as odd. That is why there is peer pressure in schools. No doubt in Noah's day he was looked upon as odd. When they were following their own lusts, going according to their own hearts, and doing what they wanted, Noah was walking with God. Totally different. Because Noah was a man of faith. Hebrews 11:7 "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Noah was an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. He inherited righteousness by faith. Justification by faith. Noah was a saved man, justified by faith. The same as Abraham, no difference in the area of salvation old testament or new, salvation is by faith. God had come and poured grace upon Noah in his generation. Noah did not get sucked down by the pressures of the world, he lived in close fellowship with God. That is the remedy. As today, believers are the inheritor of the exact same righteousness which is by faith. Like Noah are we just and upright and walking with God in our generation? It's not easy to walk in this way. Satan has all sorts of devices to lure God's people into worldliness and sin and to make them appear the same as the world, to make them blend in and be unnoticeable. Noah didn't blend in, and so must we be different. The essence of vital religion is walking with God.
God warned Noah about the flood. Gen 6:12-14 "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." God warned Noah about his generation. He warned the man Noah and told him what was going to happen. God often does that with those who are close to him. God revealed his plans to the prophets, to Abraham, and to the apostle John. The Lord Jesus revealed more to the disciples who were closest to him. God warned Noah that the judgment was going to fall, and he told him about the way of escape, the ark. Noah obeyed God, he did what God told him to do.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. God raised this man Noah and he was to warn his generation. 2 Peter 2:5 "and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;" Authoritative herald-like preaching. Noah heralded righteousness, came with authority and preached. (much as the angels heralded the birth of the Saviour to the shepherds that were keeping watch over their flocks, Luke 2:8-18) Noah preached and told people how to get right with God, and about God's justice. To preach righteousness you must preach justice. Noah preached that judgment was coming to his generation and you need to get ready.
Please note a cause of great sadness to Noah. Genesis 5:30 "And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:" Noah had brothers and sisters, and not one of them was on the ark. Not one. Noah's wife, his 3 sons and their wives were on the ark. 8 people only listened to his preaching. The society in which he lived did not listen, and even the members of his own family did not listen to the message from God. Noah must have been a sombre, serious man. These things would have weighed upon his mind but he kept preaching the unpopular message, but the people did not listen. As Jesus says Matthew 24, "and they knew not" This means "they did not pay attention" until the day the flood came and took them all away" There came a day when they paid attention, that was the day of the judgment but God had closed the door (of the ark) Wilful ignorance.
God in all history, since the beginning, in every generation has placed men and women, his people, who are different from the generation in which they live. He has placed and raised up men who have warned the generation in which they live. Men who have warned their generation that judgment was to come. But for the last 140 years, the people have not listened. People are going headlong in their sin, in their materialism, headlong in their mockery, their blasphemy.
Proverbs 30:11-14 "There is a generation that curseth their father and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men." There is a generation that have no respect, they don't believe there is any such thing as sin. They are so proud, they are arrogant and violent to the needy and the weak. They are aggressive, violent and materialistic.
These people are the mockers of the preachers of righteousness today. In Noah's day the mockers didn't listen but it didn't make one second of difference to the judgment. The judgment came exactly as God said it would, and when he said it would. And they all died.
Preachers are to warn as many as possible: Justice and judgment is coming.
Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight."
For anyone who is not saved, here is Noah's message, you need to get right with God. The only way you can become right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ. And then you need to walk with God. Everyone needs to listen to the gospel to escape the judgment.
Is it any wonder that Noah was a preacher of righteousness?
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The above notes were taken by myself from the sermon by Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) at Sermon Audio.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=42715946153
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