1 Peter 3:20 – God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
2 Peter 2:5 – [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.
The story of Noah is often wrongly told. The inaccurate version is that the world was filled with bad people, and there was a good man named Noah. God chose to save Noah and his family because he was a good man. If this were true, it would be a gospel of works and not of grace as Noah would have earned his salvation by being a better person than everyone else.
In Genesis 6:6-7 we read, “The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe man-kind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.” Simply, everyone on the earth in that day was evil all the time – including Noah.
But, in Genesis 6:8 we read, “But Noah found favor [grace] in the eyes of the LORD.” This is the first occurrence of the Hebrew word for grace in the Bible and what it tells us is that Noah was sinful like everyone else, but that God gave Noah grace while the rest of humanity received God’s justice in the Flood.
In Genesis 6:9 we then read, “This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Moses tells us that Noah was totally depraved, but that God gave grace to Noah and saved him from judgment, and it was God’s grace that made Noah a righteous man, covered his sins to make him blameless, and enabled him to walk with God.
Noah was saved from the flood the same way that we are saved from the flames – solely by God’s grace. We are no better than anyone else, and apart from God saving us we would never be saved.
Looking back, how do you see that God was pursuing you long before you were responding to Him?
To download the free e-book ODD LIFE: Good God which is a study in 1 Peter for individuals, groups, and families from Pastor Mark click HERE. To listen to Pastor Mark’s 9 sermons on 1 Peter preached in the summer of 2020, click HERE. These and other resources are made possible by our ministry partners who support Real Faith as a Bible teaching ministry of Mark Driscoll Ministries to whom we say THANK YOU!