WWUTT 357 Noah, a Herald of Righteousness?

Just as God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

So we will be saved from the wrath of God through Jesus Christ when we understand the text.

You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Find videos and more at our website www .wwtt .com. Now here's our host,

Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of 2 Peter 2. If you want to open up your

Bible there, this chapter is a major study concerning false teachers and the lies that they attempt to manipulate people with.

So when it comes to understanding false teaching, this is one of those chapters that you would end up delving deep into.

And we're spending several weeks in this particular chapter. This week, studying the four premises that Peter presents in verses 4 through 10.

So let's begin again in verse 4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved

Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.

And if he rescued righteous lot greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.

Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

And especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

So what we have here are four premises. We have the minor premise and the major premise.

And we looked at the first premise yesterday. So the minor premise in verse four is this.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

And then we have the major premise in verses nine and 10. Then the Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

Especially those who despise authority. Minor premise and major premise.

So today we're going to look at the second premise and that's in verse five. Here's the minor premise.

If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserve Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

There's the minor premise, then the major premise that goes with it. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

And especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. And that definitely describes the world as we have it described for us in Genesis chapter six.

When God was fed up with man, the stench of his sin had reached to the heavens and the

Lord regretted that he had filled the earth with man. And so because of growing violence and corruption, because of growing passions of the flesh and the wickedness of man was great on the earth, it says in Genesis six, five, every intention of the thoughts of man was only evil continually.

Then the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him 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 that I have made them. But then in Genesis six, eight, it says, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the

Lord. See, we must remember something that we read yesterday in Genesis chapter three, when we read the curse that was given against all of creation because of sin.

The Lord God said to the serpent in Genesis three, 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the proto -evangelion, the first declaration of the gospel.

God was going to provide a Messiah, a savior, a promised seed who was going to rescue the world from unrighteousness and godlessness that prevailed through man.

And then through one righteous man who was the promise of Christ, all would be delivered from the wages of sin, which is death.

This is the promise, the gospel that had been given in the curse that was levied against the devil, the serpent who had tempted

Eve to eat the fruit, who had given it to her husband and he ate and thus all of creation was sent into upheaval, subjected to futility because of sin.

We still have this promise of deliverance. So the Lord God, because of the evil of man was not going to wipe out all of mankind.

We have the promise that was given in Genesis 3, 15, that he was going to send a deliverer.

And we know that this deliverer is going to come through the line of Noah for he has found favor in the eyes of the

Lord. And so, you know, the story, I mean, it's a famous story. We read it in Sunday school when we are kids.

The part that we tend to leave out of the story, though, when you're learning about it at five, six, seven years old, is the fact that millions and millions of people died in the

Lord's judgment of a flood upon the earth. I am teaching that story to my children, and I don't leave that part out.

That's an important part of the story, because we have the gospel that is being spoken here in the deliverance of the righteous through Noah and his sons, just as we are delivered from sin and death in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, the gospel of Jesus Christ being spoken about here, even through this righteous man,

Noah. So God told Noah that he was going to destroy the earth. And he said to him in verse 14, 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 breadth 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 and keep them alive with you.

They shall be male and female of the birds, according to their kinds of the animals, according to their kinds of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind.

Two of every sort shall come into you to keep them alive and 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 because Noah was righteous.

Now some of you are probably familiar with the theatrical film came out a couple of years ago entitled

Noah starring Russell Crowe. It was a movie that was created by atheist film creator and director

Darren Aronofsky. I went and saw the film when it was in theaters, one of the worst Bible films

I have ever seen. And one of the takes that both Aronofsky and Crowe had of Noah is that he was a monstrous man.

What a monster, what a guy to create this ark, but he wouldn't let anybody else get on the ark.

And so they, they created him out to be this, this awful, awful man who just hated people and thought that he was doing the right thing.

But in the process, millions of people died because he wouldn't open the doors of the ark to anyone else.

Now, even though that was a horrible way to portray Noah as a monstrous man rather than a righteous man, there was still one scene in the film that I thought was particularly chilling and it was after the floodwaters had risen on the earth and it shows the ark floating in the waters.

There is one little mountain that's kind of poking up out of the waters and there's a bunch of people that have tried to, uh, to cram themselves on top of the peak of that hill to escape the floodwaters.

And a wave crashes against that hill and you hear people screaming. And then it shows, it shows

Noah and his family inside the ark, hearing the people screaming on the outside as the judgment of God is coming against them.

That was a very chilling scene, but I actually would believe that Noah and his family did not hear the screams of the people outside.

It would have been very noisy with the rain and the floodwaters crashing against the ark. I don't think they would have heard that.

But nonetheless, we should not turn our attention away from the reality of the judgment that had come upon the earth because of the wickedness of man.

And that's something that I think was portrayed in the film that you could kind of catch a glimpse of.

I don't recommend that anybody watched that movie though. I don't think that you have to watch that movie to get a sense of that.

Just understanding that millions of people were being destroyed, judged in their wickedness by the mighty righteous hand of God.

And Peter describes for us here in second Peter chapter two, that Noah was preserved a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

And it's often asked, was Noah a preacher? Did he stand out there and preach righteousness to these people?

Did he warn the people to flee from the wrath of God that was to come? We have to believe that he did because of what

Peter writes here, that he was a herald of righteousness. A herald is a messenger. And so Noah would have proclaimed the righteousness of God to the people, but they would not listen to him.

Their hearts were hard. And so the Lord, according to the major premise in second

Peter two, nine, was keeping the unrighteousness under punishment until the day of judgment.

So that the full scope of God's glory, the full exercise of his glory would be demonstrated in the fact that he is merciful and loving and spared

Noah, a righteous man and his family. But he brought to destruction those who were godless, kept them under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion.

And that's exactly the way that we see the corruption spreading on the earth at the beginning of Genesis six, this spread of defiling passion.

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive and they took as their wives any that they chose.

And the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh. His days shall be 120 years than a feeling were on the earth in those days.

And also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them, these were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

And then verse five, 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.

So this is the wickedness that spread on the earth and the judgment that God brought against them.

So again, I don't think it's necessary for you to see a Hollywood false teaching film like Noah in order to understand the scope of the things that happened with Noah and the

Ark and the judgment that was brought against the world. Instead, why not check out something like the

Ark encounter in Kentucky or it's just outside of Cincinnati? It's kind of a suburb of Cincinnati.

It's part of the Creation Museum. And I had the chance to visit the Creation Museum. It was this month last year, as a matter of fact, my appreciation to Roger Patterson of extending an invitation to me and my family to come out and see the

Creation Museum. I hadn't had the chance to be there yet, and I was incredibly impressed, loved it so much.

I've encouraged others to go, especially in my church, where we're comprised of a lot of military families.

And so some of them have families that live on the East Coast. And when they're traveling back that way, I'll say, hey, if you're going through Cincinnati, be sure to stop and check out the

Creation Museum. Make a day of it. Have the whole family go in and see the museum. It's beautiful.

It's worth the trip just for the museum. I've not been to the Ark encounter yet. I've been invited to go, but it's going to be a little while for us since we just had a baby.

But nonetheless, would love to see it. You have the life -size, two -scale replica of the

Ark, or at least kind of a vision of what the Ark may have looked like, and you're able to walk through it and see some of the exhibits there and learn from the

Bible and even the scientific evidence that is presented. So I would highly encourage you to attend the

Creation Museum or check out the Ark encounter while you are there. I don't know how you could get to the

Creation Museum and not want to see the Ark encounter, but that's one way to learn more about this story and see it, experiencing it for yourself.

So again, we come to understanding Noah as a herald of righteousness who preached the righteousness of God to the people, but they would not listen to him.

And so Noah and his family were spared the judgment of God on the Ark, and the promise of God's Deliverer, the

Messiah, was preserved in the line of Noah with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.

Now this statement here in verse five, with seven others, what we have is

God's promise of deliverance to the few and his promise of judgment upon the many.

This is the way the gospel message is shared throughout the scriptures. Many will find destruction and the few will find deliverance, will find life.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, verses 13 -14, Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

So those who respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ are few, and those who reject the gospel and go to their destruction are going to be many.

This is the way that the gospel is presented, is found, all the way through the scriptures.

So we even have it said by Jesus Christ that following him is the difficult road.

That's the hard way. So it really makes me bristle whenever I hear somebody like Andy Stanley stand up and say that your life will become easier whenever you follow

Jesus. Rick Warren has said something similar to that as well. That goes against what

Jesus said about following him. If anyone will be my disciple,

Luke 9, 23, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow after me.

He must lay down his own life, take up his instrument of death, of sacrifice, the cross, and follow after me, bearing his own cross, if you want to be my disciple.

That's a difficult road to walk. That's not the easy way. Your life will not become easier if you follow

Christ. Your life will become more difficult because you follow him. The easy way is the broad way, and that's the way that many find because it's easy, and they will go to their destruction.

But the hard way is the narrow way. Enter by the narrow gate.

The gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

And so even here in this premise that Peter presents in 2 Peter 2, 5,

Noah, a herald of righteousness with seven others, were spared the destruction and the wrath of God.

He saved the few and brought to destruction the many. So just as God saved

Noah and his family from the wrath of God, then the

Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteousness under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

So what we hear from this story when we see it presented to us in this premise from Peter in 2

Peter 2, we are reminded once again to enter by the narrow gate, to not go the way of the world, but instead follow

Christ and his righteousness, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you as well.

That we set our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, as it says in Hebrews chapter 12, in Romans 12 verses one and two,

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In Colossians chapter three, since we have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

And these sins that have been listed here for us in verses five through eight are exactly the kinds of sins that mankind was indulging in when

God's wrath was kindled against the men of renown who lived on the earth, whose thoughts were continually wicked all the time.

And God regretted that he had made man on the earth and decided to wipe them out, but save the world through a righteous man.

And that was Noah, a picture of Christ, who is the only righteous man who has ever lived.

And through the righteousness of Christ, we are saved from the wages of sin, which is death and the wrath of God that is burning against all unrighteousness.

Peter comes back to the story of Noah and God's judgment upon the world in a flood in second

Peter chapter three. And he says that in the last days, there will be scoffers with their scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

They will say, where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.

For they deliberately overlook this fact, Peter says, that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.

And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

So the judgment of God is coming upon the world again, but it won't be by a flood. God promised

Noah, he set his bow in the sky. He would not destroy the world again by a flood, but the next destruction that comes upon the world in judgment will be by fire.

Peter goes on in verse eight, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises. Some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness waiting and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt away as they burn.

But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Amen. The day of the Lord is a sure thing. It is coming when Christ will return to judge the living and the dead.

Let us be found as faithful servants practicing righteousness in his name.

For those who are in Christ, that day will be a day of great rejoicing, but for those who are not in Christ, that is a day of wrath and it is a day to be feared.

So I tell you, turn from your sin and follow Christ Jesus. Though that road as we walk it here on this earth is hard, it is a road that leads to eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the

Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle, found at our website at www .tt

.com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.