Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "Sin, Grace, And Covenant (Gen. 6-8)" by Bill Burk

Transcript

Equipped 2026: "Sin, Grace, And Covenant (Gen. 6-8)" by Bill Burk · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Have your Bibles be turning to Genesis chapter 6.
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I count it a real blessing to be here and I appreciate Neil and Hiram and the elders
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for allowing me to come.
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I've been looking forward to this for some time and I'm always blessed when I'm able
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to be with brethren and think about the Word of God and study.
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I do appreciate academic work and academic scholarship, so I'm going to begin as we
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think about Genesis 6-9 with the most scholarly statement that I can make.
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The Lord said to Noah, there's going to be a floody, floody.
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The Lord said to Noah, there's going to be a floody, floody.
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Get those children out of the muddy, muddy, children of the Lord.
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I'm really not trying to be silly, although I have been told I do that well.
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I bring up that song which has been sung at so many VBS gatherings and children have sung
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it so many times in Bible classes.
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I'm afraid that if we're not careful, we'll begin to think that the record of Noah and
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the flood is nothing more than a children's tale, but it is far, far more than that.
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In fact, it's crucial to the scheme of redemption.
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The first 11 chapters of Genesis set the stage for the rest of the Bible.
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The Bible begins with one man, Adam.
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Then of course there's the fall, Genesis chapter 3, and the flood as we're going to talk about
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this morning in Genesis chapter 6 through chapter 8, then we'll have the tower of Babel,
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but just consider this for a moment.
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When you think about God's scheme of redemption, as I just mentioned, it begins with Adam.
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But then humanity will carry on with Noah.
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And Noah will have three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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And through those sons, particularly Shem, will come Terah.
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And from Terah will come Abram.
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And from Abram will come Isaac.
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And from Isaac will come Jacob or Israel.
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And from Israel will come 12 sons and 12 tribes and then a nation.
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And from that nation, the tribe of Judah.
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And from that tribe, the house of Jesse.
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Of course, from Jesse comes David.
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And that's the kingly line that leads to Jesus Christ who rules over David's throne forever
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and forever, Luke chapter 1, verses 32 and 33.
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Again, Genesis chapter 6 through 8 is critical in understanding the Bible from Genesis 12
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forward.
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I have a number of works in my library and more than one say something like this, speaking
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of commentaries on Genesis and overviews and summaries.
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They say something like this when you get to Genesis 12.
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When we get to Genesis 12, we encounter verified human history, which is to imply that those
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first 11 chapters are not verifiable human history, but something else.
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In fact, in scholarly circles, the first 11 chapters of Genesis is referred to as mytho-history.
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What does that mean?
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That means that the specifications of the stories are myth, but the truths they tell
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are history.
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In other words, there wasn't a historical Adam and we shouldn't take the Noach flood
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all that seriously.
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And the idea about Babylon from it, the table of nations and mankind spreading across the
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globe after the flood, yes, there's truth to that and serious truth, but the events
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themselves don't take them very seriously.
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I do not agree with that in any way.
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I will affirm to you this morning that I believe with all of my heart that the creation,
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the fall, the flood, the Tower of Babel, the first 11 chapters of Genesis are just as historical
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as what we read as we're introduced to Abram in Genesis 12, 1 to 3, wherein Moses tells
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us that all the families of the earth would be blessed through his seed.
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So with that in mind, let's look at Genesis chapter 6 and let's think about what we can
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learn from 6 and 7 and 8 under the title of Sin, Grace and Covenant.
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As you look at verses 1 to 6 of Genesis 6, I want you to see one word in your mind and
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that's the word fallen.
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The word fallen.
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Because it describes the nature of the world after sin and death entered it.
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I'm certain that in the previous lesson something was said about Genesis chapter 5 in the genealogy
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of Adam.
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You see a phrase over and over again, and he died.
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But notice as we begin looking at these opening verses of the chapter, we're introduced to
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the cause of the corruption of the world.
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Verse 1 says, now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth
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and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that
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they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
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So in some sense, the further corruption of the world, we know the world was already corrupt
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because we read of the first murder in Genesis chapter 4, has something to do with the sons
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of God taking the daughters of men as wives.
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There's a number of ideas, a number of opinions about who these are, particularly the sons
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of God.
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Some especially of recent date have gone with what seems to have been the opinion of second
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temple Jews and that these were rebellious angels who intermarried with human beings.
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And I realize there are a lot of things you'd have to discuss either to prove or disprove
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that particular theory.
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I'm just saying they believe that through these unions came the Nephilim or the giants
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who are mentioned here and that's what led to the corruption of the world.
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Contextually, there's an argument regarding who the sons of God and the daughters of men
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are based on the seed lines of Seth, who Eve gave birth to after Abel's death, and Cain's
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line.
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There were those men who were calling on the name of the Lord.
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There were those who were following in the steps of Cain, and through that came corruption.
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There's a third idea about who these individuals are.
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Some believe the sons of God, and there is some evidence that this is so, but some believe
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the sons of God were powerful, wealthy, corrupt men, tyrannical rulers who as their families
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began to multiply and grow, the world came worse and worse, and we know how power and
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wealth can corrupt.
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So those are your possible ideas.
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Here's what I will say, no matter where one falls regarding those possibilities, they
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do express how the world came as corrupt as it did.
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So when you look at verses one and two, we're introduced to the cause.
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But notice verse three, the Lord says, my spirit shall not strive with man forever,
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for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years, and that doesn't seem to mean
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that men would live to be 120, but rather there would be 120 years that God would either
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oppose the dastardly deeds, the sinful deeds of the men of that day, or he would no longer
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abide with them because the word strive can mean contend or abide.
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He would no longer abide with them, sustain life on the earth because of the wickedness
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of men.
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But their wickedness, the text says, grieve God in his heart.
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Notice verse five, it gives us a picture of the world during that time.
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It says, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
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intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord was sorry that
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he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.
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You know, the psalmist in Psalm 78 and verse 40, when he described what happened in the
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wilderness, he made the statement that they grieved the Lord in the desert.
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And then also in Isaiah's day, he spoke of how they rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit
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of God.
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I don't want to live in such a way as to grieve my Lord.
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I would much rather be like Jonathan at the end of every day to be able to say, I have
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worked with God this day, 1 Samuel 14 and verse 45.
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As you look at verse five and think about the nature of the world, there's a good verse
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that serves as a commentary on it, and that's Psalm 10 and verse 4.
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The wicked in his proud counsel does not seek God.
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God is in none of his thoughts.
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That's the picture of humanity during this period of time.
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God suffers long, but his suffering will not last forever.
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And in his suffering, he grieves.
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Notice verse eight.
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Since we're talking about sin, grace, and covenant, we've already been introduced to
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sin, to the corruption of the world.
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Let's talk about favor.
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See the word favor in your mind.
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And when we typically give a definition for grace, how do we define it?
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Unmerited favor.
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It's the love and kindness of God extended to the unworthy.
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And in this particular time, during this moment of history, out of all the people in the world,
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there was one man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and that was Noah.
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I find that so interesting.
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Noah is the only man who could ever say, I alone am left.
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We think about 1 Kings 19 and Elijah, which is repeated in Romans 11, verses two to four.
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At that time, at least there were 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
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But when Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he and his family, they were the only
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ones.
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Aren't you glad you're not alone in your service to God?
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Aren't you thankful for the family of God, for the church of God, for the people of God,
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that we can work shoulder to shoulder together?
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But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord's favor.
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Notice fellowship, verses nine and 10.
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This is the genealogy of Noah.
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And one of the reasons this story is so important is because of genealogy.
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Ultimately, it goes back to Adam.
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And when we think about Genesis 5, and we think about Genesis 10, and we think about
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the end of Genesis 11, you think about the first nine chapters of the book of 1 Chronicles,
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in so many different places.
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Those genealogies, although they don't make the greatest read, I know a lot of people
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have bowed out in 1 Chronicles chapter one in their daily Bible reading.
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They may not be the best read, but they are a great study.
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This is the genealogy of Noah.
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Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.
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And notice what the text says.
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Noah walked with God.
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As Adam and Eve evidently, it seems to be implied, walked with God in the cool of the
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day.
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They had that intimate relationship, fellowship.
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When we see Noah, he also walked with God.
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We think of Enoch in Genesis 5 and verse 24.
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He walked so closely to God that God allowed him to skip the death process and to be taken
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up.
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And he's mentioned in the great heroes of faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
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Noah had fellowship with God when no one else desired to have it.
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Noah walked with God and the world walked away from him.
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There's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
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Proverbs 14, 12, Proverbs 16 and verse 25.
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But once again, the earth is corrupt.
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God looks upon it.
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He speaks of how flesh had corrupted everything.
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But then beginning in verse 13, see the word flood, flood, frightening judgment from God
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himself.
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In verse 13 and verse 17, he communicates that judgment is coming.
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Notice verse 13, the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with
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violence through them.
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Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
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Again God commands the construction of the ark in verses 14 through 16.
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And then notice as we think about our title, sin, grace and covenant.
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Notice what's stated there in verse 17.
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The Lord again says, and behold, I myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy
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from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life.
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Everything that is on the earth shall die.
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Verse 18, but I will establish my covenant with you.
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Which will go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your son's wives with you.
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What does that show us?
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What's this covenant?
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God is going to continue with humanity through Noah and his descendants.
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Yes, he's going to punish the world.
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He's going to punish the men on the face of the planet.
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Everything that has the breath of life in it is going to be destroyed.
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But God's going to allow through the ark, through the gathering of the animals, through
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Noah and his family, he's going to allow humanity a new start.
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So when we think about verses 13 down through verse 21, frightening judgment, the flood
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is coming.
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But notice faithfulness, verse 22, faithfulness.
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It's also going to be seen in verse five.
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Thus Noah did, according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
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Same thing is mentioned in verse five, after the ark is constructed and the animals are
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brought aboard, Noah was an obedient man.
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He was a righteous man in a time of disobedience and unrighteousness.
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We owe Noah a great deal of thanks, don't we?
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It's possible to live godly in an ungodly world.
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It's possible to walk with God when no one else desires.
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And there's no one who lived out Exodus 23 in verse two better than Noah.
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He shall not follow a crowd or a multitude to do evil.
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He refused to do it.
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And so we move into chapter seven where we're going to read about the great flood, the flood
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itself.
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In verses one to nine, there are detailed instructions that are given.
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But before we get there, let's consider the commendation again paid to Noah.
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He's already been referred to as a just man, perfect in his generations, walking with God.
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But notice how the chapter begins.
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And the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark, you and all your household, because I've seen
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that you are righteous before me in this generation.
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Once again, thank you, Noah.
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Thank you for your example.
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Thank you for what you've shown us.
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And then the charge is given in verses two and three regarding seven, each of every clean
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animal to each of all the unclean male and female, also the birds and so forth.
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So we find the charge and then the timing is mentioned there in verse five.
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And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.
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Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
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So Noah with his sons and his son's wives went into the ark because of the waters of
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the flood of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, of everything that
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creeps on the earth.
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Two by two, they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
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You know, sometimes we teach little kids about how the animals went in two by two and we
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forget to tell them about the clean animals and about the importance of them and how they
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would serve as sacrifices.
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Because even though the world would be given a new start, sin wasn't going away.
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And so we see Noah and his family obeying God fully.
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And then in verses 10 to 12, we have a picture of, and I like this term, the deluge.
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The start, verses 10 and 11, it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood
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were on the earth.
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In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that
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day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened
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and the rain was on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
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So we see the start in verses 10 and 11.
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Also the sources, the fountains of the great deep being broken up.
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So water came from underneath and water came from above.
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And if I understand correctly, based on Genesis 2, it had never rained.
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If that's so, you can imagine the derision that must have been hurled at Noah as he began
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to build that ark.
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And if we can consider 2 Peter 2, 5, the Bible says he was a preacher of righteousness.
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Here he is constructing the ark, preaching judgment to come, and no one listens.
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And so the rain begins.
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But there's deliverance for Noah and his family and those animals that had been brought on
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the ark.
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Notice verse 16, so those that entered male and female of all flesh went in as God had
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commanded him and the Lord shut him in.
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Anything come to mind when you read that, that the Lord shut him in?
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I can't help but think of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25, the first 12 verses.
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The foolish virgins, when they went to get more oil because they didn't have any when
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the bridegroom arrived, the door was shut.
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They weren't allowed in.
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But those who were shut in were able to enjoy the celebration.
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I've often thought of how terrible it must have been as those floodwaters rose and as
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people began to drown.
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And of course, the reason was because of their corruption and their immoral actions, their
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degrading lifestyles.
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The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death, Romans 6 and verse 23.
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But there's deliverance.
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But notice this.
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Notice this description, pardon me, of the floodwaters.
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It says in verses 17 and following, now the flood was on the earth 40 days.
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The waters increased and lifted up the ark and it rose high above the earth.
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The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth and the ark moved about on the
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surface of the waters.
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Now notice this.
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And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth and all the high hills under the whole
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heaven were covered.
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The waters prevailed 15 cubits upward and the mountains were covered and the mountains
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were covered.
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And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping
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thing that creeps on the earth.
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And every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life, all that was
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on the dry land died.
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Remember, God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life in Genesis 2 and verse
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7.
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But I want us to think about the depth of the floodwaters.
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Verses 17 and 18, the waters rise, 19 and 20, the mountains are covered.
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That prevails 21 through 23 and then the duration is described at the end of the chapter.
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Waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
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Here's what we see in, and I use the expression scholarly world, in academia oftentimes they
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say there was a flood.
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But we're not to take the specifics of Genesis 1 through 11 for what it exactly says.
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We need to understand that most likely it was a local flood.
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I want you to think about that for a second.
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My spirit will not strive with man forever, but his days shall be 120 years.
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If we're on the right track and it was 120 years from the time that was stated until
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the flood, how far could Noah have moved before the rain began to fall?
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See what I'm saying?
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If it was a local flood, why didn't God simply say to Noah, you gather the animals, and I'm
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not sure why he would need to because there would be animals elsewhere.
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Why didn't he just simply say, Noah, take you, you and your family, you go elsewhere.
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You just move if it's a local flood, but he doesn't say that, does he?
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He says build an ark.
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Why?
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Because the whole world would experience flood and the floodwaters would rise beyond the
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tops of the mountains, and as you've probably heard and read, there is evidence all over
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the world of some great flood.
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I do not believe that the flood is mytho-history.
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I do not believe that the flood was a local one, but it was exactly what Moses recorded
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for us.
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We come to chapter 8, and I love how it begins, then God remembered Noah.
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It wasn't as if God was doing his thing in the unseen spiritual heavenly realm, and he
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said, oh, almost forgot, Noah.
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That's not what happened.
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He remembered Noah in that he acted on Noah's behalf.
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We find the Lord remembering Abraham in Genesis 19 regarding Lot.
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We find the Lord remembering Israel as they cried out to him in Egypt, and so the Lord
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moves.
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Then God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him
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in the ark, and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
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So God remembers, and the waters recede, and then notice as we keep reading, it says the
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fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven
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was restrained, and the waters receded continually from the earth.
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At the end of the hundred and fifty days, the waters decreased, then the ark rested
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in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat,
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that's modern-day Turkey, and the waters decreased continually until the tenth month.
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In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
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Why would that be emphasized if this was only a local flood?
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Notice the earth is tested by Noah.
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He's going to send out a raven, and then he's going to send out a dove, and as he does so,
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he's waiting, verses 13 and 14, and then finally, notice verse 13 of chapter 8.
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It says, and it came to pass in the six hundred and first year of the first day of the month
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that the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and
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looked, and indeed, the surface of the ground was dry.
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God speaks.
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Then God spoke to Noah, drop down to verse 15, saying, go out of the ark, you and your
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wife, your sons and your sons' wives with you.
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Bring out with you every living thing of all the flesh that is with you, birds and cattle
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and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so they may abound on the earth and
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be fruitful and multiply on the earth.
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Again, humanity's given a new start, reminds us of the words to the first couple in Genesis
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chapter 1, after the explanation of how they had been created in the very image of God
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and how they were to subdue the creation, they were to multiply, fill the earth.
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Same sort of a statement is made.
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So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with them.
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Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird and whatever creeps on the earth according
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to their families went out of the ark.
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The world was cleansed by the waters of the flood.
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Humanity now, through Noah, has a new start.
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So what have we seen?
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We've seen the depths of sin, but we've seen the height of grace, because God so loved
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the world.
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God so loves humankind that he wanted mankind to continue.
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He still desired to have a relationship with us for his own reasons.
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Sometimes I think to myself, why would the Lord want to have a relationship with me if
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I'm really honest and if I really look at my life?
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Sometimes people will say, Bill, how are you doing?
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And I'll say something like, better than I deserve, and you know how people are kind
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and they'll say, oh no, you deserve to have it well.
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And I'll often say, you know, if the Lord wanted to kill Moses when he didn't circumcise
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his son, I'm fairly certain I've done enough that he probably would like to kill me too.
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But thankfully, because of Jesus, he doesn't have to pour out his wrath on me, but rather
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I can have a relationship with him because Jesus has paid the price.
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In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
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of his grace.
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But thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
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Aren't you thankful that God loves humankind and that he loves you?
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He loved me and gave himself for me, Galatians 2 and verse 20.
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Then after seeing sin and grace, we're back to the idea of covenant, back to the idea
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of covenant.
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Notice verse 20, after Noah and his family come forth from the ark, what does he do?
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It's interesting after the birth of Seth, the Bible says, then men began to call on
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the name of the Lord.
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We find Noah worshiping God.
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Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took every clean animal and of every clean bird
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and offered burnt offerings on the altar and the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.
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Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although
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the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every
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living thing as I've done.
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God's promise.
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Noah worships, God promises.
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And understand in this promise, we see covenant.
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God sets forth a contract, an agreement as it pertains to humankind.
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It will be a universal one.
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It's not just with men, it's with all creation.
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It's universal.
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It's unconditional in that it's based on God and his faithfulness.
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God speaks and so it is done.
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The covenant is made.
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I will never destroy the world by water again.
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But as we know, it won't be water, but fire next time.
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We'll say more about that in just a second.
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Promises winter and summer and day and night shall not cease.
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Now my assignment is six to eight.
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I don't know who has nine, so I'll try not to step on anybody's toes regarding that.
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But here's what we need to understand.
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That covenant is discussed in detail in chapter nine.
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In fact, seven times in chapter nine, the word covenant appears.
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What is the covenant?
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The covenant again is that God will never destroy humanity by flood ever again.
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And he put a rainbow in the cloud as a sign.
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Recently my family and I in the last year or so, we moved out to the country.
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I've never been happier in my life to live out there.
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I've got cows behind me, I've got deer in front of me.
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I saw a coyote the other day, seen counted 16 wild pig run across the pasture in front
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of me.
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Sadly, there are too many houses close by.
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I can't pull out the arsenal and take one down, but I just love living out there.
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But for whatever reason, recently I've seen the most beautiful rainbows after some of
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the storms we've had.
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I mean, gorgeous, gorgeous rainbows.
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And it makes me sad that people have perverted and twisted that wonderful symbol.
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But it is our symbol.
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And it says, God is faithful.
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Whatever God says he will do, and we can trust he will never ever flood the world in that
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way again.
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But as I said at the beginning, here's what I want us to consider as we start to close
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things down.
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And I'll try not to be that guy that says we're trying to close things down, I'll preach
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an hour and a half.
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I promise I won't do that.
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But if there's something that I can get across this morning, I want us to understand that
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the events of Genesis 1 through 11 are best understood as happening exactly as Scripture
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states they happened.
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Why do you say that, Bill?
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Well, if you notice chapter 10, how does it begin?
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Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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Well why are they so important?
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Because when you get to the end of chapter 11, we have terrorist descendants mentioned
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as we stated at the beginning of the sermon.
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And as you read through terror's lineage, we're introduced to Abram, and without Abraham
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what do we have?
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And why would we suppose that the first 11 chapters aren't verifiable history, but some
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sort of mytho-history?
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What about chapter 12?
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Can we trust chapter 12?
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Can we trust what it says about Abram?
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I don't know that we could.
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And if we can't trust what it says about Abram who becomes Abraham, can we trust what
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it says about his offspring?
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I'm not sure that we can.
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And if we can't trust what it says about his offspring, then we can't trust how God used
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his offspring to ultimately bring Jesus into the world.
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And we can't trust that by faith we're all sons of Abraham.
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You see how critical this really is when you start looking into it?
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These chapters are not just chapters that little kids think about, and color pictures
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of, and sing about.
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They're far more important than that.
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First Chronicles chapter one in verse four, after beginning with Adam, who do we read
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about?
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Noah, Shem, and Japheth.
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There's an interesting statement in the book of Isaiah.
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It's found in Isaiah chapter 54 in verse nine.
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In that particular section, you know how Isaiah is, it's mountaintops and valleys, the valleys
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of doom, the mountaintops of the messianic age, and how ultimately God would see his
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people through and bring them back from captivity?
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Well, he's talking about that through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 54.
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The people have been in captivity.
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This is the suffering servant section of the book.
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As he talks about his promise to bring back the people, he makes this statement.
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He says, for this is like the waters of the flood to me.
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What does that mean?
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What God said about the flood when he made the covenant, it was sure, and he's saying
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bringing the people back from captivity, that's sure.
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But what if those events didn't really happen?
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Would that really be a source of faith and certainty and confidence?
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I don't think so.
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Then we think about Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 14 to verse 20, when he spoke of
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Jerusalem and her ultimate fall, and he made the statement how even if Noah and Daniel
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and Job were in the city, they could only save themselves.
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Well, didn't Ezekiel know that you can't trust those first 11 chapters?
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Why did he put Noah in there as an example of faithfulness if you can't trust the story,
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or at least if it's not really true?
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I realize that I'm going to date myself a little bit.
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I could use an illustration from the old Popeye cartoons.
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I understand that, but we're dealing with scripture here, and Noah's not like Popeye
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or Mighty Mouse or Superman or whomever.
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He was a real person who was righteous before God in an unrighteous age.
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So as we look at things like this, it reminds us again, what about Ezekiel's message?
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What about the truth of the Lord's return?
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Think about Matthew chapter 24, verses 37 to 39, also recorded in Luke 17, as it was
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in the days of Noah.
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They shall be eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage, and then suddenly
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the coming of the Son of Man.
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What did Peter say in 2 Peter chapter 3?
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The world was flooded, that ancient world, but next time both the earth and the works
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that are in it shall be burned up, and a new domain, heaven, however you want to term
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it, will be enjoyed where righteousness dwells.
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Well, Peter, don't you realize, not so much?
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Are you really banking on that old story?
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There were scoffers in those days.
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There'll be scoffers in these days.
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I want us to close with 1 Peter chapter 3.
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How important is this story?
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My take is that if that story's true, we can trust everything that's said about this story.
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I want you to think about this.
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I'm certain I'm talking to people who were baptized into Jesus at some point, their sins
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were remitted, Acts 2.38, you were raised to walk in the newness of life, Romans 6 and
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verse 4, your sins were washed away, Acts 22 and verse 16.
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Notice what Peter says as he looks back to Noah's day and to the flood.
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Notice verse 18 of 1 Peter 3.
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I love this.
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It's a great example of substitutionary sacrifice, which is under attack, seems like so much
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today.
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He said, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
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bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom
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also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient when
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once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared
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in which a few, that is eight souls were saved through water.
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How was Noah and his family saved through water?
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Sometimes people say, well, the ark saved Noah and his family.
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Well, it had a place, but the idea of being saved through water is that when the flood
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waters receded and Noah and his family and the animals came out of the ark, new start,
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new start.
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Verse 21, there's also an antitype.
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King James version says, like figure, the reality, in other words, whatever happened
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in the flood, look forward to a truth that's forever and ever.
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There's also an antitype, which now saves us baptism, not the removal of the filth of
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the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus
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Christ.
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When someone is baptized into Jesus, they're baptized in water, and when they come up from
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that water, they have a new start, but what's the type that looked forward to passing through
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water to a new start?
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The flood waters of Noah, and that's then tied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
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the dead.
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If, if the Noahic flood, if the story of Noah is not true, what does that say about conversion?
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What does that say about the resurrection of Jesus?
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The Lord said to Noah, build me an archearchy, build that ark out of gopher barky, barky
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children of the Lord.
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He did, and there was a floody, floody.
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That really happened, and God used that in the scheme of redemption, and ultimately at
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the height of it all came Jesus as the answer to sin, the height of grace, and through the
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shedding of His blood, a new covenant.
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Thank you for your attention.