Genesis in Biblical Perspective:
The Gospel of Christ from Genesis –
The Two Hands of God

Genesis 6:9-22

By Dr. Harry Reeder III

This is the word of God. Genesis 6:9-22.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 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. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

May God bless this His Word to the heart of His people.

At break neck speed we have traveled through millennia of time, from the very opening account of creation through the first book in the Book of Genesis. Remember, the Book of Genesis is made up of ten books. There is the creation account and then book one begins in Genesis 2:4 which is "the generations of", "the account of" the earth and the heavens. Then book two which is the generations of or the account of Adam, then the lines of Cain, the seeds of the serpent and then the line of the seed of grace, the seed of the woman which is Seth who replaced Abel who had been murdered by his brother Cain. Now we come to a third book which is introduced by the same phrase. Book three starts in Genesis 6:9 saying, "These are the generations of Noah." But coming to this point we have gone very fast through time. Many hundreds of years have passed but as one arrives here in Genesis 6:1-8 God begins to put on the air brakes. As He gave us a view of all of humanity corrupted and corrupting its corruption; the procreation of sin in the procreation of families and the death spiral of a culture as a city is raised up in opposition to God, as men rise up in arrogance against God. Now, in the midst of this corruption God says "I'm going to bring a judgment and I'm going to do it in 120 years." So God slows things down.

The third book in Genesis will cover three chapters. It will go from Genesis 6:9 through Genesis 9:29. There will be three to four studies in this particular book as God slows things down in these 120 years from the announcement of a judgment that is coming to the calling of Noah to the day that the deluge falls and 150 days where God takes what was once chaos and made into a cosmos, an ordered system. He went from a chaos to a cosmos and He is about to take it to a chaos again. It is where He took that which was covered with the waters and brought forth a creation, formed and filled it. He is now about to cover it with water again. He would had brought a creation is about to bring a de-creation in order to bring forth a new creation. This is what is covered in these 120 years that God puts the brakes on. It is time to take a look. Some have questions about this section like, "Was it a global flood or a local flood? Was it a regional flood or a township flood? What kind of flood was this?" Those questions will be answered in the next study so keep reading. Another question would be "how in the world could that ark get everybody in it?" That is also covered in the next study. In this study we will slow down with God as God gives to us a message around a man called Noah and a transformational truth that says, when God's grace delivers a man or a woman then God's grace changes that man or woman. It is not that man or woman's change that saves them it is God's grace but when God's grace delivers us from our sin then God's grace starts a work of transformation on sinners. It is like when a caterpillar metamorphosis's into a butterfly. That is what happens where God's grace not only delivers us from our sin but when His grace is at work it transforms, metamorphosis.

Romans 12:1, 2 says 1 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." This is your spiritual form of worship to God but do not stop here. The transformational truth surrounding Noah's life shows that not only does God's grace deliver us and transform us but God's grace then uses us as a change agent, as a witness, as His instrument, in the world where He has called us to serve Him in the world but not of the world. We are transformed yet left here to grow in grace and be a channel of grace. So let us take on Noah here.

There are ten things I want you to learn about Noah from this text in Genesis and two other texts in the New Testament that refer to him. In Hebrews 11 there are three men who make what we call a "Hall of Faith" chapter in the Bible. This chapter brings out the majesty of God's grace as He saves people through faith. Two of the three men we have already covered. They are Abel and Enoch. Enoch was the man who walked with God and was no more. Abel died for the Lord but Enoch never died he just went to be with the Lord. Enoch fathered Methuselah and people thought he would never die either. Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible. Noah is the third one who makes the "Hall of Faith." Hebrews 11:6, 7 says, 6 "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear (or worship) constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." The second passage in the New Testament that refers to Noah is 2 Peter 2:5. It says, "If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald (preacher or proclaimer) of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly."

Now we will look at Genesis 6:9 and 10 and the account for what we now know about Noah. Here are ten things that we know about Noah. The first thing is Noah's father according to Genesis 5 is Lamech. Lamech is not the Lamech of the line of Cain who rose up as a tyrant committing bigamy with two wives, killing young boys and men for looking at him wrong or touching him. The Lamech from the line of Cain was a tyrant. This is a different Lamech that comes from the line of Seth and is the father of Noah.

The second thing we know is that Noah had a wife. Notice Noah had not succumbed to the bigamy, polygamy and the harems of the ungodly, in their rebellion against God. Noah had a wife, one wife. We do not know her name. Now I heard about the Sunday school class where the teacher kind of got carried away in studying Noah and said "Who is Noah and what did he do? He built an ark. Who was his wife? Joan of Ark." That is not right. The Bible does not give the name of the wife of Noah by any means, but we do know he had a wife.

The third thing we know about Noah is that he had sons and daughters. In particular, we know that he had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. So, his father is Lamech, he has a wife and he has sons and daughters.

The fourth thing we know about Noah is that he was saved by grace. Noah did not earn, did not merit, but Noah found favor. The word 'favor' in Genesis 6:8 translated from the Hebrew is the same root word that in the Hebrew gives the connotation of grace and mercy. Genesis 6:8 says, "But Noah (by grace and mercy) found favor in the eyes of the LORD." He is saved by grace.

The fifth thing we know about Noah is that he was saved by grace according to Hebrews 11 through faith. Hebrews 11:7 says, "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." Then Ephesians 2:8,9 says, 8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." So we know Noah was saved by grace through faith.

The sixth thing we know about Noah is that grace has changed him. He was saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but the grace and the faith are not alone. Genesis 6:9 says, "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God." The Bible tells us in Genesis 6:9, the first time these words are used, that Noah is blameless. Now the word 'blameless' is not referring to his position of being sinless by having been forgiven, it is referring to his pursuit. Now he is positionally blameless because all of his sins are paid for, just like anybody else through the atoning work of Christ who will pay for his sins just like it pays for ours. But this 'blameless' is a personal pursuit of blameless. The Hebrew word actually means 'a whole hearted pursuit;' a whole hearted devotion to abstaining from sin; a whole hearted devotion or pursuit, or commitment to abstain from sin. Now that is the negative side of grace. By the way, this is all in the Bible. Titus 2:11, 12 says, 11 "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions..." We are to pursue blamelessness. Again, that is the negative.

What does God's grace do on the positive? Titus 2:12 goes on to say, "and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." So Noah not only was blameless, but he also was righteous. Again, this is not referring to the inherited righteousness that he has by faith, this is referring to the work of grace that caused him to a whole hearted pursuit of righteousness.

The seventh thing we know about Noah is that he not only has a whole hearted devotion to abstain from sin, but he also has a whole hearted devotion to pursue obedience to God.. The words "righteous" and "blameless" are used in Genesis 6:9 and those are the first times those words are used in our Bible and the only time that they are put together.

What is the eighth thing that we can say about Noah? The eighth thing that we can say about him is that he is a herald, a witness. He has a verbal testimony. He is a preacher of righteousness, a herald of righteousness. He proclaims righteousness. By the way, the word that is used that Peter uses to talk about Noah being a herald of righteousness, sometimes is translated 'proclaimer', and sometimes it is translated 'preacher'. It is a tough word to translate. It is not our word for preaching. It is actually a word that speaks of a man who occupies the position in a town called the "town crier." As long is everything is okay he goes around saying, "All is well." When things are not okay, he brings a warning, "To the walls, to the walls, the City is under siege. The city is under treachery." So he is a town crier, a herald of the grace of God that brings safety and the judgment of God that is about to fall in 120 years.

The ninth thing we learn about Noah is that he walked with God. "Walked with God" is used two times in the Bible. It has already been used once at this point. Remember when? It was with Enoch. Abel worshipped God and he died. Enoch walked with God and he did not die. Noah walked with God and everybody else died. He saw them all die. Noah walked with God and that was the second time it was used.

The tenth thing we know about Noah is found in the last verse I read of the text for this study. Genesis 6:22 says, "...he (Noah) did all that God commanded him." The tenth thing is Noah was committed fully to obedience. There are some verses in the Bible that I think are good tombstone verses and I think Genesis 6:22 is one of them. All that God said, Noah did. That is speaking of his purpose but it is not speaking of his performance. Noah is not a perfect man. In a couple of more studies we will get to where he gets drunk and brings a problem to his family. Noah is not a perfect man, but he is purposed. He is purposed to abstain from sin, blameless. He is purposed to pursue obedience. He is purposed to pursue the obedience of all that the Lord has commanded. However, he is imperfect. These are not merits whereby he gained salvation, but this is the work of grace at work in a saved man's life. His imperfections will be clear, but God's transforming grace bringing him on the journey of growing in grace is also clear. Four times it will be said of him, in our study of this third book, that Noah did what God commanded.

Now, what about Noah's world? In Genesis 6:11 and 12, one will see that this world is corrupt. Not only is it corrupt, it is a place of violence. We have already seen what the culture of the world looks like in the procreation of sin. Sin produces sin. Sin brings death. Sin brings violence. In our study of Genesis 6:1-8, we have heard about the fallen angels, in the New Testament, who will be understood as demons, have come down among the fallen ones, the Nephilim. This is the first case of spiritual warfare and demonization of a whole group of men who rise up as tyrants; giants of the culture, epic heroes of the culture. An example of one of these tyrants is Lamech, who wrote the song that said "I kill people that look wrong at me. I kill people for touching me."

Genesis 6:12 says, "...all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." All flesh included the line of Cain and the line of Seth except for Noah, who had found grace. All flesh was coming under God's judgment because all flesh had been corrupted. All flesh had fallen into the idolatry of sexual promiscuity, as they engaged in the formation of harems, according to Genesis 6:1-8. They formed not just bigamy, not just polygamy, but now sexually charged harems around these tyrants and these heroes of the culture that would rise up and to use our language of the day, would terminate anyone that was around them. They would win at all costs and destroy anything and anyone that was around them. That culture of violence produced a culture of the death spiral and in the death spiral of that culture, God now sees it and He is grieved and sorry and therefore His creation is being spoiled, disfigured and marred by the corruption. Notice how many times the word 'corrupt' is repeated? The whole earth is corrupted. In fact, it makes the point, their corruption is corrupting them. Sin produces sin. It multiplies and brings destruction. Sin brings a death spiral not only in the life of an individual, not only in the life of a family, not only in the life of a city, but an entire culture is about to experience the deluge of God's judgment because it has dipped immersed itself fully in the sin of rebellion, arrogance and apathy toward the living God.

The word 'corruption' will be used seven times in this passage. It is corrupting itself even to the point of these tyrants who are demonized in the idolatry of sexuality, the idolatry of violence, the abuse of women, the abuse of children where there is a song written celebrating it. There is also the abuse of the elderly. Every time I look at that song of Lamech, who is one of these demonized tyrants, and later in Genesis 10 there is another one named Nimrod, I think of our culture and the celebration of violence, the celebration of power unleashed, unrestrained; the celebration of sexuality that comes through the outlets and pores from every form of communication. God says all has been corrupted and once God is grieved, He may restrain His anger, as He is doing here for 120 years, but ultimately, His justice will be served.

The third thing about Noah's world is his call. Noah's call is very clear. Genesis 6:14 give us the only command that he receives; "Make yourself an ark..." Interestingly, the word 'ark' will be used seven times in this third book of Genesis and that is all it will be used in the Old Testament except for one more time. There will be another man that God raises up to deliver His people through a judgment, and he will also be rescued in an ark, except it is not translated in your Bible 'ark' but it is exactly the same word that is used there in Exodus 2. His name is the man who wrote the book of Genesis and that is Moses. In Exodus 2 the word that is used in place of 'ark' is 'basket 'because it is a little ark, but it is the same word used for 'ark' in Genesis. Now this is a singular command; 'make for yourself an ark', but there are multiple specifications. Here we will go through them.

The first specification is what the ark is made of. It is to be made of gopher wood. Now what is gopher wood? It is pretty simple. There is a big ark and it is made of wood. Noah says to his sons, "Son, go for wood." That is just a joke. Gopher wood here is probably referring to Cyprus wood. So gopher wood or Cyprus wood is being used to build the ark, and then he gives very specific dimensions which leads to the next specification.

Here I will translate 'cubit'. Cubit, in that day would be a measurement about the length of a man's arm from his fingertips to his elbow, approximately 18 inches. So, here is the translation of the cubits used in this text. The ark is 450 feet long, the size of a football field and a half. It is 75 feet wide. Try to remember here Noah's living conditions. He is at most living around a river. They may have had boats in that day, but nothing like this. In fact, it will take to the 20th century to get anything this size sailing the seas, but this ark is absolutely perfectly sea worthy. It is four and a half stories tall, 45 feet tall. Then, there was a roof, and by the way, the word 'roof' here can also be translated 'windows'. It is probably a roof line that has openings in it and it is another cubit higher, so there is a roof with a slope to it, an 18 inch slope. He is also to make it with three decks. Not only does it have three decks, it has manifold multiple rooms or compartments. Literally, in the Hebrew, the word translated 'rooms' is the word 'nest'. It has nesting places. It has rooms. It has compartments. It is to be filled with the animals. It is to be filled with the creeping things, the food for sustenance and it is to be filled with Noah and his household.

After the Lord gives very clear specifications for the building of the ark He says in Genesis 6:18, "I will establish My covenant with you..." This is the first time the word 'covenant' is used in the Bible and it end up being used 273 times in your Bible. This is a glorious word. It is used 253 times in the Old Testament and 20 times in the New Testament. "I will make a covenant with you." Now this is not the first time a covenant has been revealed in the Bible, but this is the first time the covenant of grace is being revealed. In the Old Testament we find in the act of creation that God made man, male and female. God entered into covenant with man, male and female. He gave him covenant responsibilities and covenant promises, but it was a covenant that depended upon the works of the man because the covenant said this: "If you obey, then I will give you the tree of life. If you disobey, then you will not receive the blessings. You will receive the cursing." But notice, this covenant with Noah is the first installment of the covenant of grace that will unfold from Noah to Abraham, to Moses, to David until finally, its fulfillment in the new covenant, the eternal covenant, the covenant of grace with Jesus Christ; not a purposed imperfect man of grace, but Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth in all of His perfections. Here, your Bible declares not an if/then. God does not say "Noah, if you..., then I..." He just says the words of grace, "I will establish a covenant with you." It all depends not upon the covenant recipient, but the covenant Maker. He will fulfill His covenant. God makes His covenant with Noah and God's electing work of grace in Noah's life blesses his family.

God brings Noah's family into the ark and now, in this covenant, God declares three things. The first declaration is the certainty of God's judgment upon all outside of His covenant mercies, the certainty of God's judgment upon any and all that are outside of His mercies in his ark of safety. Secondly is the certainty of God's hand of salvation. Not only the certainty of God's hand of judgment upon all outside of Him, but the certainty of God's hand of deliverance upon all that are in the ark of safety that are in the covenant of His grace. Then thirdly, God says, 'I delivered you by grace to give you a call of grace. You will now serve Me. You will now follow Me. You will worship Me, walk with Me, work for Me, witness for Me. I now deliver you by grace and then call you to serve Me and declare in worship and in ministry, My grace.'

Now I want to get to the takeaways for this study but I want to get to them a little bit differently this time. The central character in this study is Noah. It is all about Noah. I read a sermon on it in preparation. The Bible teacher who made the sermon gave this illustration. The illustration is about the armed forces that came to give a recruiting speech in a high school assembly. Now they only had just so many minutes for the high school assembly, so the recruiters all from the branches of the service only had just a little bit of time. The Army man started off first, and the Army Sergeant recruiter got so excited about the Army, instead of his three minutes allotted time, he went 12 minutes. The Navy guy got up and not to be outdone by the Army guy, he went 14 minutes. The Air Force guy just soared into heights of oblivion. He went 21 minutes. The only guy left was the Marine, a Gunny Sergeant, so the Principal turns to the Marine Corp Gunny Sergeant and said "You've only got three minutes." The Gunny Sergeant said "Semper Fi. That's all I need." He stood up and he said "You have heard impassioned pleas for all of you to come and join the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Now I'm telling you today the Marines are looking for only a few good men." And he turned around and left. Guess who had the longest line? The Marine Corp line was the longest.

The point is, there is Noah, there is Abraham, there is Martin Luther, and there is John Knotts. God is looking for a few good men. No, that is not it. Noah is the display. It is our God that is on display. This text is not telling you that God needs a few good men. This text is telling you God takes sinners and by His

grace makes them men; men for His glory, men and women to worship Him, to herald Him, to work for Him, to rescue others and to walk with Him. This is not the message of God taking good men and making them better, but sinners and saving them by grace. Yes, Noah helps me because Noah is a wonderful encouragement to me. Noah reminds me that I am saved by grace, delivered by grace and the same grace that laid hold of me, is a grace that has, is and will change me. It will transform me. It takes me from walking for myself, worshipping myself and living for myself and it allows me to change by His grace, all for His Glory. It allows me to change by His grace with His power so that now instead of idolatry, I can worship the true and living God. What will this man Noah do in the deliverance of God? He will step out of an ark and build a sacrifice to praise His Holy Name.

He will make me a worshipper. He will not only make me a worshipper, He will move in my heart that I will want to walk with Him, not walk apart from Him, not walk away from Him, but to walk with Him. I will not walk ahead of Him, not walk behind Him, but walk with Him. That same grace that will make me desire to worship Him will make me desire to walk with Him and will also put within me a burning desire to witness for Him, to herald for Him, to herald His goodness and grace while we are in this 120 years. I do not know how long it is. God has announced as He did in the days of Noah, a certain judgment is coming, not the judgment of water, that has been done, but a judgment of fire. Flee the wrath to come. I do not know how long it is between the announcement and the Day, but until that Day, you and I, we are to be heralds and witnesses. Come, the door of the ark is still open and we may work for Him all that He commands, we will do.

Brothers and sisters, Noah could not do until he knew what God commanded. We cannot obey what we do not know. How do we know God's commands? We know them from His Word. How do we follow His Word? We follow His Word because we read it, we study it and we hear it. Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." The priority of our life, in order that we may walk with God, worship God, work for God, witness for God, is to know Him through His Word. How can I know His Word? I must examine the scriptures daily. Acts 17:11 says, "They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." I need to know His Word. I need to read it. It is not by intuition. It is not "Well I wonder what will please God?" It is by Divinely given information, God's Loving Letter of Life to us, 66 Books that make up that Bible. We are to read it. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Do your best (study) to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." Meditate upon the Word. Memorize it. Psalm 119:11 says, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Hear the Word. Oh, God, raise up for us preachers who will preach the Truth in love, who will not be frightened by my frown nor are they drawn to my smile, but preach for Your smile, Your Word to my heart because faith comes by hearing and hearing the very Word of Christ.

Noah does call us to that, as a trophy of God's Grace, the God who delivers, transforms and then uses us to praise Him, to work for Him, to walk with Him, to witness for Him. But, Noah has been carefully fashioned and his story unfolded that you might see Jesus. Now it is kind of a round about trip and this is how we will close this study. Follow me here. Before you get to Jesus, who is coming, He takes you back to Adam. The Holy Spirit working with Moses is drawing some parallels, is connecting some dots to send you back to Adam. Here is the world in chaos and then God uses a man, Adam, to subdue it, to rule it, to be fruitful and multiply. Now, here is this creation that has been spoiled. God is going to de-create it, take the cosmos that has been spoiled by man's sin and corrupted and He is going to take it back to chaos. Then He is going to take what has been de-created and He is going to recreate it. So now, we do not have Adam, but we have another Adam taking his place. His name is Noah. We have a new Adam.

The parallels are very clear. How many sons did the first Adam have? Three sons were revealed; Abel, Cain, Seth. This one, Noah, who will lead us in the recreation has how many sons? He has three also; Shem, Ham, Japheth.

Of the three named for Adam, one fell. His name was Cain. Of the three given to Noah, one fell. His name was Ham. The parallels are unmistakable. This does not just get you back to Adam, nor to come back to Noah, who becomes the new Adam, but this takes you all the way to the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Noah points us to Christ, who will have for the father, sons and daughters? Noah did all that God commanded him, with his imperfections, but, there is coming One greater than this first mediator, revealing the covenant of grace, the ultimate Mediator. There is one God and one man between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus and He will do God's Will with absolute perfection and declare "I have delighted to do your will, and of all of your sons and daughters that you have given Me, I lose not one, but raised them up on the last day. (John 6:39)" Noah sends us to Adam to rebound us all the way to Jesus Christ who says "Come, behold, look. I make all things new." Not a refurbished creation after a flood, but a new heaven and a new earth and a new people by His hand of power.

It is not only Noah that sends us to Christ, it is the ark. For Christ is the ark of safety. Just as God divinely gave the specifications to Noah, God divinely fashioned our redemption through Jesus Christ, the Perfect Redeemer, the fulfiller of a divinely designed temple, a divinely designed tabernacle, a divinely design ark. That ark, that temple, that tabernacle, they all find their fulfillment in the Divinely Fashioned One that is the Son of God, who came in all of His perfections and He is the ark that has in this day, the door wide open. Come to that ark. It is our privilege to share that even as Noah did for 120 years about an ark of Gopher wood, we share the ark of redemption in Jesus Christ. Come. The door is open. In the days of Noah, you know what it says they did? They mocked at him. They were married and were giving in marriage. They laughed at him, yet God's Word sustained him.

God's singular commandment to "build the ark", took Noah 120 years to complete. All the while people derided him. People laughed at him. I am sure

the people told all kinds of jokes about making arks and the rains to come. Perhaps they said things like, "By the way, because a what's coming? A deluge of what? Rain. What's that? The earth is being watered by a mist. What's that? Look at this ark, massive, rain, flood. What's that?" They laughed and they mocked, but Noah stayed faithful, proclaiming the majesty of One greater than him, Christ. And as he speaks of Christ, the ark he builds points us to a sure Deliverer, Jesus Christ, Himself.

The Bible says in Matthew 6:3; "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." But I tell you, by hands of God, He has a hand of judgment that is sure. It will fall. He has a hand of deliverance that is sure. God's hands actually know what the other is doing. Flee the hand of judgment. Come to the hand of deliverance, Jesus Christ. He will never leave you nor forsake you and none in Him will be lost. If that ark took those eight people through the judgment of waters, Jesus Christ will take you to glory. You may say "Pastor, I've already done that." Okay. Praise the Lord. Then now, on the way, worship Him. Witness for Him. Work for Him, not for salvation. Our works do not save us. All this listing of who Noah is, that is not the reason he is blameless, righteous, and obedient. That is not the reason he is saved by grace. That is the result of being saved by grace. Worship, witness, work and walk with your God. Walking with God is such a precious privilege. Do it today. Let us pray.

Father thank You for the moments we could spend together in Your Word. Thank You for this wonderfully rich text. Father, would You speak to the hearts of Your people that they might enjoy and surrender to the transforming grace and then be a channel of grace to a watching, even mocking world, but faithful until the Day, the Day of our Savior's appearing? Father, anyone reading this that is outside of that ark of redemption, Jesus Christ, would You this day, cause them to flee into the ark? There is One door in that ark and it is still open, may they come before it is shut. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.