Introduction

The period from the Fall to the Flood was approx. 1500 years. The days of Noah are of special interest and importance to us because Jesus said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man” (Lk. 17:26).

By Genesis 4:8, Cain has already murdered his brother, Abel, out of jealousy because Abel’s offering was accepted by God but Cain’s was rejected (Gen. 4:3-5). Subsequently, Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, as a “replacement” for Abel. The genealogy of Adam is traced through these two sons. Cain is the ungodly line and Seth the godly line. Lamech, from the line of Cain, shows the downward spiritual and moral trajectory that can  happen when a family line turns away from God to worldliness and lawlessness. Enoch, from the line of Seth, shows the upward spiritual trajectory that can happen when a family line remains true to God through godliness and faithfulness.

The ungodly descendants of Adam are traced, then, through the line of Cain. That’s our subject in this article: “The downward trajectory of human degeneracy” (Gen. 4:16-24).

The lesson from this passage can be summed up as follows: When you nurture anger it can lead to rebellion against God, and when you rebel against God, there’s no telling where you may end up. Here we see a history of steady degradation and deterioration in the family, the society, and ultimately the entire age. Notice firstly that…

1. Degradation In The Family Leads To Deviant Behavior (Gen. 4:3-11)

“3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell” (Gen. 4:3-5).

Anger marks the first step in Cain’s walk away from God. It’s often asked why God accepted Abel and his offering but not Cain and his offering. In response, some scholars propose that the difference was in the type of offering – Abel offered a blood sacrifice, whereas Cain offered a sacrifice of “the fruit of the ground.” While it is true that a blood sacrifice had special significance, there is no specific verse that states that God rejected Cain’s offering because it was the wrong type or quality. The distinction here seems to go  beyond the nature of the offering itself. In fact, Scripture attests to the fact that Abel was righteous, the evidence for which was his offering (Heb. 11:4), whereas Cain was “of the evil one” and his “deeds were evil” (1 Jn. 3:11-12). So, it appears that God saw right into each man’s heart and recognized in Abel a righteous, worshipping heart, but in Cain, a deviant, degenerate heart.

“Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (4:8). Moses, in the book of Exodus, also rose up in a field and killed a man, the Egyptian task master. It seems that both Moses and Cain chose a place where they thought no one was looking and, therefore, that no one would discover the truth. Out of jealousy and anger, Cain murdered his brother and that led to him turning away from God altogether.

How easily one sin can lead to another! If you don’t judge the first sin, you are open and susceptible to the next temptation. Anger needs to be nipped in the bud. Don’t let it fester; judge it right away, because when you nurture anger it can lead to rebellion against God, and when you rebel against God, there’s no telling where you may end up. Unjudged and uncontrolled anger can lead to murder. “Oh,” you say, “I would never murder anyone.” Really? What about in your heart? That’s where it begins and often that’s where it takes place. Jesus said that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt. 15:19). We need to keep short accounts with God by confessing our sins (especially those of the heart that cannot be seen by other people) before they take root and draw us away from him.

Cain appears to have been a man with a hot, trigger temper, a man with a competitive nature, a self-willed and spiritually proud man. He had brought an offering of the fruit of the ground and God had rejected him along with his offering.

When something we do is unacceptable to God we have two choices. We can repent of what we did, change, and do it God’s way. Or, we can become angry with God, turn away, and continue on in our own self-will and rebellion. Cain chose the latter course of action. If God would not accept Cain’s worship, then Cain would cut God out of his life.

Degradation in the family leads to deviant behavior. And…

2. Deviant Behavior In The Family Leads To Disconnection In Society (Gen. 4:12-15)

“12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Gen. 4:12).

This is a punishment that manifests God’s grace. God could have put Cain to death for murdering his brother; instead, he consigns Cain to a life of wandering and disconnection from society.

Not only is Cain disconnected from society, he is also thoroughly disconnected from God. He shows absolutely no remorse whatsoever. All he did was complain about his lot:

“13Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me’” (4:13-14). And yet again, God extends his grace by providing for Cain’s protection: “15 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him” (4:15).

Deviant behavior in the family leads to disconnection in society. And…

3. Disconnection In Society Leads To Departure From God (Gen. 4:16-18)

“Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (4:16).

Departure from God starts with distance from God. To go out from the presence of the Lord may seem like a benign act, perhaps the result of a fit of temper or self-will. But it begins a course that will degenerate into even more ungodliness - no interest in any connection with Eden; not wanting perhaps to be connected with the place where God had once walked with his father in the cool of the day; not wanting to be reminded of God’s judgement every time he saw the cherubim with the flaming sword guarding its gates; but instead wanting to be rid of God altogether, to be farther removed from Eden than even Adam and Eve were.

Cain “went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,  east of Eden.” Cain became an outsider – outside of the family unit, outside of the society of his parents and upbringing, and outside of the presence of God.

The land of “Nod” means the land of wanderings. This is exactly what God had said about Cain, that he would “be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (4:12). Someone has said that: “Essentially, Cain’s punishment in becoming a wanderer and a fugitive was to lose all sense of belonging and identification with a community. Living in the ‘land of Nod,’ Cain lived without roots in isolation” (http://www.gotquestions.org/land-of-Nod.html).

There is no record that Cain ever came back. He turned his back on his family roots and he turned his back on his family’s God. He undoubtedly knew all about his family’s history. He probably heard from Adam, his father, about the beauty and perfection of Eden, about the single restriction that had been placed on them – that they could eat of every tree of the garden “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”(2:17). He had undoubtedly heard from his father how his father and mother had been deceived by the serpent and about how they had been thrust out of the garden by God as punishment for their sin.

Cain knew that it was right and proper to worship God. He had undoubtedly learned that from his father too. But he wanted to worship God on his own terms, not God’s. It seems that Cain held deep-seated resentment against God - perhaps because of what God had done to his parents; perhaps because of his own willful character. Whatever the reason was, he turned his back on God.

Cain became an apostate. He knew the God of his father and he knew the truth of God. He had been among God’s people. He had participated in the worship of God. He looked like a believer, enjoyed the benefits of a believer, but chose to turn away.

It’s one thing for a person not brought up in a Christian home to never give God a thought – that’s tragic, but understandable. It’s one thing for someone who has never read or heard God’s word, never been to a Bible-believing church, never had anyone share the gospel with them, to be thoroughly indifferent toward God – that’s tragic but understandable. Though they are fully responsible before God because of the testimony of creation and the testimony of their own conscience, nonetheless, we can understand them living a life without God. But for someone who has known the truth, been brought up in a privileged, believing household and enjoyed intimacy with God, for such a person to turn away from God altogether is apostasy - willfully turning away from known truth. This is why Jude presents Cain as an apostate.

Cain’s indifference toward God when he “went away from the presence of the Lord” didn’t stop there. It wasn’t just a temporary indifference, or forgetfulness of God, or busyness with other pursuits, or spiritual backsliding. Cain’s departure from God started with distance from God and led to complete disconnection from God. “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch” (4:17).

Cain completely removes and replaces every trace of his past and every reminder of God in his life. Eden is replaced by the city of “Enoch.” He is moving on from a garden to a city – the very first city in the Bible. He doesn’t want to stay where he was with his family; he wants to live his life in independence from them and from God. The paradise God had created and which his parents had once enjoyed is replaced by a city created and built by Cain’s own hands. The paradise that they had lost at the Fall is replaced by a “paradise” of Cain’s own making. All God’s bountiful provision for his father, Adam, and his mother, Eve, are all a thing of the past for Cain now.

Cain wants nothing more to do with the past. As far as he is concerned, God’s promises are untrue, God is too demanding, and Cain will strike out on his own. After all, he is creative, clever, and ambitious. He can make a life for himself without God. He isn’t interested in God’s paradise of the past or the future. He just wants to  live his life now - to eat, drink and be merry. So, he builds a city where he and his family can have all the luxuries, entertainment, and conveniences they desire, where they can satisfy their every whim. They weren’t going to be held back by a God who demands obedience – despite the fact that, in return for obedience, God had promised them eternal life and a paradise to live in.

Cain would make the land of “wandering” into a place of permanence. Neither he nor his descendants would be rudely evicted from anywhere again for this was his city, the city of Enoch. And there his family expanded: “To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech” (4:18).

Do you see what’s happening? Departure from God starts out with indifference toward God which leads to independence from God. This is the downward trajectory on which sin takes us if you don’t judge it and get right with God. Perhaps you find yourself in that situation right now. As you reflect back on your life, you realize that where you are now in your relationship with God started with a small step of departure from God. Then over time you became indifferent towards God and, later, independent of God altogether. That’s the downward progression in which sin leads you. So, stop that downward slide right now! Get right with God – right now!

Notice then the downward trajectory so far. It starts with deviant behavior in the family (4-11), which leads to disconnection from society (12-15), then to departure from God (16-18). Finally…

4. Departure From God Leads To A Degenerate Age (4:19-24).

This is the end result of an ungodly downward trajectory of deviant behavior in the family, disconnection within society, and a general disregard for God. The sin of Adam led to the deviant behavior and spiritual disregard of Cain and, ultimately, to the degeneracy of Lamech: “Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah” (4:19). This new world order gives rise to a new moral order. Lamech stoops to a new moral low. Polygamy is now introduced to the new age in the new city. Deviance and disregard (indifference and independence) have bloomed into lust and lawlessness manifested in polygamy. Now, there is no moral sensitivity whatsoever toward God, nor any religious sensitivity or activity at all! Life now has become completely secular – no thought of God, no fear of God before their eyes. They are thoroughly worldly in their thinking, pursuits, ambitions, and lusts.

The family unit that God had created and which had been given to Adam is now a thing of the distant past. God’s principal for marriage that “a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24) didn’t enter their thinking. This is a sophisticated society now - not people who work the land with their hands, not people who are accountable to God, but a society with new ways, new occupations, and new morality, where individuality trumps community, where you can do whatever you choose, where no one is shocked by the most outrageous acts. Does any of this sound familiar?

The names of Lamech’s wives are instructive. Adah means “ornamental” – perhaps he was attracted to her beauty. Zillah means “seductress” – perhaps he was lured by her sexuality. Lamech is trapped and controlled by what his eyes saw and what his flesh lusted after.

The new world order also gives rise to new vocations and lifestyles as demonstrated by Lamech’s sons. This was a new age of agricultural development. “Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock” (4:20). Moving out of the city, Jabal developed a new way of living. He became a nomadic farmer – just like they still have today in many parts of the world (e.g. the Fulani in west Africa). Perhaps he saw an opportunity to fill a need. After all, cities need farmers to provide their food. Perhaps he recognized this new market that emerged out of the new urban society. He was “the first” (the pioneer, the father) of a new development in corporate agriculture, in raising livestock. He was an entrepreneur - he saw a need and filled it. He started a new career, a new way of life, a new livelihood. He was the pioneer of ranching. He designed and developed the know-how for producing food for the city dwellers. Anybody who wanted to know how to do it went to Jabal – he was the “father” of this type of livelihood. This was truly a new age of agricultural development.

And this is a new age of recreational development – an age of distraction. The next brother, Jubal, “was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe” (4:21). People who live in a city want entertainment, something to fill their leisure time. So, Jubal jumped on the bandwagon and started an orchestra. He was appealing to the new demand for pleasure, for when you live in the city you have to have something to fill in your spare time. It’s not like living off the land as his fore-bearers had done by the sweat of their brow. Possibly this demand for pleasure was also generated by the drift away from God. They didn’t want to remember God or allow their consciences to be active, so they needed to be entertained during their leisure time. What better way to do that than through music? Music drowns out everything around you. Music fills your mind, ears, and heart.

This was also a new age of industrial development. “Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron” (4:22). Make no doubt about it, these sons of Lamech were clever, inventive, and ambitious. Tubal-Cain initiated the first industrial revolution. He had discovered, designed and developed metal processing and manufacturing. He was known for his knowledge and creativity in the area of metal working. Not everyone could do this – this was a technological, scientific and manufacturing break through. This would have put him at the cutting edge of technology in that day. He was the Benjamin Franklin of the day, the Alexander Graham Bell, the Henry Ford, the Bill Gates, the Steve Jobs. This was as much a breakthrough in that day as the printing press would be later and, still later, industrial production.

Along with all this advancement undoubtedly came material prosperity, social pleasure, and economic power. They were on the cusp of a new world order, a new age that abandoned their religious upbringing and morality in favor of the thrill of independence and prosperity and the throwing away of restraint.

Lastly, this was also an age of societal development. Here, sadly we reach the all-time low in the downward trajectory of societal degeneracy, because personal degeneracy leads to societal degeneracy, which is usually marked by anger, revenge, retaliation, and outright defiance. “23 Lamech said to his wives: ‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold’” (4:23-24). Lamech’s departure from God through lust and pride led him to this – to murder! Perhaps his son’s invention of metal working had led to the development and production of weapons – the text doesn’t tell us. Perhaps the family had become so powerful and so rich that their lives were threatened – the text doesn’t tell us. But evidently Lamech’s reaction to someone who had injured him went far beyond what was reasonable so that, in defending himself, he killed someone. Now he claims a far greater measure of protection than God had promised Cain – not sevenfold but seventy-sevenfold. This is an exclamation of egregious vengeance: “Anyone who tries to harm me will receive back seventy-seven times what he gives me!”

This is truly an age of utter defiance - defiance of opponents and defiance of God. That’s what happens in advancing societies. People become rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Their lives are self-sustaining, self-propagating, self-enriching, and self-advancing. They have economic prosperity, social pleasures, and military protection. But none of this leads them closer to God. On the contrary, it leads them further away from God and further down the path of degeneracy.

Concluding Remarks

There you have the downward course of this antediluvian family. Does any of this sound familiar to you? It all started with anger that went unjudged and led to murder. And from there it all went downhill from deviant behavior in the family, to disconnection from society, to departure from God, and ultimately to a thoroughly degenerate age. Remember my proposition: “When you nurture anger it can lead to rebellion against God, and when you rebel against God, there’s no telling where you may end up.”

Today, we too live in a new world order with a new morality. Today, we too live in a degenerate age, which openly practices deviant behavior, disconnection from society, and departure from God. Marriage has been redefined. Your gender is self-determined. Life has been devalued so that doctors kill preborn babies and, now, euthanize the aged, diseased, and disabled.

So, how should we then live in such a society? Firstly, we must be on our guard and be aware of what is going on around us. Secondly, we must live according to God’s standards. Thankfully, as we will see in the next article in this series, even in the midst of spiritual and moral darkness God always has a testimony. While the ungodly line of Cain departed from God, the godly line of Seth began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Introduction

As we continue this series on “The Life and Times of Noah,” let’s review what we have learned in sermons 1 and 2. In those messages we looked at Genesis 4 and 5 in which we saw (1) The legacy of Cain in departing from God; and (2) The legacy of Seth in the worship of God.

In this article, we come to chapter 6:1-8, in which we see God’s response to uncontrolled and universal wickedness. The overarching lesson we learn from this passage is this: There is a limit to God’s patience.

At the outset we need to understand the terms used in verse 1. Obviously, “man” (1a) refers to mankind, the human race. “Daughters” (1b) are women born into the human race. But who exactly are “the sons of God” (2a)?

The interpretation of this phrase is still hotly debated. Clearly the author is making three distinctions between different beings: (1) the distinction between “sons of God” (not sons of men) and “daughters of men”; (2) the distinction between “sons” and “daughters”; and (3) the distinction between “God” and “men”. Without going into details, let me outline the three primary views.

First, the view that the term “sons of God” refers to the men of the godly line of Seth from ch. 4-5. But surely if this is what the author wanted to convey he would have said “sons of Seth or Enos”. Or, he would have said “sons of Jehovah” since 4:26 refers to them as “men who began to call on the name of Jehovah”. And, anyway, the sons of Seth could have married the daughters of men without such catastrophic results.

Second, the view that the term “sons of God” refers to royalty, kings who at times were referred to by this term. But this view doesn’t help either because they too were free to marry the daughters of men if they so chose.

Third, the view that the term “sons of God” refers to spirit beings (supernatural beings, fallen angels) who took on human form. This is the view that I favor. The expression “sons of God” indicates that these were men but not normal men - not descendants of Adam, but spirit beings (in this case, demonic) in human, male form. The primary reason that I adopt this view is because Scripture itself defines what the term “sons of God” means. It is a quite common expression in the O.T. and is only used in Scripture to describe angels / spirit beings (sometimes holy, sometimes wicked) or Jesus. Job 1:6 and 2:1 talk about “the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them.” Job 38:7 describes the time in creation when “the morning starts sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” In Dan. 3:25, describing what he saw in the fiery furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar says, “I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

There are other texts that describe angels in human form. For example, in Gen 18, Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent and saw “three men standing by him,” one of whom is identified as “the Lord” (Gen. 18:3, 13).These angels were clearly indistinguishable from humans. In Gen. 19, “two angels came to Sodom and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom” (19:1) and in vv. 4-5 “the men of the city surrounded (Lot’s) house, and they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them” (i.e. carnally). Again these angels were indistinguishable from humans. In Gen. 32, Jacob wrestled with an angel and in Heb. 13:2, the author exhorts us to not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so “some have unwittingly entertained angels”.

So, from these texts we know that the term “sons of God” or “sons of the gods” was used to describe spirit beings and we know that both holy angels and demons (wicked, fallen angels) could take on human form, specifically male human form.

Further, this view is supported by Jude 6-7 and 2 Pet. 2:4-6. When Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven (cf. Isa. 14:12-14 and Ezek. 28:12-18) a host of angels fell with him. According to Jude 6-7, evidently some of those fallen angels (evil spirits) took human form and married women. It says that, ignoring God’s created order, these fallen “angels… left their proper dwelling… [and] indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire” (Jude 6-7). Here their activity is likened to the sexual perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19). 2 Pet. 2:4-5 connects these fallen angels directly to the flood: “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgement…he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

So, Jude and 2 Peter 2 directly connect our passage to these fallen, wicked angels and their sexual immorality, the result of which was not only the flood judgement on human beings but also immediate judgement on the angels themselves, who were no longer active under Satan’s control, but are “kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgement of the great day,” Jude 6 says. That is, God has not simply cast them out of heaven but he has already locked them up awaiting their final judgement.

All of this leads us to these observations…

1. When Wickedness Is Unashamedly Practiced, God Patiently Warns (6:1-4)

Notice first that…

A) God’s Pattern For Marriage Was Corrupted.

“The sons of God,” these demonic beings in human form, took women as their wives. This was a deviant union. This was a corruption of God’s pattern for marriage, for God had said that “a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife” (Gen. 2:24). And in addition to this deviant union they practiced the deviant behavior of polygamy – “they took as their wives any that they chose” (6:2b). Evidently, the lust of the eyes - what “the sons of God saw” (6:2a) - led directly to the lust of the flesh expressed in rampant polygamy. Lamech took two wives in Gen. 4:19. Now they take whoever they want and as many as they want. Unbridled sexual desire coupled with unlawful union produced a divine warning in 6:3.

So, just to be clear, the cause of God’s judgement in the flood seems to have been due to the unashamed wickedness in society, which reaches its all-time low point in the unlawful union of demonic spirits with women and the unbridled practice of polygamy,  all of which started with the lust of the eyes – the “sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive” (6:2) - which led to the lust of the flesh in the indiscriminate taking of multiple wives.

So, let’s apply this to ourselves before we go further. The eyes are the window to your soul according to Jesus (Matt. 6:22). What you see goes deep within you, more so than what you hear. This was the cause of the very first sin – “Eve saw that the tree was good for food” (Gen. 3:6). What she saw overshadowed what God had said! So, be careful what you look at because what you look at can easily overpower your self-control. What you see may become fantasy, and uncontrolled fantasies can become reality. Here’s the process according to James: inward desire coupled with outward enticement leads to sin, which ends in death (James 1:14-15). What goes into your eyes influences your heart, which affects your behavior. So don’t let it go into your heart in the first place! “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things” (Ps. 119:37).

So, what’s our conclusion thus far? The characteristic of that age was unashamed wickedness, a profligate generation whose uncontrolled lust and unrestrained lifestyle actually perverted the entire human race, such that God’s anger precipitated the flood.

So God’s pattern for marriage was corrupted and then…

B) God’s Patience With Man Was Curtailed.

“My Spirit shall not strive / contend with man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years” (6:3). God’s Spirit will not put up with man’s deviance forever. The life-giving Spirit of God will not always seek to draw men and women to God regardless of their response. Remember our thesis: There is a limit to God’s patience. And there is a responsibility on human beings. You cannot continue to live a godless, immoral life without ultimately coming face-to-face with God’s judgement. The reason for God withdrawing his Spirit is man’s flesh (his sinful nature), which gives rise to his sinful behavior.

God’s patience here runs out - it’s exhausted. Yet in grace, he still gave 120 years before the flood for men and women to repent. He continued to graciously warn them. He gave them opportunity to be saved right up until he shut the door of the ark 120 years later.

Further evidence that this union between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of man” was not normal is that their union produced “giants (or, Nephilim)… mighty men who were of old, the men of renown” (6:4), which continued to exist after the flood (e.g. Num. 13:33). The mention of giants as the offspring of this union between spirit beings and women must surely be included here to add to the storyline of the degenerating apostasy that precipitated God’s judgement. Thus an abnormal sexual relationships produced abnormal progeny. Perhaps this was an all-out attack by Satan to try and destroy any righteous descendants of Adam from whom he knew would come “the Seed” (Gen. 3:15), the Messiah.

So first, when wickedness is unashamedly practiced, God patiently warns. And…

2. When Godlessness Is Universally Present, God Ultimately Judges (6:5-8)

First is mentioned…

A) The Universal Pandemonium God Saw (6:5).

The fact that “the Lord saw” (6:5a) means that God is fully engaged with his creation. God is aware of everything that is said, done and thought, both past, present, and future.

God saw man’s actions. He “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (6:5a). From Adam to Cain to Lamech there was continuous moral and spiritual degradation. The first murder was committed by the first man’s son. It only took one generation for murder to occur and from there it spiraled swiftly downward.

Murder was followed by a generation of a new world order in ch. 4 – new vocations and lifestyles, new industrial and societal developments, a new location (from the land to the city) where they developed new means of entertainment. And, of course, there was a new definition of marriage with two wives. Finally, there was murder again, when Lamech killed a man in revenge. And now there is unlimited wives (6:2). Not a very good report card, is it?

“The wickedness of man was great in the earth.” In other words, it had progressed from bad to worse. Now it is described as being “great.” “The earth” was the very place that God had made for man to be indescribably happy and fulfilled. And yet this is the place where man’s wickedness is “great.” In other words, man was not only corrupt in his nature but also corrupt in his behavior, which had corrupted the perfect creation God had made for him.

Are we not living in similar days when the wickedness of man is great in the earth? Are we not living in the days leading up to the coming of the Son of Man? Jesus said, “37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37-39).

What a reminder to us today! Do you not see the parallel between the moral condition of Noah’s day and ours? They were eating and drinking and marrying. Life went on like nothing was changing, like nothing was wrong. They paid absolutely no attention to that strange man, building a big boat inland and who preached a strange message about judgement. I suspect that the longer they saw Noah building the ark – perhaps 50 or 60 years or so – the more they got used to it and ignored it. Isn’t that what people do? When something first breaks they talk about it, protest over it, write about it, complain about it. But after a while it just becomes the new normal.

But Noah’s warning did come true. God’s judgement did fall. And still today, the warnings of the gospel fall on deaf ears and everything appears outwardly to continue as it did from the beginning. But for how long? It’s going to come to an end one day. And it will come as much of a shock to the world then as it did back in Noah’s day. And just as Noah and his family sailed away in security and safety so will God’s people in that coming day.

I read recently again about William Carey. Stuart Briscoe writes: “William Carey was a pastor and a shoemaker… He had published a remarkable tract with the resounding title, “An enquiry into the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathen,” and followed it with deeply felt sermons seeking to awaken the churches to the needs of the unreached people of the earth. He had been roundly criticized for his efforts by church leaders but undeterred he set sail for India on the premise that he should “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” He had very little formal education but this did not stop him from teaching himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, and French before setting out for India where he subsequently learned Bengali, translated the entire Bible into Bengali, and helped produce Scriptures and related materials in no less than 40 different languages and dialects. During his forty years’ ministry he buried his wife and all his children in India, but he persisted in his conviction that God had called him, that he should obey and trust him, that he should use his God-given skills for the blessing of God and man, and that one day he would land safely on the shores of Glory as surely as he had previously landed in India and Noah before him had landed safely on Mt. Ararat.” (Stuart Briscoe, Genesis, 90-91).

This is a challenge to us, isn’t it? Are we faithfully proclaiming the good news of the gospel and warning the people of coming judgement, despite criticism and set-backs?

So, God saw man’s action and God saw man’s motives. “The Lord saw… that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5b). Not only does God see our outward actions but he sees our innermost thoughts. God is all-seeing and all-knowing. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth” (2 Chron. 16:9). “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3). He sees into our heart  for “all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

The heart in the Bible is the centre of our being. It’s where we make decisions, set values, make choices, harbor desires. God sees right into our innermost being, even to “the intentions of our hearts” (Heb. 4:12) – i.e. our motives, our desires! That’s why God’s Word is described as a “discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Only God can rightly and fully discern our thoughts, desires, and motives. Judges and juries can’t – that’s why they make mistakes. Your pastor can’t! Even your spouse can’t (although she may come close!). But God can and does see right into your heart.

God saw that the “intention of the thoughts of (man’s) heart was only evil continually.” No let up, no change for the good, no improvement; in fact, quite the opposite – there was nothing good there, only putrid evil.

What “the Lord saw” contrasts with what “the sons of God saw.” They “saw” that the women were “attractive / beautiful” (2) and that led to unbridled lust. God saw the unbridled wickedness of man and that led to God’s unrelenting judgement.

There was the universal pandemonium God saw. And…

B) The Enormous Pain God Felt (6:6)

So enormous was the pain he felt that the Lord “regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him in his heart” (6:6). Because God is fully engaged with his creation he feels deeply the separation that man’s sin causes. God is engaged with us but humanity is disengaged from him.

God was sorry – he regretted having made mankind! To “regret” something is to wish undone something that you have done or said, to have a sense of loss. To be “grieved” expresses a deep sense of betrayal or loss. To lose someone or be rejected by someone whom you deeply love generates grief. 

Here God expresses deep sorrow and heartache over man’s unfaithfulness and  disloyalty, over man’s rebellion and disobedience, and over man’s wickedness and degeneracy. We only grieve for those we love and God loves us more than anyone else. God loves us beyond our comprehension so much so that he gave his one and only Son to be our substitute, paying on our behalf the debt we owed for our sin.

So soon after being marvelously created by God, man refused God’s provision and man rejected God’s grace. By refusing God’s provision, we lost the paradise God had created and the fellowship he provided. By rejecting God’s grace, we are responsible for our sins and we face God’s judgement.

This verse begs the question: “Did God change his mind about having created mankind?” The answer is, “No!” He had enormous pain about what had happened but he did not reverse what he had done or change his purposes. Though he could have, God did not wipe out the human race. After all, we are still here. Furthermore, the context here suggests that it was man’s wickedness that made God sorry – not man’s existence. All of this rebellion and rejection by those he loved tore God’s heart apart. Adam and Eve were destined to experience sorrow and pain as the result of their sin. And here we read that God also feels sorrow and pain over that very same sin that man had introduced into his creation.

Let’s be clear: God is unchanging in his nature and character and purposes. But when humans respond contrary to his character and purposes, then God has the sovereign right to deal with humans in such a way as to accomplish his original and good purposes. That’s what’s going on here. God will not be deterred from accomplishing his good purposes. In this case, it led to God judging the human race with a flood in order to restore the world to the condition he wanted and to pursue his original purposes for mankind.

So, there was the universal pandemonium God saw, the enormous pain God felt, and…

C) The Final Plan God Made (6:7-8)

“I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping thing and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them” (6:7). Since God created us, he has the right and power to blot us out. But this only after years of God’s unfailing pursuit of us, his unfailing grace and patience toward us. And only after man had demonstrated years of continual spiritual and moral deterioration.

God extended mercy over and over again. There was a new beginning with the godly line of Seth but this still met with man’s detachment from and disregard of God, until this moment when God’s patience had been pushed past its limit. Someone has said that the “fatal line between God’s mercy and His wrath had been forever crossed” (John Phillips, Exploring Genesis, 82). The whole human race and all living creatures – all of whom had been impacted by sin - would come under the inescapable judgement of God, except for one man, Noah, for “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (6:8).

God does not leave himself without witness. There is always a remnant of faith even in the darkest days of human depravity. And God is not deterred from achieving his original purposes. In this simple sentence we find that despite the universal pandemonium God saw, and despite the enormous pain God felt, there was a final plan God made. And this final plan included the provision of redemption, a way of escape. In the midst of utter wickedness, there is one man through whom salvation was offered. Noah found favor with God because he was a righteous man (as we shall see in the next article in this series). Noah was a righteous man precisely because of God’s favor toward him.

This is the only reason any of us can be declared righteous by God - because of God’s grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”(Eph. 2:8). “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich”(2 Cor. 8:9). That is God’s grace, blessing us with what we didn’t deserve!

Concluding Remarks

Despite the depths of human wickedness that tested God’s patience and provoked God’s judgement, there is a limit to God’s patience. Remember the primary theological points in this sermon: (1) When wickedness is unashamedly practiced, God patiently warns; but (2) When godlessness is universally present, God ultimately judges. Nonetheless, prior to his judgement, God initiated a plan that is marked by grace, a plan to wipe out everything that was contrary to his nature and purposes, a plan to begin again in accordance with his original purpose in creation, and a plan to extend God’s grace to every person. All they had to do was enter the ark. They didn’t have to pay money or buy indulgences. They didn’t have to do works of penance. All they had to do is believe Noah’s message and demonstrate their belief by entering the ark.

Such is the grace of God that is extended today to every human being through the gospel. Prior to the imminent advent of God’s worldwide judgement, God is still proclaiming to people everywhere that a full and free salvation is available to all by his grace on the basis of faith in the finished work of Christ. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

So, why then do we live in such a wicked world today? Because the nature of man has not changed. “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” After the flood, God provided man with a perfect place but it wasn’t long before sin reared its ugly head once more. The nature of man has not changed and the purposes of God have not changed.

And as in Noah’s day all people have to do today is believe the gospel, enter the ark of safety which is Jesus Christ, receive God’s message of full and free salvation in Jesus. How simple is that? How easy is that? And yet, people still reject God and his grace. They still say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). But remember “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” There is a limit to God’s patience. Suddenly and without warning the judgement of God will fall and there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Make sure you avail yourself of the grace of God today while there is still the opportunity.

Introduction

After God finished giving Noah the instructions about the ark, the animals, and the food, it says: “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him” (6:22).

Then, Methuselah died! Now it doesn’t say that here but that’s what happened. Do the math – it works! Methuselah was 969 years old when he died. He was 187 years old when Lamech was born (5:25). Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born (5:28). Noah was 500 years old by the time Shem, Ham, and Japheth were born (5:32). And 100 years after that, when Noah was 600 years old (7:6), came the flood. Thus, 187+182+500 +100 = 969 years. Methuselah was 969 years old – the oldest man who had ever lived.

Perhaps the people thought Methuselah would never die and neither would they. Perhaps they thought that if he lived that long so would they. Perhaps they were putting their trust in the latest breakthroughs in medical science. Perhaps they counted on their inventions, their technical abilities, their scientific breakthroughs - I don’t know. But I do know that just when Noah did all that God commanded him, Methuselah died!

“What’s so significant about that?” you ask. Well, Methuselah’s name means, “When he dies, it shall come.” His name spelled it all out. For 969 years, his name and his life had witnessed to some sort of impending catastrophic event. “When he dies, it shall come” – and he died. “Now what?” they must have surely wondered. “What will come?” Or, perhaps they just passed off Methuselah’s death as old age; “After all, no one lives forever. It happens to the best of us.”

Methuselah’s funeral must have been quite something. Perhaps Noah preached Methuselah’s funeral message. You can imagine what he might have said: “Ladies and gentlemen, Methuselah is dead! Methuselah’s name means, ‘When he dies, it shall come.’ So, the time has come, just as I have been telling you now for 120 years. The time has come; the flood is coming and the ark is ready. Enter the ark now so that you are safe.”

But nobody responded. No one believed him except his family. I can hear the response from the crowd as they jeered and hooted and ridiculed him. “What do you mean, judgement is coming? Anyway, just exactly what is ‘rain’? You’ve never seen it: we’ve never seen it. There has never been any rain ever! So, who are you to tell us that a flood is coming?” So nobody responded to Noah’s invitation that day.

The subject of this sermon is: God’s plan of salvation. And its thesis is that there is a finality to God’s plan of salvation. God has always had a plan of salvation, a way of escape from his coming judgement. He did so in Noah’s day of violence and corruption and he does so in our day. Just as it was universally available then, so it is universally available now. Just as God had a plan of salvation then, so he does today. God’s plan of salvation for Noah was the ark. God’s plan of salvation for us today is the sacrifice of Christ. And just as God’s plan of salvation had a finality to it then, so his plan of salvation has a finality to it today.

1. God’s Plan Includes A Final Invitation (7:1).

Finally the time had come. Everything was ready - the ark, the birds and animals, the food. Noah’s faithful preaching was complete. He had warned of coming judgement and he had offered full and free salvation.

And now God issues his final invitation: “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation’” (7:1). This is the same invitation God offers today - escape for your life; flee to Christ for security and safety; in him you have shelter from coming judgement. It takes a step of faith for the salvation God offers to be yours. You must respond in faith to the invitation to come into safety. One day the final invitation will be sounded for the last time, just as it did in Noah’s day: “Come for all things are now ready”(Lk. 14:17).

God’s plan includes a final invitation. And…

2. God’s Plan Includes A Final Instruction (7:2-4).

“1Then the Lord said to Noah… ‘ 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground’” (7:2-4).

This seems to be a supplemental instruction to 6:19. There Noah was instructed to bring pairs of every living thing. Now, in addition to the pairs, he was to bring in clean animals in sevens. We’re not going to have time to cover chapters 8 and 9, but in 9:20 Noah built an altar and offered a burnt offering there. That’s what these clean animals must have been for.

This scene is somewhat reflective of Gen. 2:19, where the animals were brought by God before Adam, the first head of the human race, for him to name them. Now they come before Noah, the second head of a redeemed race, not to be named but to be preserved.

God’s plan includes a final invitation, a final instruction, and…

3. God’s Plan Includes A Final Response (7:5-9).

Noah responded in faith and obedience. “Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him” (7:5). He not only trusted God, he also obeyed. His obedience was evidence of his faith – evidence to his household and to his society. And there was no doubt in his mind about it – “Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him” (7:5).

So, for the next 7 days, according to 7:4, Noah and his family and all the animals and birds and cargo were loaded onto the ark (7:7-9). Can you imagine what those 7 days were like? For Noah those 7 days were the fulfillment of a life’s work. This was it! What he had been predicting for many years was about to happen. But for the people, who had listened to Noah’s message all those years, what were those 7 days like when they saw the animals filing into the ark, when they saw Noah’s family enter the ark, when they saw Noah practicing what he had been preaching?

Did they suddenly reconsider? No! Did they say, “Noah actually believes what he said. He must not be a false prophet or a con man?” No! Did they join Noah and his family, just in case it was true that a flood was coming? No! Undoubtedly the mockers of that society worked overtime despite the fact that God was giving them one last chance, seven more days to respond. The cynics probably said, “Don’t be deceived. It’s all a hoax. All things will continue as they have from the beginning.” The jokers probably laughed and jeered, like so many today. People laugh and jeer at spiritual matters. They give no thought to tomorrow. They don’t care about the future. They just live for today. They give no thought of God or coming judgement. They don’t think there will ever be an end to the world. And they laugh and jeer at those who tell them the truth.

Years ago I used to do some street preaching at the four corners of Parry Sound (a small town in northern Ontario) and also in Toronto at Queen’s Park. People used to laugh and jeer. Passing cars used to honk their horns and squeal their tires. I’m sure it was the same in Noah’s day (well, perhaps not the squealing tires!). Noah responded in faith and obedience but what about the people?

This was their final opportunity to also respond in faith and obedience. But would they? Would they believe? Would they believe that Noah was telling them the truth? After all, history is littered with false doomsday prophets. Would they believe that it was going to rain? After all, they had never experience rain before - they didn’t know what it looked like or felt like. Would they believe that the rain would cause a flood and that every air breathing creature that was not in the ark would drown? After all, what’s a little rain? Can it really be that bad? Anyway, is it possible to literally flood the entire earth? Would they believe that the ark was able and sufficient to hold them all and to protect them throughout the flood? After all, that’s a lot of animals! Would they believe that God’s covenant with Noah would be fulfilled and that God would and could keep his word? After all, they had probably heard many promises before from false prophets.

Noah had built the ark and preached to his doomed generation that they could escape God’s coming judgement by simply entering the ark. And God still warns the world through his people today. He still issues a word of prophecy. He still extends an invitation. He still gives signs that his word is true. Signs of the times are all around and yet people still do not heed the warning, despite the fact that so many people today are saying, “I don’t know how long this world can go on like this.” Well, “just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Lk. 17:26). The message had been published perhaps for the full 120 years. And for the last 7 days the final action had been taken – the animals and cargo were loaded and ready to go. And at a precise date in history, the 600th year of Noah’s life, the 2nd month, the 17th day of the month, “Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood” (7:7).

Whether others believed Noah or not, Noah believed God. He had built the ark according to God’s instructions (6:15-16). He had gathered all the birds and animals according to God’s instructions (6:19-20 and 7:2-3, 8-9). He had collected all the food they would need according to God’s instructions (6:21). “Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him” (7:5).

Do you see that there were two key ingredients to this plan of salvation? First, God’s infallible word. Second, Noah’s intrinsic obedience to God in faith. All those who believed God’s word and obeyed it by entering the ark would be saved. It has always been this way with God’s plan of salvation. It is this way for us today in God’s marvelous plan of salvation. First, you need to believe God’s word. Second, you need to obey it by repenting of your sin and trusting Christ as your Saviour. Christ is the ark of safety from the storm of God’s wrath that is coming upon the whole world. He is the ark of provision for the needs of all inside. He alone can meet our every need for time and eternity. He alone can keep us safe throughout the storm.

In addition to the physical reality of the ark it speaks of a spiritual reality. The spiritual reality for those inside the ark was that they were safe and secure. They had no fear of perishing. They had full assurance of ultimate salvation. No flood could penetrate the walls which were lined with pitch. The word for “pitch” (6:14) literally means “covering” (specifically, bitumen) and figuratively it means to expiate, placate, appease, ransom. Is this not a picture, then, of the covering of the mercy seat and, later, the covering that we have in Christ, our propitiation?

So for those inside the ark, they were literally and spiritually safe and secure. The literal and spiritual reality for those left outside the ark was that they thought they were free but in fact they were prisoners doomed for destruction. They thought that this was one big joke as they watched the ark being loaded up to set sail. You can hear their shrieks of laughter, their shouts of scorn as they frittered away their last moments of opportunity to be saved.

God’s plan of salvation includes a final invitation, a final instruction, a final response, and…

4. God’s Plan Includes A Final Judgement (7:10-24)

“All the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” (7:11). Rain came from the sky and water came up from the ground. You have to wonder how that day began. Did it begin like a normal day, perhaps with sunshine that gradually turned to clouds? We don’t know. What must the people have thought when the door of the ark was shut and the rain began to fall? We don’t know. Did they bang on the ark’s door begging Noah to let them in? We don’t know. What we do know is that “rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights (7:12).

It began to rain: “13On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according its kind, every winged creature. 15They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in” (7:13-16).

Noah followed God’s instruction to the letter. He “did all that the Lord had commanded him” (7:5). He gathered in all the animals “as God commanded him” (7:9). Noah and his family entered the ark “as God had commanded him” (7:16). Noah followed God’s instruction to the letter. Never a moment’s hesitation in his obedience. Never a doubt in his mind. Just pure and perfect obedience.

There was so much Noah could have questioned. Would God literally flood the earth or was that just a metaphor? Was God able to do such a thing? Why would a loving God wipe out every breathing creature left on the earth? Was it really that bad? Was God such a malevolent being? What kind of God would initiate such suffering and death?

But Noah chose to act in obedient faith. “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” (Heb. 11:7). Here you see the seven key components of Noah’s obedient faith:

1) He heeded the divine warning. He took God seriously; believed what God said;  understood the seriousness of it; recognized the implications of it.

2) He believed without seeing – “things yet unseen.” Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). That describes Noah who had never seen rain, never seen water rise from the foundations of the earth, never seen an ocean, never seen a ship much less an ark,  never seen any blueprints of an ark.

3) He was motivated by “godly fear”. He knew that God demanded obedience. He knew the consequences of disobeying God. He knew God in such a way that he lived in reverence and awe, the lesser worshipping the greater, the creature before the Creator.

4) He did exactly what God said – “constructed an ark.” He didn’t decide that he knew better than God. He didn’t change what God said and instead of building an ark built a tree house. He didn’t tell people to flee to the tops of the mountains to escape coming judgement. He did what God said.

5) He valued the safety of his family -­ “constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” They were precious to him. He wanted them to escape the judgement of God.

6) He “condemned” the unbelieving world. By not heeding Noah’s warning the unbelieving world was self-condemned.

7) He “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” He entered into all the blessings of the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Such was the faith of Noah. And when they were all inside, the Lord shut them in. Perfect safety for those inside – certain doom for those outside. Absolute finality for everyone and everything. And then followed the flood. Notice the increasing intensity and scope of the flood:

1) “The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth” (7:17).

2) “The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth and the ark floated on the face of the waters” (7:17-18).

3) “The waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered” (7:19).

4) “The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep” (7:20).

Thus the flood progressed from a general statement in 7:17-18 to the high hills being covered in 7:19, and the mountains in 7:20. Obviously this is following the sequence of events as they occurred over the 40 days. It went from water raising the ark above the earth, to covering the high hills, to covering the mountains. But amidst all this, “the ark floated on the face of the waters” (7:18). While everyone else was perishing, even those who probably tried to escape to the tops of the mountains, those in the ark were safe: they rose above it all.

Christians are divided about whether the flood was universal in scope or limited to the habitable part of the world at that time. The language used here indicates a world-wide catastrophic flood. The whole world was covered with water, even the tops of the mountains. Some scientists don’t want us to believe that because it flies in the face of their atheistic, evolutionary theories and their interpretation of fossils (which tries to explain away the flood and support their theory that death occurred before Adam and Eve), all of which is patently untrue. Scientific evidence of a world-wide flood is abundant.

Why, then, did it have to be universal and catastrophic? So that God’s word would come true, that every breathing creature would die (7:21-27). “23He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, both man and animals, and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days” (7:23-24).

It rained 40 days and the waters remained on the earth a further 150 days, and it took a whole year for the waters to recede completely so that they could come out of the ark.

Concluding Remarks

I know that there are many people who think the story of the flood is a fairy tale. Sadly, there are professing Christians who believe that it is a fable or an allegory. They say that such accounts exist in other ancient civilizations; that these are merely mythical attempts to explain some sort of catastrophic event. Some of you today may be among those who smile condescendingly and cynically about the biblical flood. Well, I want you to know that there were some who lived during the flood, who also smirked and scoffed at the notion that a flood was coming. Just as there are those today who smirk and scoff that judgement is coming again. They say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” Well, remember, “just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Lk. 17:26).

And remember my thesis in this sermon: There is a finality to God’s plan of salvation - a final invitation; a final instruction; a final response; a final judgement. It’s my prayer that everyone reading this has responded appropriately to God’s invitation to salvation and escape God’s final judgement.