Genesis 6:13-22 - Cameron Jungels - Sun PM, April 6, 2014

“An Obedient Faith” - Genesis 6:13-22 – (Eastside Baptist/Sun PM/April 6, 2014)

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.  ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.  ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.  ¹⁶ Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.  ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.  ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.  ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.  ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.  ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."  ²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.  (Genesis 6:13-22, NIV)

1. The limits of divine patience and holy justice

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. (Genesis 6:13, NIV)

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. (Genesis 6:5, NIV)

to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (1 Pet. 3:20, NIV)

⁴ They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."  ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  (2 Pet. 3:4-6, NIV)

2. A gracious covenant and a remnant saved by mercy

I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. (Genesis 6:17, NIV)

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. (Genesis 6:18, NIV)

You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. (Genesis 6:19, NIV)

Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. "The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (2 Ki. 19:30–31, NIV)

"What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this. (Ezr. 9:13, NIV)

3. A simple, obedient faith

Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22, NIV)

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Heb. 11:1, NIV)

By faith Noah, when warned about 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 is in keeping with faith. (Heb. 11:7, NIV)

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10, NIV)

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. (Romans 1:5, NIV)

but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith-- (Romans 16:26, NIV)

Main Idea

Ø  Faith responds to divine grace, accepts God at his Word, and then acts in obedience to that Word.