I. Noah Obeys Command to Enter the Ark
1. Noah saw God’s favor in his command 1.
- Noah experienced severe temptations and needed comfort 1-2.
2. What God wished to teach Noah by calling him to enter the ark 3. 3. Whether God spoke this commandment directly to Noah 4-5.
- When God speaks to us through men it is to be viewed as God’s
Word 4-5.
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The thoughts of the Jews on the seven days 6.
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The office of the ministry.
a. Through it God deals with mankind 7.
b. Why we should not despise the office and expect revelations direct from God 8-9.
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God speaks with man in various ways 9.
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Corruption and destruction of the first world.
a. The ruin of the first compared with that of the last world 10-13.
- The need of posterity to pray that they retain pure doctrine
b. Why so few righteous persons were found in Noah’s day 12.
- The efforts of the pope and bishops to crush the Gospel 13.
c. First world severely punished, neither old nor young were spared 14-15.
d. Punishment of first world greatly moved Peter when he wrote about it 16-17.
- Peter’s record of sermon Christ delivered to the spirits of the
first world in prison 16-17.
a. Who are to be understood here by the unbelieving world 18.
b. Peter here shows the wrath and long suffering of God 19.
c. Nature and manner of this sermon 20.
- Apostles had special revelations we cannot grasp 20-21.
4. How Noah was righteous before God 22.
5. How the world laughed at him while executing God’s command, God then comforted him 23-24.
6. Greatness of Noah’s faith and steadfastness in executing this command 25-26.
- Luther’s confession he would have been too weak for such a work
25-26.
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The great firmness of John Huss and Jerome of Prague 27.
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We are to comfort ourselves when all the world forsakes and
condemns us 28.
7. God commands Noah to take the animals he names along into the ark 29.
- Why God so often repeats the same thing 29.
a. What is to be understood by Behemoth 30.
b. How many of each kind entered the ark 31.
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The rain at the flood was exceptional 32.
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The flood is a token of God’s righteousness and from it we
conclude God will punish the sins of the last world 33.
8. By what may we learn Noah’s faith and obedience to God 34.
- Why God did not save Noah in some other way 34.
I. Noah Obeys Command to Enter the Ark
V. 2a. And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. 1. As soon as that extraordinary structure, the ark, was built, the Lord commanded Noah to enter it, because the time of the deluge, which the Lord announced one hundred and twenty years before, was now at hand. All this convinced Noah that God was taking care of him; and not only this, but also, as Peter says (2 Pet 1, 19), gave him an ample and abundant word to support and confirm his faith in such great straits. Having foretold the deluge for more than a century, he doubtless was bitterly mocked by the world in many ways.
2. As I have said repeatedly, God’s wrath was incredible. It could not be grasped by the human mind, in that original age of superior men, that God was about to destroy the whole human race, except eight souls. Noah, being holy and just, a kindly and merciful man, often struggled with his own heart, hearing with the greatest agitation of mind the voice of the Lord, threatening certain destruction to all flesh. It was needful, then, that repeated declaration should confirm his agitated faith, lest he might doubt.
3. God’s command to enter the ark amounted to this: “Doubt not, the time of punishment for the unbelieving world is close at hand. But tremble not, do not fear, for faith is at times very weak in the saints. I shall take care of you and your house.” To us such promise would have been incredible, but we must admit that all things are possible with God.
4. Notice Moses’ peculiar expression again: “Jehovah said.” It gives me particular pleasure that these words of God did not sound from heaven, but were spoken to Noah through the ministry of man. Although I would not deny that these revelations may have been made by an angel, or by the Holy Spirit himself, yet where it can plausibly be said that God spoke through men, there the ministry must be honored. We have shown above that many of God’s words according to Moses, were spoken through Adam; for the Word of God, even when spoken by man, is truly the Word of God.