Judgement Day – Genesis 6 & 7

“This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways” (Genesis 6:9ff)

1)We are more wicked than we can possibly imagine.

“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”.” (Genesis 6:5).

the scary thing about this passage isn’t just that it happened, it’s that it still happens

“The Lord was grieved that he had made man
on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” (Gen.6:6)

“God SAW how corrupt the earth had become for
all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” (Gen.6:12)

“So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people,
for the earth is filled with violence because of them.
I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (Gen.6:13)

God punishes not just to punish evildoers,  but to vindicate victims

2) We are more loved than we can possibly dream

” I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.” (Genesis 2:17ff)

“Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8)

6v5, all people are wicked – and Noah is part of it.
6v8, God chooses to love and favour Noah.
6v9, Noah is declared righteous.

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his …only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more than he already does. Or less.

3) Faith in what God says means doing what God says!

 “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22)

We tend to imagine faith as just being about believing stuff – Intellectual head knowledge. But the Bible always shows faith as a belief that leads to action. In fact it sees action as the evidence of the faith.

 “faith…if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17

Noah’s faith impacted his wallet, his family, his work, his identity.

Noah trusts God and saves his family.

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and.… Every living thing that moved on the earth perished” (Genesis 7:17,21)

Aside: Is the story historical?

Geological evidence for a localised flood in the Black Sea Region.

Atrahesis and Gilgamesh epics (Babylonian) both refer to an ancient flood.

4) God helps us through suffering.

LIE: “because God is good,therefore life is going to be easy and nice.”

TRUTH: the story of Noah shows us a God who comes and gets intimately involved in the mess and suffering of life and even uses it to mature us and ultimately rescue us.

Lord, what am I meant to learn from this?

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I want to know more:

• To Read: The Message of Genesis, Atkinson, Bible Speaks Today commentary
• To Read: Flood geology, http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/blacksea/theory.html
• About giving: www.stjamesnewbarnet.com/give
• About Gilgamesh and Atrahesis: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-c001.html
• To Listen: Dale Ralph Davis, A study on Genesis 6-8 www.aisquith.org/audio-sermons/?download&file_name=11051989pm.mp3