5-5-19 Sermon Notes
“Origins” “Salvation Thru Judgment” – Genesis 6:1-13
Introduction
Last week, we looked at the consequence of sin – death. Now we will begin looking at the familiar story of Noah and the Flood. The focus of this message will be on why God sent a flood. While we are familiar with Noah building the ark, the flood, and the aftermath, we perhaps have not paid much attention to what led up to the flood. Therefore, this message will attempt to examine the conditions of the earth prior to the flood. And believe it or not, we may come to the conclusion that the flood was a good thing.
Read Genesis 6:1-13
Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Message
Introduction
The Biblical account of the great flood of Noah’s day opens with an enigmatic passage, Genesis 6: 1-4. The record of Noah, it seems, could easily have omitted them, going directly from the end of chapter five to 6: 5 without losing any essential information pertaining to the flood. The flow of the Genesis narrative seems to be interrupted by these verses.
So why did God inspire Moses to include these verses? Other questions also come to mind. God had, for many hundreds of years, continued the punishment meted out to Adam. We read in chapter five repeatedly the phrase, “and he died”. Why was not the ordinary death of human beings sufficient punishment for sin? What was the factor that required the simultaneous deaths of all mankind save Noah and his family?
There seems to be a deeper and more compelling reason for the flood than the sinfulness of man. These first four verses along with other Scriptures, give us a fuller picture of the reason God sent the flood to cover the earth.
The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men
There are differing views as to the identification of these “sons of God” mentioned in verses 2 and 4. One view is that they were from the line of Seth and the other is that they were fallen angels. It is up to you, the reader to decide for yourself which view may be correct. Here are some verses that may help you in that regard: Job 1;6 and Job 2:1. Job 38:7, 1 Peter 3:19-20, 2 Peter 2:4,Jude 6-7 and Matthew 22:30. I can lean in both directions at the same time, so in essence, I just don’t know. Needless to say, these intermarriages produced a significant increase in the level of evil. Verse 5 attests to that. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Only evil and all the time!
Verses 7 and 11-13 continue God’s judgment. 7 “So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 11 “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”
What if there had not been a Noah? Verse 8 – 8 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” Stop for a moment and think about what would have happened to the human race if there had not been a Noah. One can only conclude that it would have been the end of the human race with no possibility of salvation through Jesus since his lineage would have come to an end.
Concluding Remarks
Satan tried at various times to prevent the “bruising of his head” by the seed of the woman, Genesis 3:15. He tried in Egypt by causing all the male babies to be drowned. He tried as the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land through the agency of Balak and Balaam. He tried by means of Haman to extinguish the Jews. He tried at the birth of Jesus through Herod’s slaughter of the young boys of Bethlehem. He tried by tempting Jesus in the wilderness.
Satan did everything he could to keep mankind from being saved by the blood of the Lamb. If he couldn’t kill Him outright, if he couldn’t stop the Jewish nation from producing the Messiah, he would try to prevent the atonement by causing Him to sin. Our Savior had to be sinless in order to be the propitiation for our sins.
The Genesis 6:1-4 passage relates one of Satan’s early attempts. He wanted to infect the whole human race so there could be no possibility of a sinless substitute who could make atonement for the sins of all mankind.
God spared Noah. He prevented the plague from continuing through human procreation by eliminating all those who were infected or had the potential to be infected by means of the Flood. And by doing so continued the line God intended to use in bringing His Son into the world to be our Savior.
Thank God for the Flood! He, by it, was working to bring us salvation!
Next Week – The continuation of the Origins series