Genesis 6:10-22 The Gospel Certainty: The Holiness of God
The Introduction
In Genesis 1 & 2, God created the heavens and the earth, we were introduced to the omnipotence, omniscient, and omnipresent of God. And please don't be put off by these big fancy words.
- omnipotence - all powerful; Almighty
- omniscient - all knowing and all wise
- omnipresent - everywhere and in every moment of time
In Genesis 3, in light of temptation, evil, our sin, we saw the grace, the mercy, the salvation, and the righteousness of God.
In Genesis 4, we saw the God as a just God upon the sinfulness of man. And it is not the mercy of God that we should highlight but the Bible makes clear that God alone is the one who judges the sin of man.
In Genesis 5, we saw the preservation of God's providence upon mankind.
But in Genesis 6, starting with verse one, the Bible then starts to take all of those attributes of God and starts unraveling and unwrapping, layer by layer then holiness of God.
I say this because in the judgment of the holy and perfect God upon all of mankind is just and rightfully so.
When you read through Genesis 4-6, I want you to see something. In the midst of man's wickedness, evil, corrupt, vileness, sinful depravity, how many times did you see mankind call out for the saving grace and the tender mercies of God?
So many people say we cannot judge someone else's salvation even though Jesus clearly said:
Luke 6:43-45 (CSB) “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
You want to know how you can tell the difference between a believer and unbeliever? Between the Christian and the sinner?
A Christian will always cry out for mercy and salvation in the midst of their sin--when the temptation is overwhelming and they will surely drown if God does not save them. The unbeliever has no clue of the impending doom on their lives.
Yet, not even Noah cried out for mercy and grace. But God extended to him.
And not even the salvation of Noah was a big enough warning to everybody else around Noah that something is terribly wrong and it is coming for them.
The Text
Genesis 6:10–22 (CSB)
10 And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.
13 Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
14 “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.
15 This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
16 You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.
17 “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with 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 with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.
19 You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
20 Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive.
21 Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.”
22 And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.
The Support
1 Peter 1:13-16 (CSB) Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
God
We can talk all day about what mankind needs from God in order to be saved to God. But one of the most distinctive attributes that belong to God eternally and by default, and not to any man born of woman with the exception of one, and that would be the holiness of God.
What is the holiness of God? Or to ask the same exact question, what does it mean to be holy?
One of the best treatises on holiness would have to be this little well-known paperback called, "The Holiness of God," written by R.C. Sproul. I made mentioned before that the near impossible challenge of writing a book on the subject of sin is so impossible because sin conceals and clouds and confuses our intellect, will, and heart. It breaks everything. On the opposite end of the spectrum, trying to nail down the holiness of God is a seemingly impossible tasks. It took Dr. Sproul three chapters before he could try to wrap words around the definition of the word, 'holy'.
In his book, he defines 'holy' as purity, sanctify, perfect, transcendence and yet, all of those descriptions are secondary. And with holiness, every thing he does is holy: love, mercy, grace--all of it is holy. And because God alone is holy--that is enough to garner all of our worship. To worship something not holy would be idolatry. No ifs ands nor buts.
But all of that, squeezed and compressed into one definition is to say "to separate". In other words, in the midst of our sin and depravity and wickedness of our thoughts and actions, God is holy--he is completely "separate" from us.
Because God is holy, what is the relationship that God has with sin and sinful people? I still remember reading John R.W. Stott's explanation of this relationship (for the lack of a better word) in his book, "The Cross of Christ". I will never ever forget, starting around page 107 to 110, he goes and explains it this way:
- God is high above our sin - He is above wickedness.
- God is far from our sin - He is does not tolerate it
- God is the light that exposes sin - the darkness cannot overcome God's light
- God is the fire that burns sin - he is a consuming fire that refines his people as many times as he wants to
- lastly, God is "vomits" and rejects sin - when he comes into his world, sin cannot infect him. His being rejects the thought and vomits it out of himself
Why am I am talking about the holiness of God when this is a story of the building of Noah's ark? This is bigger than the felt board with the animals going in two by two.
This is a story of the Holy One of God who will stop at nothing to "separate and cut" his people from all sin and all disease and all wicked thoughts and all corruptness. He will do so by unleashing his full wrath on the world while protecting and shielding his little lambs the holy terror that will consume this world.
Holiness of God is unsuspecting
10 And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The blessings to Adam and Eve, that is, the common grace was still ongoing in the world. Despite our wickedness and depravity, God did not withhold anything good from mankind. First, we breath air. Second, we get to marry. Third, we get to have kids. We get to have friends. We get to have family, provision, jobs, sunsets, sex, fun, entertainment, science, sports, and everything good in the world. God did not withhold that.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.
Holiness of God is just
Despite the goodness and the loving-kindness towards all of mankind, by birth and by choice, we have all chosen to commit treason against the Only Holy God--either by committing sin or failing to do the right and good thing.
And this is unbelievers cannot see on their own: they still think that they are good solely based on what they do (or stop doing) rather than what Christ has done.
And this what believers can see, although not perfectly--with bleared eyes, that anything good that they have ever done was because God is good and he has created us for good works that were prepared ahead of time by him.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (CSB) For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Holiness of God is revealing
13 Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
Noah had no business being included into the plans of God. That is what it means to be saved by God. Listen, you are not just being saved from sin--you are being saved to God. And just like Abraham, Enoch, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, you get to walk with the God of the Universe as your Lord, Savior, Protector, Redeemer, and Friend.
God only shares his plans with those whom he calls friends--those who have placed their hope and trust into his Son, Jesus Christ. And his plans? Right here--the Bible.
People without God revealing Scripture and what is contained in them will never understand them on their own. I don't care what your IQ is or how many skins you got hanging on your wall. It doesn't matter.
1 Corinthians 2:12 (CSB) Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
Name off the things freely given to us by God: Himself, Jesus, Spirit, grace, love, kindness, mercy, salvation--what about his word? What about the Bible? He gave us his word--but we cannot understand it unless the Spirit of God dwells in us, reveals the word to us, and if the Father wills us to maturity.
Holiness of God is perfect
14 “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.
15 This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
16 You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.
This is not the last time we are going to receive a set of holy blueprints and instructions from God to us to show us what we must do in order to behold the Living God and his goodness. What so many people fail to understand is that they treat the Bible like these instructions to build an ark thinking that they will have joy, happiness, safety, even eternal life just by doing what the Scriptures say.
John 5:39-40 (CSB) You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
The Scriptures reveal the plan of God: that is Jesus Christ. Call upon his holy name and what? You will be saved.
Holiness of God is final
17 “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
As completely, utterly, perfectly devastatingly the Flood was upon the earth, this was nothing compared to the wrath that is coming for mankind in the end. And that wrath is two-fold:
Revelation 6:15-17 (CSB) Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”
And if had just read Luke's Gospel, this sounds super familiar. Because after being beaten and mangled to within an inch of his life and not having enough life to carry his own instrument of torture and death, Jesus takes just enough spirit strength and prophesies this future.
And here is the second part of that wrath--one that lasts forever:
Matthew 24:45-51 (CSB) “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ and starts to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards, that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Don't let anybody try to tell you that Christ never talked about hell. Christ talked about hell and eternal damnation plenty of times. If you read the Gospels and you can't see it yourself, you might want to question your own salvation.
The Gospel
Holiness of God is salvation for his people
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.
19 You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
20 Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive.
And time and time again, through his precious word, God's promises are made and they will always be fulfilled and true.
We play with our sin thinking that there is no separation of God because God is merciful--he has to be merciful on me.
No. You are being presumptuous about the fact God is kind to you--that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
What is the kindness of God that comes from not his love but all rooted in his holiness?
Romans 2:2-8 (CSB) Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.
Holiness of God is eternal life for his people
21 Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.”
Just as God perfectly planned and provided for the salvation of Noah and his family in the midst of the great flood, God perfectly sent His Perfect Son, who perfectly and joyfully obeyed God--even to death on a cross--in order to live and die so that His people would be saved from sins forever.
Our Response
22 And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.
God calls you to put all your hope, fear, doubt, trust, belief, and obedience into His Son, Jesus Christ.
If you don't know him, don't waste another second not knowing him. This is no time to mull it over or think it through. Before you go, trust in him today. Right now. No special prayers. No careful words.
Pray this.