Covenants 5

The Covenants of God
Part 5
Noah: Grace Found in an Incredibly Wicked World

Reading: Gen 6:4-5

Introductory Thoughts

Ø Noah was a man who lived in an incedibly wicked world—even worse than our civilization, and he witnessed to his world, and his faith was a testimony against his world!

Heb 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.

1. The Context: Life After the fall

a. Important to understand—other children were born beside the named patriarchs—Gen 5:4-13

(1) The named patriarchs are named, but there were many children who were not named.

(a) The ones names were the prominent, significant ones.

(b) What names do we remember in history? We remember the leaders, the significant ones, and a few (a very few) “normal” people who were involved in some notable event.

(c) This is ancient history—these are not the only children of Adam and Eve, but these are the leaders, the super-significant ones, the ones who made a difference.

(2) With the great longevity and the hearty nature of the human physique because of pre-flood geology and because genetic deterioration had not set in fully, women were capable of having many children.

(3) Who did Cain marry? A sister. That was the only possibility.

(4) This was not illegal then, and beginning with a perfect gene pool, was not a problem genetically.

b. Cain and the line of Cain—Cain founded a Godless line.

(1) Cain murdered his brother, Abel—Gen 4:8
(2) Cain’s descendant Lamech (the first) was a murderer—4:23
(3) Cain’s line was the basis for a thriving civilization—4:17-22
c. Seth and the line of Seth—Seth founded a Godly line—Gen 4:26ff
d. Enoch—the holiest man of old. Prophet of the second Coming—Jude 1:14 "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,"

(1) Methuselah—did Enoch, being a prophet, give a name to his son that told of the end?
(2) Poole—“…Whose name is thought by some leaned men to contain a prophecy of the flood, which was to come…for it signifies, He dies and the dart or arrow of God’s vengeance comes; or, He dies, and the sending forth of the waters comes.[1]
(3) Indeed, it was in the year of Methuselah’s death that the flood came.
(4) Lamech—the Father of Noah, and a prophet as well.
(5) Lamech’s death was five years before the flood, and five years before the death of his father, Methuselah.
(6) Noah— 32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth."


e. The other children of Adam and Eve—we know little about them, except that as the centuries progressed, they seem to have leaned toward the leadership of Cain and the line of Cain, as did most of the descendants of the line of Seth, because by the time of the flood, Noah and his family were the only Godly people left on the Earth.


2. The Destruction of the Righteous Line

a. The Decline Accelerates as the Godless increase— Gen 6:1-4 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth,

(1) “Men…” most likely the line of Cain is referred to here.

(a) In Hebrew literature, the demarcation of the civilization of Noah’s day is between “men,” “sons of men,” and “daughters of men” as opposed to the people of God.

(b) It has always been so—you are either a citizen of the heavenly kingdom or of the earthly, and if you are of the heavenly, you are not of the people of this world.

(c) Two races: saved and lost. The Lost are of their spiritual father the Devil, and of their natural father, Adam. They have only been born once, but they will die twice.

(d) The saved were born once of their natural father, Adam, but they are born a second time of their Spiritual Father God. God’s people are born twice, but will die but once.


(2) Cain’s line multiplies—perhaps through the polygamy of men like Lamech, perhaps through sexual promiscuity, but Cain’s line multiplies.

b. The Daughters of men seduce the “sons of God.”—and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

(1) Men of the Godly line, (or perhaps men from the Godly line who are under the influence of demonic forces), are seduced by women of the line of Cain.

(a) In Godless paganism, sexuality has always been a part of the religion, and sexual temptation has always been central to the appeal of pagan false religions.

(b) A society obsessed by illicit or perverted sex is giving evidence of unseen evil at work.

(2) Cain’s daughters are beautiful, fair, alluring, and probably not all that modest about “struttin’ their stuff…”

(3) As with Adam, who followed Eve, these men from the Godly line marry the women of the godless line, and they and the children they produce follow the godless lifestyle of the line of Cain.

(4) God is so offended by this whole situation, that He sets the date (humanly speaking) for the flood—3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

c. The giants— 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

(1) Perhaps physical giants, but more likely, as the context says, “men of renown.”

(2) Some of the great men of our history have been men who had Godly fathers, but who were not themselves Godly men. Yet, the influence of the Godly father still gave them great discipline and natural ability. So it was in Noah’s day—the offspring of the intermarriage between the Sethites and Cainites became mighty men.

3. A Frightening World: the world of Noah’s day was a frighteningly sinful and vicious place:


a. The Wickedness of man: all they could think about was sin. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually

(1) Man was violent

(2) Man was wicked

(3) Man would ignore the preaching of Noah while he prepared the ark.

2 Pet 2:5 “…but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;"

b. A Corrupt world filled with violence—6:11-13

(1) Corrupt

(2) Filled—God had instructed Adam to fill the earth and subdue it. The same word, male', maw-lay'; or mala' (Esth. 7 : 5), maw-law'; is used here for “filled with violence” that was used in God’s instructions to Adam.

(3) God had commanded man to fill the earth with people and subdue it, being God’s stewards over the earth, but instead of filling the Earth for the glory of the Creator, sinful man had filled the earth with violence and corruption.

(4) All flesh—a term used here to depict all humanity—with the exception of Noah and his family, all of the human race had become utterly wicked and corrupt.

(5) But God extended His grace to one man, and that man and his family shine as the lone lights in a dark world.

4. Noah Found Grace— Gen 6:8 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD

a. What this cannot mean, Biblically

(1) Biblically this cannot mean that it was something naturally a part of Noah which resulted in his finding grace in God’s eyes.

(2) Biblically this cannot mean that it was Noah’s obedience and personal righteousness which earned God’s favor—such a thing would not be grace, it would be works.

(3) Biblically this cannot mean that even the faith which Noah displayed was meritorious in any way—Isa 64:6-7, Rom 3:10-11

b. What this must mean biblically

(1) Biblically this must mean that God chose to work through Noah.

(2) Biblically this must mean that God revealed Himself to Noah’s heart.

(3) Biblically this must mean that Noah’s faith was worked in him through the ministry of the Spirit.

(4) If this is not the case, then Noah has room to boast on his own.

c. The evidence of grace: faith and obedience—Heb 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."

(1) God’s grace was first—Gen 6:8 "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

(2) Noah believed God, believed God’s plan for the salvation of the race, and Noah’s faith was the kind of faith that produced obedience.

(3) For Noah, faith consisted of his believing in what God had said, and Noah became righteous in God’s eyes by faith.

(4) Noah was justified by faith!

d. The evidence of Noah’s salvation by Grace through faith—Gen 6:9-10 "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth."

5. The Noahic Covenant Promised

a. The Covenant Promised (quym beryth)—18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

b. This is the first mention of “covenant” in the Bible. This is, Biblically, the first covenant. Tonight we will look at this first covenant and its provisions, most of which are still in effect.


Applications

1. Even in an incredibly wicked world, God’s people can shine as lights.

2. Even in an incredibly wicked civilization, God’s Grace will triumph, because of the nature of Grace, and because of the Sovereignty of the God of Grace.

3. And, as we consider the growing wickedness of our time, let us consider the words of our Savior—Luke 17:26
[1] Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol 1, MacDonald Publishing Company, McClean, VA, reprint, 1981, page 15.