Why the Flood? Part 1

Why the Flood? A. (GEN 6:11) The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 1. corrupt: as pa. pple. Corrupted, depraved, spoiled. a. The total depravity of man was on full display. ROM 3:9, 15-18. b. True religion was, except for Noah, gone. Corrupt religion lends itself to violence. GEN 4:8; PSA 106:35-38. c. The condition was universal: “...all flesh had corrupted his way...” (GEN 6:12). 2. Prior to the Flood, there had been no law given for capital punishment. GEN 4:15 c/w GEN 9:5-6. a. Until GEN 9:5-6, man had no legal authority from God to capitally punish. It is notable that violence filled the earth without that deterrent. b. The O.T. clearly held man accountable to execute judgment capitally on murderers. NUM 35:30-31; DEU 19:13. c. There is a collective accountability to a society that does not capitally punish murderers. NUM 35:33. d. The sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (EXO 20:13), is in reference to murder, not capital punishment. MAT 19:18. e. The N.T. has not dispensed with capital punishment. Paul granted the justice of such a law. ACT 25:11. 3. God not only despises violence, but them that love violence. PSA 11:5. 4. Violence is a unifying trait of wicked men. It is the drink of their communion. PRO 4:16-17. 5. Paul warned Timothy that one of the characteristics of the last days would be fierceness (formidable violence, OED). 2TI 3:3. B. (GEN 6:5) And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY. 1. Wickedness was so prolific that God had turned mankind over to a reprobate mind. ROM 1:28. 2. It was a period of (as yet) unparalleled collective wretchedness. c/w LUK 17:26-30. a. Society was at its zenith socially, but at its nadir morally. b. Marriage was still fashionable. c. It was a self-absorbed society oblivious of impending doom. JOB 22:15-17 c/w 1TH 5:1-3. 3. The nature of fallen man's heart apart from God is here exposed. a. The nature of man's heart was not altered by the Flood. GEN 8:21; JER 17:9. b. External punishments of great intensity will not change the nature of man. REV 16:9-11. c. At best, they restrain wickedness by their sheer force. d. The power needed to change man's nature is a greater power than worldwide destruction! (1) If worldwide destruction can’t change man’s nature, neither will education, wealth, social programs, etc. (2) The change of man’s nature requires the power of creation, of life from the dead: resurrection power. EPH 2:1, 4-5; 1CO 15:52. C. (GEN 6:6) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Why the Flood? 5-13-18 Page 1 1. God is PRESSED by the sins of His creatures. AMO 2:13. 2. God is WEARIED by the sins of His creatures. ISA 43:24. 3. God is BROKEN by the sins of His creatures. EZE 6:9. 4. God is VEXED by the sins of His creatures. ISA 63:10. 5. God is GRIEVED at the sins of His creatures. c/w EPH 4:30. 6. Of such gross corruption that provokes God to wrath, He says, “I will ease me of mine adversaries...” (ISA 1:24). 7. The situation was so bad that God repented that He had ever made men. a. By contrast, we never find God repenting that He redeemed men. b. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Unlike the creative work, the redemptive work is without repentance. ROM 11:29. D. (GEN 7:1) And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 1. Elijah only thought that he was the last surviving defender of righteousness in his day (ROM 11:2-4), but Noah was just that. 2. When God announced his intentions to Noah, Methuselah and Lamech were likely both still alive. a. The flood came when Noah was 600. GEN 7:11. b. God's determination of man came 120 years before that (GEN 6:3), when Noah was 480. c. Lamech lived 595 years after he begat Noah (GEN 5:30), living for 115 years after God's determination (595-480), dying 5 years before the flood (600-595), yet there is no indication of any righteousness in him during that 115 years. If there was, why did God only say to Noah, “...thee have I seen righteous...”? d. Methuselah outlived his son Lamech by 5 years (GEN 5:26, 31) and therefore died in the year of the flood, living the full 120 years from the time of the determination. Yet again, Noah only was declared just and righteous. e. If Methuselah and Lamech had lived righteously before God, it seems clear that they had apostatized. f. The Messianic royal seed-line which culminates with Jesus Christ had its share of scandalous characters. MAT 1:1-16. g. Thus, it would be presumptuous to conclude that all of Noah's ancestors back to Seth were godly, righteous men. It is therefore also presumptuous to say that the “sons of God” (GEN 6:1-4) must only mean the descendants of Seth who were the godly keepers of religion in the earth. How do we know that they were all godly? Why the Flood? 5-13-18 Page 2