Genesis: Lesson 3

Overview

Noah, the Flood, and the Grace of God

The story of Noah opens with a sobering picture of compromise. In Genesis 6:1-2, the "sons of God"—the believing line of Seth—intermarry with the unbelieving line of Cain. This was no minor matter: it threatened the very promise of the coming Messiah, who would be born from the line of faith. Scripture's later prohibitions against Israel intermarrying with surrounding nations spring from the same concern—God's people being drawn away from the faith into which they were called. The pastoral application remains: believers are wise to marry believers, lest the practices of the unbelieving spouse gradually shape the home.

When the Lord declares in Genesis 6:3 that humanity's days "shall be 120 years," this is not a cap on lifespan but a window of patience before the flood—an expression of the same long-suffering mercy described later in the New Testament, where God desires all to come to repentance. Yet the wickedness of humanity was great, and "every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." Jesus diagnoses the same congenital condition in Matthew 15:18-20: defilement comes from within, from the heart. Original sin is the heart disease we all inherit from Adam and Eve. Noah was not sinlessly perfect, but he "found favor in the sight of the Lord" through saving faith that anticipated the Messiah.

The flood account displays both judgment and remarkable grace. God Himself shut Noah into the ark Genesis 7:16—a tender, protective act, like tucking children safely into bed—and God Himself called them out again. Inside that vessel for a full year, Noah's family was preserved while the old order was washed away. Afterward, God renewed to Noah the same blessing once given to Adam in Genesis 1:28: "Be fruitful and multiply" Genesis 9:1. The rainbow stands as the sign of His covenant promise never again to destroy the earth by flood. And lest we imagine the flood eradicated sin, the episode of Noah's drunkenness and Ham's disrespect quickly reminds us that humanity still bears the brokenness of our first parents. Jesus warns in Luke 17:26-27 that our own generation lives much like Noah's—eating, drinking, marrying—until the trumpet sounds.

Most strikingly, Scripture itself draws a line from the flood waters to the waters of Holy Baptism. In 1 Peter 3:18-21, Peter says the flood prefigured baptism, "which now saves you." The same waters that brought judgment also lifted the ark to safety. So in baptism, God uses ordinary water joined to His Word to drown the old Adam and raise us to new life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is not merely a symbol of something we have done; it is a sacrament—God's saving action upon us. Because the old Adam and Eve are persistent swimmers, we return daily to our baptism through repentance, putting sin to death and rising again in Christ. As Luther taught us to say each morning and night: "I am baptized." That confidence rests not in our action but in God's, who still works through means to kill and to save.

Transcript

Good morning. 3s

Let's pray together. 6s

Hold in gracious God we give you thanks for your goodness and for your grace. 8s

We give you thanks for the opportunity to go forth and to be salt and light into the 13s

world. 18s

We thank you for the bedrock upon which we stand. 19s

You're infelible and errant word. 23s

What a solid footing that gives to us. 27s

And so Father bless us now as we continue to study in your very first book, this book of Genesis, 31s

in Jesus' name. 39s

Well we talked last week about examining some of the consequences of the fall into sin. 43s

And the consequences of course dealt with relationship with God, relationship with each 51s

other, the relationship between creation and creature. 57s

But amidst this very sad story comes the glorious promise of the Messiah. 63s

Could I ask someone please to shut those two doors? 72s

Someone already got me. 75s

Thank you. 76s

Thank you. 76s

But we see amidst that sad story we see here the promise of the Messiah to come. 78s

We took a look at the story of Cain and Abel, how Cain killed his brother. 85s

But then we also hear of the line of Seth that comes. 90s

And through that line comes one by the name of Noah. 95s

And that's where I'd like to focus today with you. 99s

So let's open up to Genesis chapter 6, please. 103s

Genesis chapter 6. 106s

And we'll start right with verse 1. 111s

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground and daughters were born to them, 116s

the sons of God saw that they were fair and they took wives for themselves of all that 124s

they chose. 130s

What this is referring to is referring to the line of Seth intermarrying with the line 133s

of Cain. 141s

So you have the line of the believers, Seth intermarrying with the line of the unbelievers. 143s

Of course the problem with that is that this can threaten the promise of the coming of 151s

the Messiah. 157s

Because the Messiah is going to be born through the believing line. 158s

And so if you have intermarrying between the believer and the unbeliever, what can happen 163s

then is that the believer can fall away into the practices of the unbeliever. 171s

Just as an Messiah, it's been my experience over the years pasturally. 180s

That first of all, believers should only marry believers. 185s

That's the first question that I will ask a couple that want to be married. 191s

Are you both believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? 196s

My experience has been in the majority of cases where someone has somewhere else been married 201s

as a believer and an unbeliever that what has happened is that the practices of the believer 214s

become more like the practices of the unbeliever, more often than not. 221s

So you see here the wisdom of Scripture, the wisdom of God here, and that believers should 227s

marry believers. 234s

So the threat here then to the promise of the Messiah is that if there's intermarrying 238s

between a believer and an unbeliever, between these two lines here, that what can happen 245s

is, is then the promise of the Messiah coming from a line of believers would then be nullified, 251s

and therefore would not occur. 261s

Notice also later that there was a prohibition with regard to the Jews intermarrying with other nations. 267s

We see that in Scripture. 275s

Why is that? 277s

Because God was concerned that the people would not be led away from their unique role of the people 278s

out of which the Messiah would come. 285s

Let's pick up in verse 3 now. 288s

Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not abide in mortals forever for their flesh. 291s

Their days shall be 120 years. 297s

That's not a fixing of a lifespan here. 303s

What's being referred to is the amount of time until the flood. 307s

So it was 120 years here. 311s

So the flood is still a little bit ways off. 315s

What does this point to? 318s

It points to the patience of God. 319s

Remember how the New Testament tells us the patience of God who wants all to come to repentance. 322s

And so we have here now an expression of the patience of God wanting people to respond. 329s

Verse 5. 336s

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, 338s

and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 343s

And Lord was sorry that He had made humankind on the earth and had grieved Him to His heart. 350s

So the Lord said, I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created, 355s

people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air for I'm sorry that I have made them. 360s

God resolves here to end this evil order, simply to end it. 368s

Verse 8. 375s

But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. 375s

Noah found favor. 382s

Why? 384s

Because of Noah's belief. 385s

Let's go over to Matthew chapter 15. 388s

Please. 391s

Matthew chapter 15. 392s

Very first book in the New Testament. 395s

Matthew 15 will pick up in verse 18. 397s

What God is getting at here as He sees the sinfulness of humankind is the congenital heart ailment that affects all of us. 409s

So Genesis will pick up in verse 18. 420s

Genesis 15 verse 18. 425s

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 428s

For out of the heart come evil intentions. 435s

Murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slender. 439s

Remember that's not an all-inclusive list there. 444s

These are what defile a person. 447s

But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile. 449s

That's the congenital heart ailment known as original sin that causes that sinfulness to be manifest in that which we think, that which we do, that which we speak, our actions. 455s

We all have heart disease. 471s

We all have a heart problem. 475s

And we see that rooted in Scripture. 481s

Okay, back to Genesis chapter 6 again. 483s

The fact here that Noah finds favor in the sight of the Lord does not imply somehow a sinless perfection on the part of Noah. 489s

Not at all. 500s

Noah had inherited the sinfulness of his parents, Adam and Eve. 502s

We all go back to the same parents. 510s

We all go back to Adam and Eve. 512s

And all of us are a reflection of the sin that has entered into the world. 515s

But there is a saving faith in Noah in one who anticipates the Messiah and the manifestation of that faith in his life. 521s

And Noah is the one that God selects. 531s

Going over to verse 14. 535s

Make yourself an ark of Cyprus would make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. 538s

This is how you're to make it. 544s

The length of the ark, 300 qubits, it's with 50 qubits and it's height 30 qubits. 546s

Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a qubit above and put the door of the ark in its side. 551s

Make it with lower, second and third decks. 557s

For my part, I'm going to bring a flood of waters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breadth of life everything that is on the earth shall die. 560s

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. 574s

And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. 581s

They shall be male and female. 590s

The divinely dictated dimensions here are 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet. 594s

That's a pretty good size here, right? 603s

450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet. 605s

There are parallels between Noah's generation and our generation. 612s

In fact, all generations. 620s

Let's go to Luke chapter 17, please. 622s

Luke chapter 17, Matthew, Mark, and then Luke. 625s

Luke 17, verse 26. 628s

And there we read, just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 646s

They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed all of them. 654s

We live in the same way, don't we? 667s

Life goes on, normal things go on. 671s

There can be scoffing of a judgment day to come, but one day the trumpet will sound, right? 676s

So we have the parallel between our generation and the days of Noah living in the same way, but one day the trumpet will sound. 686s

Okay, back to Genesis chapter 7, verse 16. 696s

I want to highlight just a little detail here. 703s

Genesis 7, verse 16. 715s

And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. 717s

Notice this little phrase here. 724s

And the Lord shut him in. 725s

The Lord is the one that shuts the door. 731s

The Lord is the one that is called Noah and his family and all of the creatures, two of them male and female, to come into the ark. 736s

And the Lord who is to preserve here and from then Noah's family here build, he shuts them in the ark that protective act. 745s

Verse 11. 760s

In the sixth chapter 7, in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were open. 763s

Okay, jump over now to chapter 8. 781s

In the 600th first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and saw that the face of the ground was drying. 786s

In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth was dry. 804s

Then God said to Noah, go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you. 810s

What does that tell us? How long were they in the ark? Did you catch it? 820s

Did you catch it? One year. 826s

There were in the ark one year. Can you imagine being in the ark for one year? Can you imagine the smell in there? 830s

Just that alone, and when do the waters receive? For one year, they're all in there together. 839s

There's Noah and his family, and they're the animals, and the creeping things and all that, and there they are for one year. 850s

Noah would do more than survive, but God would remember him. 861s

Let's go to chapter 8 again, verse 1. 869s

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. 875s

And God made a wind below over the earth, and the waters subsided. 883s

The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth. 888s

At the end of 150 days, the waters had abated in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 898s

The waters continued to abate until the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. 908s

At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven, and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 918s

Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. 926s

So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark, and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf, so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 941s

Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him anymore. 960s

Here we see God using all of creation here, and we see now the waters are receding, and now the invitation. 969s

Then God said to Noah, 984s

Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives, with you. 986s

Bring out with you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, birds, and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may bound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 993s

Who is the one that shut them in the ark? It was God. Who is the one that invites them out of the ark? It is God. 1011s

There is that image that comes to mind. It is not the perfect image by any means, but it is tucking children or grandchildren into bed. 1025s

There is that tucking them into that ark. This is God's plan, and this is how God would use these people, and now God inviting them forward to come out of the ark, coming directly from God. 1035s

All the pleasant details of God's covenant with Noah is spelled out in chapter 9. 1052s

Noah's family would live under the same blessing as Adam and Eve. 1061s

Go back to Genesis chapter 1, please. Genesis 1, verse 28. 1067s

God bless them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. 1084s

God says, be fruitful and multiply, and what are the words that come in chapter 9, verse 1. 1098s

God bless Noah and his sons, and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 1111s

It is the same blessing, isn't it? The exact same blessing. 1119s

God graciously promises, never again will he destroy the world by a flood. 1124s

Verse 11 of chapter 9. 1131s

I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. 1134s

God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. 1144s

I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 1152s

When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 1158s

When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. 1174s

God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. 1185s

God graciously promises that never again will there be that type of flood. 1196s

The remarkable character of God's grace is on display. 1204s

So often, the story of Noah and the flood can simply be seen as this act of judgment, but it is God's act of judgment, but we also see this incredible expression of grace throughout all of it. 1209s

We see evidence here that Noah sprang from Adam and Eve's family, so amidst the grace of God, here comes also the reminder that humankind is still sinful, that the flood didn't eradicate sin. 1228s

Let's go to chapter 9, verse 21. 1247s

Let's go to 20, it gives a better context, chapter 9, verse 20. 1251s

Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. 1256s

He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. 1259s

In him, the father of Cana, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 1266s

Then Shem and Jepeth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. 1275s

Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 1283s

Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him. 1290s

He said, cursid, Becana, lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers. 1298s

So what are we very quickly reminded of? We're very quickly reminded of sin. 1307s

Because what happens? Noah becomes drunk. 1312s

He loses control of himself, or with the New Testament tells us that we're not to be guided by alcohol. 1317s

We are to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Does that mean that all drinking is prohibited? Of course not. 1327s

Is drunkenness prohibited? Absolutely. 1334s

Is drunkenness sinful? Absolutely. It is. 1337s

So what do we see then in the creation? We see here that Noah becomes drunk, and his son, instead of respectfully covering him and clothing him, he goes to his brothers and ridicules his father, and tells them, 1342s

what did happen? That's why Noah is angry. 1367s

Now, you see also, one can make the argument in sinfulness here. Why is there the cursing here of the offspring? 1374s

I mean, if there was going to be a cursing, one could make the argument, well, why isn't it ham here? That is being cursed. 1386s

Well, the Scripture doesn't answer that, so maybe Noah hadn't fully sobered up yet at this point. 1393s

Who knows what the situation is? But you see here the sinfulness starting to permeate. 1400s

In the drunkenness of Noah, in the ridiculing actions of ham, in the respectful actions of the brother, the anger here of Noah, and then the cursing. 1406s

And we are reminded that Noah and his family harken back to all of our original parents, which is Adam and Eve. 1419s

The bottom line here, though, what I want you to take away from this account, please, is that we see God's judgment and wrath in the story of the ark. 1433s

But we also see His incredible grace, incredible grace in saving humankind. 1445s

In a couple of minutes I've got left, I want to focus here on making a parallel between the flood waters and baptism, because Scripture makes that parallel. 1457s

The Bible makes clear that everything that God has made, or everything that has been made by God. 1473s

And remember, on the second day, Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God separated the waters below from the waters above. 1481s

On the third day, He separated the water from the dry ground. 1489s

Without water, of course, there is no life. 1493s

But what we see in Genesis 1 is God setting boundaries with regard to the water. 1497s

That water can have incredibly destructive force to it. 1505s

We see that certainly in the flood. 1511s

God here is establishing those boundaries. 1514s

When we see in Genesis, people exceeding the boundaries that God had established. 1518s

If you remember what the God said, here's the boundary. 1524s

You can eat of every tree in the garden, save one, tree of knowledge of good and evil. 1527s

You determine for yourself what's right and wrong you die. 1532s

God's establishing the boundary and the difference between Himself as the Creator and the Creator. 1536s

And what we see in Scripture is when people exceeded those boundaries, then God removed the boundaries that He had placed upon the water. 1543s

And the flood came upon the earth. 1556s

There was death that resulted from the water. 1561s

But there was also salvation being saved of Noah and his family by the water. 1565s

The water also saved as the water lifted up the ark that God had commanded them to go into and God had even shut the door. 1573s

And the water here is an act of saving. 1585s

Holy baptism is similar to the flood. 1592s

Let's see that by going to the first Peter. 1597s

First Peter chapter 3. 1600s

Good way to find first Peter. 1604s

Just to go to the book of Revelation, slowly work your way backwards. 1606s

First Peter chapter 3 verse 21. 1613s

Let's go since we're mid-sentence, let's go to 18. 1630s

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all. 1634s

The righteous for the unrighteous in order to bring you to God. 1638s

He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. 1642s

Who in former times did not obey when God waited patiently in the days of Noah. 1656s

Remember that 120 year period? 1667s

Waited patiently in the days of Noah during the building of the ark in which a few that is eight persons were saved. 1669s

Here it comes through water. 1677s

So the water that God sent was destructive in force, absolutely. 1681s

And the water that God sent was a vehicle unto salvation. 1685s

Verse 21. 1689s

And baptism which this prefigured now saves you. 1691s

Not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1699s

Notice that phrase there. 1710s

Verse 21. 1713s

And baptism which this prefigured now saves you. 1714s

That is a perfect, perfect text to use. 1721s

When you're talking with someone who says that baptism is simply a symbol of an action that we take. 1725s

This is a perfect example in gentleness and love to point out and to expose it in this verse that talks about baptism is more than a symbol of an action that somehow we have taken as our Baptist brothers and sisters would say. 1733s

That they have accepted Christ as their Savior and then they become baptized as a sign or a symbol of that which they have done here in accepting of Christ. 1752s

Noah, what we see in Scripture here. 1767s

First Peter, and there's other verses too, we can pull. 1770s

First Peter here. 1773s

And baptism which now saves you. 1775s

It's not a symbol, it's a sacrament. 1778s

It's a vehicle whereby God is coming with His Word of forgiveness in life, eternal and promises. 1780s

Putting it together with the ordinary water and washing us in that water. 1788s

It is that sacrament of God. 1798s

So that, as Luther said, when he'd wake up in the morning, I'm baptized when he goes to sleep and I'm baptized. 1801s

He's not rooting confidence in a symbol based upon an action he's taken. 1807s

He's rooting it on a sacrament, an action of God in which he has been washed. 1813s

And baptism which now saves you. 1820s

The water drones the sinful atom and Eve in us. 1824s

And as a former professor of mine from Seminary said, and Adam and Eve, remember our good swimmers. 1833s

Because every day we need to put Adam and Eve to death. 1842s

And how is that? 1846s

By returning to our baptism, Luther says, in what? 1848s

In repentance. 1851s

Day after day, we continue to put that old atom and old Eve in us to death. 1853s

Constantly. 1861s

So the waters of baptism then is a drowning. 1862s

There's more and more Lutheran churches that are kind of going to, it's still a real minority. 1866s

But there's more that are going to a larger baptismal font. 1873s

Because the symbolism of immersion of baptism is really a wonderful symbolism here. 1878s

We see in scripture that the amount of water is irrelevant. 1887s

The very word baptizo in the Greek simply means to apply water here. 1893s

Sometimes people can get hung up on the amount of water via valid baptism. 1898s

Absolutely, absolutely not. 1902s

But the imagery there of our Baptist brothers and sisters who hold the symbolic understanding of baptism. 1904s

When you go down and when you are lifted up again is really wonderful ministry. 1912s

Years ago there was a Bishop Nelson Trout, I believe, his name. 1919s

He's gone to be with the Lord now. 1926s

And his background was Baptist. 1929s

He then became Lutheran. 1932s

And I remember listening to him one time that he, the question was coming. 1934s

He said, why did you become a Lutheran? 1940s

He said, well, one day I was down by the river and I was baptizing someone and they were a little bit more heavy set. 1942s

And I was having a little struggle, kind of bringing that up by the water. 1951s

And he says, I said to myself at that point, I need to be a Lutheran. 1956s

Now, obviously here there's probably some real liberal memory of what happened there. 1963s

But the imagery of the going underneath the water, the drowning and rising, really it and that almost was by his admission of drowning. 1972s

It's incredible imagery of what happens. 1983s

In baptism, the old Adam and the old Eve, they are killed. 1986s

They're put to death. 1990s

They're drowned. 1991s

The water drowns that sinful Adam and Eve through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1994s

That water in our baptism is joined with the word and it destroys and it saves. 2000s

That's why the Scripture holds together that imagery of baptism and going back then to the flood itself. 2008s

God works through means. 2020s

God used water with Noah to kill and to save. 2023s

God uses water to this day to kill and to save in the waters of baptism. 2029s

Well, just as God saved Noah, so also God continued his expression of grace and he called one by the name of Abram. 2039s

He called one by the name of Abram to carry on this line of promise. 2050s

And so it's to Genesis 11 to 13 that we turn to next week. God bless. 2056s

Amen. 2072s