Who Is This God? (Part 1)

Show Notes

Genesis 6:5–7:24 (Listen)

5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Noah and the Flood

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh,1 for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.2 Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits,3 its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof4 for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 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. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

7:1 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. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,5 the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs6 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 thing7 that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they 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 to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.

17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits8 deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, 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. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Footnotes

[1] 6:13 Hebrew The end of all flesh has come before me
[2] 6:14 An unknown kind of tree; transliterated from Hebrew
[3] 6:15 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[4] 6:16 Or skylight
[5] 7:2 Or seven of each kind of clean animal
[6] 7:3 Or seven of each kind
[7] 7:4 Hebrew all existence; also verse 23
[8] 7:20 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

(ESV)

What is Sermons from Redeemer Community Church?

Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 00:00

Scripture tonight comes from 3 passages. The first in Genesis 6 verses 5 through 8. Let's listen carefully for these are not the words of man but the words of God. Saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the was only evil, continually.

Speaker 1: 00:28

And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. Again, from Genesis 7 verses 22 and 23. Everything on the dry land and whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, They were blotted out from the earth.

Speaker 1: 01:17

Only Noah was left and those who were with him on the ark.

Speaker 2: 01:24

And the last passage is Hebrews 11 verse 7. By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen and reverent fear constructed an arc for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Collin Hansen: 01:56

God, we are thankful for your word. Father, I am especially thankful for it right now, because, without it, I would be giving advice and that would only lead to death. And so with that thankfulness for your word, we ask that you would teach us now. That through your spirit, you would point us to truth, that you would put away all falsehood, that we would see you for who you are, and that we would fear you, That we would desire to walk with you, to love you, and to serve you. Teach us now how desperately we need Christ.

Collin Hansen: 02:41

And how we might live lives of rejoicing because he is our treasure. We pray these things in his name and for his name around the world. Amen. While in the desert, Moses asked this question to the people of Israel. And now, Israel, what does the lord your god require of you, but to fear the lord your god, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and the statutes of the lord, which I'm commanding you today for your good.

Collin Hansen: 03:32

He was calling for Israel to fear and walk with god, to love and to serve him. It's important for us to remember the setting of Genesis, coming into its its written form by Moses in the desert. These stories serve as lessons for the people of God. They are lessons to who god is, who this god that they are worshiping, that that they have followed into the wilderness, that they went from Egypt into the wilderness, who are they going to worship? Who are they going to serve?

Collin Hansen: 04:12

Who is this Yahweh? These people wondered if they had made a mistake, if maybe they had followed this Moses for no reason. They're wondering about this God, And he uses these different stories, these different lessons about this Yahweh to teach them their history, god's history. This is Yahweh 101. These stories about God.

Collin Hansen: 04:42

And it's really easy for us to, in in our own culture, our own setting, our own the way that we read things, in in this, in this way of just looking, how can I use this, this utilitarian reading of scripture? Give me what I need to do, and and we we forget that this is a book entirely written about who this god is that we serve. And so, I think it's important for us to position ourselves to to hear this voice in the desert. Who is this God? And so as we look at Noah for the next 2 weeks, we're going to be asking this question, who is this God that we should fear him?

Collin Hansen: 05:29

That we should walk with him? That we should love and serve him. So this week, part 1 of who is this God, we are going to look at fearing him and walking with him. And I think that we see this call and this question from Deuteronomy 10 in the life of Noah. And so we begin with a story.

Collin Hansen: 06:01

These Hebrew, stories in Genesis, it starts with this thing called a toledot, where where it's this, these are the generations of, and we get that, 10 times throughout Genesis. The first, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth, and then we get, these are the generations of Adam, And then we get to, these are the generations of Noah. Chapter 6, verse 5. The lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually. And the lord was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Collin Hansen: 06:53

Grieved him to his heart. I mean, such language from a man's perspective. It grieved God to his heart. That Hebrew could also be rendered as it he was raged to his heart. So the lord said, I will blot out man, whom I have created from the face of the land, man, and animals, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens, For I am sorry.

Collin Hansen: 07:18

I regret that I have made them, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And so these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had 3 sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Collin Hansen: 07:45

So god decides that he is going to destroy the earth. He says that man is corrupting the earth with violence. And so as man is corrupting, as man is destroying, he will destroy. He will corrupt what he has created. I will destroy them with the earth.

Collin Hansen: 08:09

I mean, what verse 5, especially, just what a horrible, horrible picture of man's heart. We get these 2 hearts, god's heart and man's heart. Man's heart is set on evil continually, and only evil. In fact, the intentions or the imagination, the constructions of the heart of man, only evil. And god's heart, grieved and enraged because of man.

Collin Hansen: 08:42

And so he will destroy. But this Noah found favor. Look at verse 14. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Collin Hansen: 09:03

God gives him these details. How to build the ark: 450 feet long, 45 feet tall, and 70 feet wide. That's, a 100 feet longer than the football field, about half as wide. He tells him exactly what to do. And then the lord commands that a few, a remnant, would enter in.

Collin Hansen: 09:36

And he gives these particulars. It would be Noah and his family only. And then it begins to rain. Look at verse 15 of chapter 7. The flood continued 40 days on the earth.

Collin Hansen: 09:55

The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. On the face of the waters, similar to the spirit, as we read about in chapter 1. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth, that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep.

Collin Hansen: 10:33

Look to verse 22, Everything on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground. Man and animals and creeping things and the birds of heaven. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left and those who were with him in the ark.

Collin Hansen: 11:00

And the waters prevailed on the earth a 150 days. And so the question, who is this god that we should fear him, that we should walk with him? Now with fear, we have to know that kind of from the onset that fear is not terror and anxiety. Not that we should be scared of God, but that we would have a reverent awe. What Hebrews calls the the the reverent fear of the Lord, that we would fear him like that.

Collin Hansen: 11:38

Not just that we would be scared of him like a snake, or a spider, or or something like that, loud thunder, but that we would fear him with reverent awe. So why? In the story of Noah, why should we fear the lord? And the first thing that we learn is that we should fear him because he is righteous. The heart of man.

Collin Hansen: 12:11

We sin against God. He is the rightful judge. We are judged in accordance to His righteousness, not some morality that we can just agree upon, a social norm of proper behavior, measured against God himself and his righteousness. God confirms judgment upon the people. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Collin Hansen: 12:47

God saw how violent and evil man was. Every intention, constantly evil. And so we are measured against his righteousness, and that righteousness and that judgment that is proper to him positions us to see that he is rightly to be feared. He is the righteous judge as creator, and he saw the heart of man, and He executes judgment. Who judges the heart of man?

Collin Hansen: 13:21

Who can judge the actions of man? God alone. And he does so in accordance with his righteousness. But when a storm comes, and waters rise, and everything that is on earth that is alive dies, Why not be terrified? I mean, we use this as this children's story, you know, because there are animals, which is kind of odd criteria for children's stories.

Collin Hansen: 13:54

There's an animal there, let's go with it. But it's a terrifying story. I mean, even in looking at preparing for 2 weeks on Noah, I mean, part 1 is misery. There's a whole lot of bad news before good news. So why not?

Collin Hansen: 14:16

Why isn't this terror of God justified? And really, we have to peek a little bit into next week. We have to peak because in 1st John chapter 4, we get this call that, that there isn't any fear in love. That perfect love casts out fear. How is this possible?

Collin Hansen: 14:46

John goes on to say, well, fear has to do with punishment. And that's what these people know as contemporaries, that's what they're facing is judgment, and that's rightful terror. But why isn't the call for us to fear God like that? And it has to do with another place where God's wrath is displayed. In fact, a place where it is is displayed even more fully than floodwaters.

Collin Hansen: 15:21

Where women and children and men were drowned, and that is the cross. You see, the goal of this entire Noah story is is quite simple. It's that you would see how desperate you are for Christ. See, terror would be a a correct response outside of the cross, because it is this wrath this wrath that brings the floodwaters, and that, you know, if you if you notice in the reading, it's not like when we study Jonah, and god says, I'm going to destroy in 7 days. Go tell the people to repent.

Collin Hansen: 16:02

It's I'm going to destroy the earth in 7 days. Build a boat. You and your family only. And that's why when Jesus is referencing the story in Matthew and in Luke, He says, the day of the coming of the son of man will be like in the days of Noah, where they were marrying and being given into marriage, and they were eating, and they were drinking, and then it began to rain. God says of his judgment, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things, birds of heaven, for I'm sorry that I have made them.

Collin Hansen: 16:52

The Hebrew for blot out, in a later passage has this this image of a plate being turned upside down over the trash and wiped clean. Now later, we see that same language come up in the new testament to to speak of our sin. And so God is saying he will wipe out man from the face of the earth. He's going to purge and cleanse the earth of the wickedness of man. Not only because He is creator and can do as He pleases, but because He is righteous.

Collin Hansen: 17:38

This brings us to the next reason, this next attribute of god that informs us as to why we should fear God. And that is because he is sovereign. The lord has decided to blot out man and animals from the earth, but how? The lord, through his sovereignty over his own creation, causes a flood of water upon the earth. At his appointment, he causes the waters to rise.

Collin Hansen: 18:08

Now we can miss the magnitude of this. It can be lost on us, but just think about the precise words here. Water, responding to god's bidding, and all the waters of the earth rise at the call of the Lord. Verse 17 of chapter 6. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life under heaven.

Collin Hansen: 18:38

God causes the waters to rise and drown people, men, women, and children. Now Noah and his family have been called to build a boat, and to prepare for the singular instance of salvation offered in this terrifying event. God has extended salvation to Noah and his family only. In a children's book, on Noah and the ark that I had as a as a kid, Noah went around begging all of his neighbors to get in the boat, and they rejected him. You know, it was one of those, he believes in God, and and then, you know, you read the story as a kid, and you're like, that's right.

Collin Hansen: 19:23

Sometimes you're persecuted for your faith in God, just like Noah. But that whole scene of running and trying to get people into the boat, that doesn't happen. God's salvation was set on Noah and his family only. Peter emphasizes, 8 only were saved. And, this piece of fiction, that's a kind of dramatization of, of the Noah story by, Chris Scates and Dan Tankersley.

Collin Hansen: 19:57

The story opens with this dreadful, horrific scene. The rain has begun, the family is inside the boat, God himself, Yahweh, closes the door to the ark and Japheth, son of Noah, is consoling his wife as she hears her mother screaming and clawing at the boat. She is covering her ears, and even the rain, the the pounding rain cannot cover up the cries outside the boat. And Japheth says, I've tried to convince myself that once the rain stops and the water goes away, that everyone will still be alive, and they will have repented. But dad never said that would happen.

Collin Hansen: 21:01

I mean, this is a terrifying scene, and this is a story to tell us who this god is. When Noah was born, his father, Lamech, named him a Hebrew name that would have brought about this image, this connotation of rest and comfort. He had this hope for him. His father declared his desire that Noah would bring comfort to humankind as they were suffering under the curse of the fall. As you go through the genealogy, it lists somebody out, and then it says, and then he died, and somebody else, and then he died.

Collin Hansen: 21:38

And that refrain of, then he died, just kept acknowledging the reality of the curse, the reality of the fall. And Lemek had this idea that his son might bring relief. This is not what his father had hoped for. But Noah and his family had been faithful. As god commanded them to work on the ark, all those specifications of how to build it, gathering the animals, gathering food, Noah was obedient.

Collin Hansen: 22:11

And that brings us to the next question. Who is this God that we should walk with him? In verse 9, where it says, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

Collin Hansen: 22:32

Noah is described as walking with or going with God. Walking with God meant following his commands. The obedient life to God. The only way that walking with god would be in any way reasonable would be if god was supreme in his commands, if he was perfect. So why should we walk with him?

Collin Hansen: 22:59

Because he is supreme, the supremacy of this Yahweh. And this is Moses's lesson for the people in the desert and for us. Noah was obedient to God because God is worthy of our obedience. He is worthy of our obedience because he is supreme in his commands. What he is calling forth, how the boat was to be built was perfect and supreme.

Collin Hansen: 23:31

You know, the the Gilgamesh, epic and all that, and there are a number of Mesopotamian mythology about a flood that came. And one of them talks about a boat that is built 100 by 50 feet by a 150 feet by a 150 feet. That's called a cube. A box. Probably wouldn't fare too well, especially with the animals.

Collin Hansen: 24:05

But this this reality that God's call and command was perfect. I mean, what does that mean for our obedience to this god? All that god commanded Noah was to be obeyed. They were not suggestions for a better living, suggestions for better leadership, for better integrity, for better business savvy. These are not just principles that better us for our good or the good of our community.

Collin Hansen: 24:41

This is god's perfect and supreme command. He is supremely worthy of our obedience. He was supreme to give this judgment. His decision to wipe out, to blot out the life that he had created, he was supreme to do that. If he had commanded Noah to build an ark to bring salvation to him and his family, god was supreme to do that.

Collin Hansen: 25:10

He could extend salvation or withhold it. This tells us who this God is. There is no one higher to whom we are accountable. There's no one higher who has authority over creation. There's no one higher who executes judgment over man.

Collin Hansen: 25:30

There is no one higher who is worthy of our obedience. This Yahweh is supreme in all things. We must go with him. We must walk with him. So who is this god that we should fear him and that we should walk with him?

Collin Hansen: 25:51

He's the righteous one who judges the wicked hearts of man. He is the sovereign one to whom all creation yields, and he is the supreme one who calls us by his commands to walk with him. Surely in the darkness, the shadowy darkness of the ark, as 370 days go by, Noah reminded his family time and time again who this god is. And as the sounds of the rain and the prevailing water rushed in on them, The existence of the ark itself testified to the character of this god. In the midst of all the rain, in all the flood, there was a boat.

Collin Hansen: 26:53

A singular place where God's sovereignty, righteousness, supremacy is displayed in the salvation of a few. But is this the god that we confess? Is this righteous, sovereign and supreme God your God? This is not the god of constant blessing with no regard for righteousness. This is not the god of mere morality and social justice.

Collin Hansen: 27:30

This is not the God of mere duty and Sunday lip service. No. This is the holy one of scripture. Just like the people in the desert must have been instructed and reminded who this God is that we serve, We cannot retreat in our own ideas of what we think God should be like. We quite plainly must go to his word and submit our wishful thinking to the reality of his character.

Collin Hansen: 28:04

And yes, perhaps for a time, we might not like it. I say for a time, because the reality of who God is sometimes can be offensive to our twisted and sinful minds and hearts. We might not like his righteousness, we might not like his sovereignty, we might not like his supremacy. We might not like that he brings floodwaters, and that he builds an ark and chooses a remnant. We might not like it, but we cannot go along any further with our imaginary God.

Collin Hansen: 28:47

We must desire to fear and walk with the God of the scriptures. The one who judged the heart of man and brought the waters to rise. Chapter 7 verse 22. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground.

Collin Hansen: 29:23

Man and animal 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. Let's pray. God is a truly tense place where you leave us, to think about your righteousness and your supremacy and your sovereignty and, and Lord, I, I ask that you would give us hungry hearts.

Collin Hansen: 30:13

That we would go through the, the pains of this story. That we might see the cross and the grace that you have given us in a, a new light. That if we see our sinfulness as you see sinfulness, that we would see the work of Christ so much more valuable than we ever thought. Not simply a moral teacher to be respected, nor a religion that yields some good or some kind of benefit, but that we would see salvation in Christ. And just as we see those who were with Noah were saved, that we might be with Christ.

Collin Hansen: 31:20

Teach us to fear you with a reverence that acknowledges who you really are and teach us to walk with you. That your commands are supreme and true. You do not call us to mere morality, but to walk with You, our living God. You do not just call us to better behavior. You call us to life.

Collin Hansen: 32:02

Teach us how desperately we need the gospel of Jesus. Amen.