Genesis 6:5-22

            {Prayer}

            Imagine for a moment that you are on a small boat. Let’s say it’s comparable to that of a row boat or life boat. You’re sitting in this little boat in the middle of a vast ocean. As far as you can see, you see nothing but water. The waves are gentle, softly rocking you back and forth, almost luring you into a sense of security, into a sense that things don’t seem that bad.

            But then you notice something, something a little disturbing. Rocking back and forth on the gentle waves, you notice that your life boat is taking on water. It’s just a trickle, so you think to yourself, “Oh, it’s not that bad, I can handle this.” But as time goes by, the small trickle turns into a steady flow. Before long, you’re frantically bailing water over the edge. But the thing is, the water is coming in faster than you can bail it. The whole situation has gone from something that seemed manageable to something that is life-threatening, and now you’re surrounded by the overwhelming depths of the ocean with nothing to hold on to.

            Using this scenario, we can very easily describe the world of Noah in Genesis 6. Humanity is drowning. Drowning, not in water, but in sin. The people were so consumed by their wickedness that they didn’t even realize that they were sinking, sinking deeper and deeper into darkness. Like the sinking lifeboat, they might have thought that they could manage things or that things weren’t really that bad. Obviously though … they were wrong.

            Sadly … our world today … it isn’t any better. We live in a time when people are completely oblivious to the reality of their sin. People think they can handle things in their life, that they have a good grip on what is going on around them … but then … one day they realize that they’re slowly taking on water. Then things begin to slowly pile on and before they know it … they’re drowning. Just as the world in Noah’s time was drowning in sin, leading to God’s judgment … we too face the reality of sin and the desperate need for God’s provision.

            “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that ever inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). If we go back to Genesis 4 after Cain had murdered his brother Abel and after the point where he found out he would be a restless wander, we can see some of the wickedness is that the LORD saw. Cain’s great-great grandson Lamech was the first person to marry two women at the same time. He also brags to his wives that he had killed a man for wounding him. This is a big deal because Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern practice was that if you were wounded, the punishment was equal to the injury received. So an eye for an eye kind of thing. Lamech bragged about going beyond this. He also makes Cain’s murder of Abel look like a positive thing compared to what he would do.

            From here, the water only continued to rise. But unlike earlier where the guy realized that there was a small trickle of water coming into the boat … these people had no clue. Water was coming in, they were going down with the boat, and they didn’t have a care in the world. As long as they were living life to the their fullest, living life the way they wanted to, life was good. No one was concerned about what God wanted of them. They were living their lives simply for themselves and they became more and more corrupt.

            So corrupt that “the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart” (Gen. 6:6). Understand, this isn’t that the LORD was just sad that He had made man … He was totally regretting it. It’s as if He wish He had never made man to begin with. And because of this, He says, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land” (Gen. 6:7a). But notice, it isn’t just man who God is going to blot out. “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of heaven, for I am sorry that I have made them” (Gen. 6:7). Just like before when Adam and Eve received the consequences, the punishment of their sin … creation is also affected by man’s continued corruption. The water coming into the boat … it’s now a steady flow and the boat is truly starting to sink.

             “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 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’” (Gen. 6:11-13).

            The gentle waves of security, to the trickle of water, to the steady flow of water has now turned into waves that are crashing down over the edge of the boat and a torrential downpour that is filling and capsizing the boat. This flood that God causes to happen … it’s not some knee jerk reaction to people turning corrupt. No … this flood is a righteous response to the corruption and rampant sin that had taken over the world. This flood is God judgment, His method of cleansing the earth of corruption, His method of purging sin from the world.

            And even though God regretted making man … there was one man who stood out. He stood out not because he was the baddest of the bad, but just the opposite. This man stood out because he was the only righteous one, the only one who was blameless among the people. He was also the only one who walked with God. Noah had found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Gen. 6:9).

            But we need to understand something … Noah was not saved because of the things he did. Noah was a sinner like everyone else because the sin of Adam and Eve had been passed down through the generations to him. Noah was spared because he responded in faith. In the letter to the Hebrews it says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about the things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (11:6-7). Where the world had turned its back on God … Noah continued to seek God out. 

            And it is here, it is in the person of Noah in which we find a glimmer of hope. Through Noah, God provides the means, the vessel of salvation. God commands Noah to build an ark. An ark that will fit two of every kind of animal, his family, and food for the animals and his family. The chapter ends saying, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Gen. 6:22).

            Now imagine … each of us is in our own personal little life boat. We are all out in the middle of the vast blue ocean. The waves are gently rocking your boat, luring you into a sense of security. … In the midst of this security … what sin begins to trickle in? What is it that you think … “Oh, it’s not that bad. I can handle this. I can stop this habit, this addiction, this sinful act at any time.”

            What life circumstance, what lifestyle habit, what news, what little sin has gone from a little trickle to a steady flow of water? What is it that is slowly sinking your little boat?

            Like the people in Noah’s time, like the Israelite nation later on, like the people of the past decades, like the people living today … we often underestimate, we often severely underestimate the seriousness of our sin. If it isn’t affecting other people, then why should I worry about it? If it isn’t affecting my performance at work or my relationship with my spouse, my family, with those around me … why is it such a big deal?

            Jesus said, “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away” (Matthew 24:38-39).  It’s a big deal because one day, Jesus is coming back. When? We don’t know. But when He comes … that’s it. There will be no more second chances. Like the people in Noah’s day … we will all of sudden be swept up by the large waves of judgment and thrown from God’s presence.

            But just as Noah and his family were saved through the ark … we are saved through Christ. Through baptism, through the washing away of your sins and the drowning of your old sinful self … you have been connected to Christ. Being connected to Christ through baptism means that you have also been connected with Him in His death. And if you are connected with Christ in His death, then you are connected with Him in His resurrection. Being connected with Christ in His resurrection means that God has reached down into the sin-engulfing waters, grabbed hold of you, and rescued you from eternal death and the devil.

            In daily remembrance of our baptism, we need to recognize that like the people before the flood … we don’t deserve God’s grace. We need to recognize our need for a Savior and daily turn to Him. In times of doubt, times of temptation, times of failure, times when it seems like the water is filling up the boat and the end is near … you and I … we can boldly say, “I’m baptized into Christ.” “I’m saved, I’ve been rescued by Christ.” We can be certain that the comforting words of Romans 8 are true: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). Amen.

            The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.