Today’s Bulletin

OUTLINE

I. Noah & Sons (6:9-10)
II. The End of All Flesh (6:11-13)
III. Frälsningsbåt: Ikea For Salvation Boat (6:14-22)
IV. God’s Recreation Kit (7:1-9)
V. The Unimaginable Waters of Judgment (7:10-20)
VI. All Flesh Died (7:21-24)

Genesis 6:9-7:24

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

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

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. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 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. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

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. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 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, 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. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.

The flood continued forty days on the earth. 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. 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 fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 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 birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

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Chiastic structure of the flood narrative

A. God resolves to destroy the corrupt race (6:11-13).
B. Noah builds an ark according to God’s instructions (6:14-22).
C. The Lord commands the remnant to enter the ark (7:1-9).
D. The flood begins (7:10-16).
E. The flood prevails 150 days, and the mountains are covered (7:17-24).
F. God remembers Noah (8:1a)
E. The flood recedes 150 days, and the mountains are visible (8:1b-5).
D. The earth dries (8:6-14).
C. God commands the remnant to leave the ark (8:15-19).
B. Noah builds an altar (8:20).
A. The Lord resolves not to destroy humankind (8:21-22).

Gustave Doré’s images of the flood (1866) are a bit more terrifying. This is more realistic than the sermon art.

Sermon Discussion questions
A Boatload of Grace: Genesis 6:9-7:24

Ice Breaker: If you could only know one, what detail do you wish God shared about this story?

Weekly Questions

What stood out to you/challenged you most in this sermon?
What’s one area you feel the Lord wants to grow you into more Christ likeness?
How can this group pray for you this week?

This Week Specific

What do you find most amazing about this story?
How would the way people views Noah in this day be similar to the way those outside the faith view you as a Christian today?
What is something difficult God in his word has asked of you?
Was it right for God to wipe out so many people?
100 years of building the ark is a long time to work… and be mocked. What can we learn from Noah in this?
Anyone willing to share an area you are struggling to obey “all that the Lord commands” (v.7:5)? Anyone else have wisdom for that?
How does the story of Noah reflect God’s righteous judgment? How does this same story reflect his grace and mercy?
How does the flood reverse how God created the world?