Let us turn to God's Word. Turning
now to the New Testament in the second epistle of Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2. And I want, with the Lord's help,
to direct your attention tonight to words that we find here at
verse 5. 2 Peter 2.5 We read how God spared
not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. 2 Peter 2.5 God spared not the
old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. And I want us to consider Noah
then, and as he has said before us here, as that man who is the
preacher of righteousness. We see that he was indeed a righteous
man. We read there in the Genesis
chapter 6 and the first part of chapter 7 concerning the history
of that terrible judgment that God visited upon the ancient
world as it is spoken of here, the old world that awful deluge
that fell as a judgment because of the wickedness of man that
was great in the world and yet in the midst of all those sinful
people we have mention of this particular man righteous Noah
how he must have been despised and hated by those who were his
contemporaries it was recently reading in Luther's exposition
of the flood. Henry Cole, who was the translator
of both Luther and Calvin in the 19th century, considered
Luther's exposition of Genesis to be a book on a par with his
exposition of the epistle to the Galatians and he began translating
that work also but he was unable to complete the task he only
got through to the beginning of chapter 6. But there he has
much to say with regards to this man Noah. as he is introduced
to us and spoken of as a righteous man, a preacher of righteousness,
one so much hated by that wicked world. God spared not the old
world, we're told, but saved Noah, the eighth person. And here, of course, Peter then
goes on to speak also of Lot, who was the child of God, and
yet was there, of course, in those wicked cities of the play. We're told of verse seven, that
God delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing
and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. For surely what was true with
regards to Lot would also have been true with regards to this
man, Noah. Lot is spoken of as just Lot. And here we have saved Noah. These men are those who stand
before God as justified sinners and yet dwelling amidst the most
wicked and ungodly of men and women. Well, as we come to consider
our text for a while tonight, first of all I want to say something
with regards to the person of Noah, and then in the second
place, to consider the preaching of Noah, the subject matter of
that message that he was proclaiming. First of all, the person of Noah. And here in the text, He is referred
to as Noah the 8th person. Noah the 8th person. What does that mean? Does it
mean that he was the 8th person in the sense that this is the
8th generation after God had created the first man, Adam? we might imagine that that's
simply what it means, the 8th person, he belongs to the 8th
generation. However, in the epistle of Jude, verse 14,
we read of Enoch, the 7th from Adam. Enoch is the 7th generation
from Adam. In Genesis chapter 5, we read
of the generations of Adam. And so we have a list of those
different generations, and Enoch is in the seventh generation.
But then when we examine the accounts there in the early chapters
of Genesis, we come to realize that Enoch was in fact the great-grandfather
of Noah. Enoch's not the father of Noah. That would make Noah as one who
belongs to the 8th generation. But no, he was the great-grandfather.
Therefore, we have to conclude rightly that Noah was the 10th
from Adam, not the 8th. And yet, here we have it, Noah
the 8th person. But you will observe also that
the word person is in italics. indicating of course that it's
one of those words that the faithful translators of our authorized
version have introduced. It's not a rendering of any word
that's there in the original Greek. It's been introduced to
bring out the meaning as I understand it. But literally it says, Noah
the 8th, a preacher of righteousness. And so we conclude that the 8th
simply refers to the fact that he is one of those 8. that God
saved. Remember there were eight who
entered into the Ark. Noah and his wife and then Shem,
Ham and Japheth and their three wives. There were eight souls
that entered into the Ark and Noah is simply one of those eight. Noah the eighth. I think that
is the only way really we can explain what Peter is saying
here in the text. But what of the person of Noah? First of all, we see that he
was a sinner. He was a sinner. He must have been a sinner, because
he received a sinful nature from his parents, like all of us. We're all born dead in trespasses
and in sins. That's the consequence of the
fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And in Genesis 5 we're
told how Adam begat a son in his own likeness after his image
and called his name Seth. Now what was the likeness and
the image of Adam. Well, we know that he was created
in the image of God, made in the likeness of God. But then
Adam transgressed God's commandment, disobeyed. He was fallen. And when his sons are born, they
are born with the same fallen nature as he and Eve had. And so Seth, you see, when he
is spoken of as one who is in the likeness and the image of
his own father, it simply indicates to us that as Adam was a sinner,
so also Seth was a sinner. And then, of course, we read
those awful words in Genesis chapter 6 concerning the condition
of the world at that time. The wickedness of men prevailed. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, it seems. And every imagination
of the thought of his heart was evil continually. Every imagination. and the margin
there in Genesis 6.5 indicates that imagination is one of those
words that's so full, so rich, so pregnant in meaning not just
his imaginations it says but it also has reference to all
man's desires and all man's purposes everything about the man is governed
by the fact that he is a sinner, he's one who is in that condition
of alienation from God. This is how men were in those
days. And this is how it has been through
the generations. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Oh, there is not a just man upon
the earth. that doeth good and sinneth not,
says the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes. How sin prevails,
and it prevails and has prevailed on every hand. So what of this
man Noah? Noah was just as other men. Noah was a sinner. In fact, even after God had preserved
and saved him in the ark, we see him sinning We see him as
one who is guilted of the sin of drunkenness. There in the
ninth chapter of Genesis, verse 20, Noah began to be a husband
man and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and
was drunken. And he was uncovered within his
tent. He didn't know anything about
his condition. He was in a drunken state. And
that's a sin. And that is a great sin. Wine
is a mocker, says the wise man. Strong drink is raging. Whosoever
is deceived thereby is not wise. And Noah was deceived by drink. He was drunk. And though that
sin is mentioned in the terrible catalogue of sins that we find
recorded in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians, those striking
words that we have there in 1 Corinthians 6, at verse 9, "'Know ye not,'
says Paul, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God, be not deceived. And then the catalogue begins.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. or we might well say, who then
can be saved? What is the apostle saying? Know
ye not that such unrighteous characters as these shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Sin will condemn them. But then
he goes on, And such were some of you, but you are washed, but
you are sanctified, but you are justified, in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. For there is One,
you see, who is the Saviour of sinners, even these outrageous
sinners. They are those washed, sanctified,
justified and all that fullness of salvation that they come to
experience is in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in Him alone. And so first of all we have to
recognize with regards to the person of Noah that he was a
sinful man. Just as every other man that
has been born into this world. One exception of course. Oh,
that's the man Christ Jesus. That certain man who was preserved from every
taint of sin in the miracle of the virgin birth, the great mystery
of the incarnation. as the Holy Ghost so came upon
Mary, a virgin, though herself a sinful woman, of course, rejoicing
in God her Saviour. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, says the
angel. Therefore also that holy thing
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That
is the only sinless man. Though Adam, though Eve were
sinners, when created, how quickly they fell and became sinners.
But the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens, the only righteous
man. And so Noah was a sinner. But
Noah is one who is a saved sinner. And his salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It says here in the text, God
spared not the old world, but saved Noah. How clear, how plain
the text is. How significant that little word,
but. But God saved Noah. We read it there in Genesis 6,
8. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. How was he saved? He was saved
by grace. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Oh, Noah was a man of faith. But Noah, first of all, When
we think of him as a saved man, he was a man who knew something
of the fear of the Lord. Oh, remember that fear of the
Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom. That is where wisdom begins.
To be made wise unto salvation we must know something of that
fear. The fear of the Lord, the beginning
of knowledge. If we would be those who truly
know the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, it's life eternal. He says to
know they're the only true God and Jesus Christ whom they were
sent. But if we would know that, that knowledge of salvation,
we must recognize that the fear of the Lord, the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge. To have some understanding of
God, That's where it must begin. We must see something of the
glory, the greatness of God, to be those who are brought to
stand in awe before Him, to recognize who He is, always the Holy One
of Israel. That great mystery, the doctrine
of God, Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit, the One before
whom The angels veil their faces and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. For He is three times holy, and
He is the Lord of hosts. And Noah, I say, was one who
knew that fear. And was it that he came to build
the ark? Well, look at what it says in
Hebrews 11, 7. Noah, moved with fear, built an ark. He was moved
with the fear of the Lord. And what was that fear of the
Lord? It was not in any sense a tormenting fear. Where there is that fear, that
tormenting fear, it's an unhealthy fear. It's to be distinguished
from that filial fear, that fear that belongs to one who is a
true child of God. That tormenting fear, that's
the sort of fear that the devils have of God. And where there
is tormenting fear, what is the cause of it? Well, tormenting
fear only views the consequences of sin. What do the devils say? There in Mark chapter 1 in the
synagogue in Capernaum where the Lord cast the demons out
of that man who was possessed. What do the demons say? Let us
alone. What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art
thou come to destroy us? We know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. For what is it that the demons
fear? Destruction. The consequence of their rebellion
against God. And they say to the Son of God,
They manifest in the flesh, out they come to destroy us. Oh, the devils, they fear. They believe in God, but they
tremble before God. That's tormenting fear. It views the consequence. The
consequence of sin, it dreads the punishment that is the just
desert of those who have rebelled against God and disobeyed God.
But you see, here is the difference. Where there is filial fear, it's
not so much a hatred of what sin will cost me, but it's a
hatred of sin itself. Where there's filial fear, it
hates sin. Not the punishment that the just
desert, but that sin that is such an offence against God. And so, we see how these men,
Noah, Lot, so hated sin. Look at what it says in verse
7 concerning just Lot, how he was vexed. with the filthy conversation
of the wicked and what was true in Lot living there in those
wicked cities of the plain the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
what was true of Lot was also true of Noah as he lived in that
old world that was so sunk in sin and in iniquity All this
word that we have, vexed, it means distressed, tortured, tormented. That's how this godly fear views
sin. It is a torment. All the godly
hate sin. because it is such an offensive
thing against God, it fills them with dread. Remember at the end
of the book of Habakkuk we have a prayer That short book of Habakkuk,
it concludes with the prayer of Habakkuk.
The last chapter, chapter 3, contains his prayer. And what does he say in the course
of his prayer? Verse 16, When I heard my belly
tremble, My lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered
into my bones and I trembled in myself. He's troubled. And what is it
that causes this strange feeling in the depths of his bowels,
rottenness entering into his bones? It's the very thought
of sin. It's like Daniel says in chapter
10, When he sees something of the glories of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that certain man, how all his pleasantness is turned
in him into corruption. Oh, this is the experience, you
see, of those who have the true fear of God. Sin is so grievous
to them. They see it, they hate it, and
this is why they abhor themselves. Like Job says, I abhor myself. When he sees and feels his sin,
he's brought to repent in dust and ashes. It's not just the
consequence of sin that will bring so certain the punishment
of God, the soul that sinneth, it must die, but it's sin itself,
that the godly fear. We don't only have the prayer
of of Habakkuk there at the end of the prophecy of that man,
but think of that remarkable prayer of another in the Old
Testament, the prayer of Jabez. Oh, what a precious verse is
that in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse 10. In the midst
of all those names, those strange names that we find so difficult
to pronounce, we find that little gem the prayer of Jabez. And what does he pray? Well,
amongst his various petitions, he asked God to keep me from
evil. That it may not grieve me. All sin, you see, is a grievous
thing to those who have the true fear of God in their hearts.
And that was the case with Noah. This is a person of Noah. He's
a sinner, yes, But he's a man who has the fear of God in his
heart. He has that beginning of wisdom, that beginning of
knowledge. He's a saved sinner. And we see that in that he's
a man of faith. All that fear is united to saving
faith. Why? He's there, of course, in
Hebrews chapter 11. By faith knower, you see. He has faith. He's not only motivated
by the fear of the Lord, he's motivated by a real faith in
God. And what is that faith of Noah?
Well, it's saving faith, it's justifying faith. Because we're told again there
in Hebrews 11, 7, and Noah became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith. That's how he became a righteous
man. The heir of righteousness, which is by faith. And so, in the portion that we
read there, that historic account, at the beginning of Genesis chapter
7, God says to Noah, Thee have I seen righteous before me in
this generation. or God says it to Noah. God has
seen Noah as a righteous man in the midst of a wicked and
a perverse and an evil generation. The world full of ungodliness
and yet this man is seen to be righteous. And why? Why or how is it that God sees
him as being righteous It's not his own righteousness. As I said,
he's a sinner. Just as all others are sinners.
But he is heir of the righteousness which is by faith. That great message that we have
when we come to the New Testament. Of course, salvation is the same
in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. All those who
go to heaven are saved in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no
other way of salvation. Even Abraham, the father of all
the righteous, he saw the day of Christ. The Lord says it there
in John chapter 8, he saw my day and was glad, he tells the
Jews. There's no salvation, no righteousness
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. But of course when we come to
the New Testament we have We have the fullness of that revelation.
Or what do we see in the New Testament Scriptures? It's the finality of God's revelation
of Himself. And so the preaching of the apostles.
And remember the message that we see Paul proclaiming at Antioch,
in Pisidia, in Acts chapter 13, why he preaches righteousness. and righteousness in the Lord
Jesus. By Him, he says, by the Lord Jesus Christ, all that believe
are justified from all things that they could not be justified
from by the deeds of the law. All Paul preached the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is that righteousness
that Noah also preaches. He is a preacher of righteousness.
Why? He's experienced these things. Noah was a just man, and perfect
in his generation. And Noah walked with God. That's the description we have
there in our reading, Genesis 6-9. A just man? What does that mean? He's a justified
man. A justified sinner. He's perfect. perfect in his generation, it
says. How is he perfect? Well, he has
upon him the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
walking with God. How does he walk with God? He
walks by faith, seeing Him who is the invisible God. It is the
righteousness of faith. Or what does Paul so concerning
himself and his great desire, he wants to be found in Christ,
to be found in him, he says, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And it's the same with this man
Noah. He is a man of faith and his
faith is in God. And we finished our reading with
those wonderful words concerning his salvation, how the Lord shot
him in. Oh, he is shot into the ark.
And what is the ark? Is it not a wonderful type of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Noah and those with him there
were all shot into the Lord Jesus Christ. Or where are we by nature? We're not shot into Christ. We're shot into our fallen nature. As the Psalmist cries out, I
am shut up and I cannot come forth. Or where are we before
faith comes, before faith came? We're kept under the law, shut
up. Shut up to the faith that would afterward be revealed.
or we want to be those who know that we're shot in, shot into
the Lord Jesus Christ brought to see that all our salvation
is outside of ourselves it's all together in the Lord Jesus Christ all
that fullness of salvation well this is the man, this is the
person that we read on Noah God spared, not the old world but
save no of the eight persons. Oh, God makes a difference, you
see. The multitudes that were lost, and yet this little remnant,
as we sang just now in that lovely hymn of Joseph Hart, those eight
souls, safe, secure, in the ark, safe from all that desolation that was all about
them when God sent that great deluge that awful judgment that
was visited upon the old world or the person of Noah then he's
a sinner or we're all sinners but Noah is a saved sinner well
tonight I ask you that question are you one of those a saved
sinner? you know you're a sinner But it's not enough to know we're
sinners. Or there's something more we have to know. We have
to know Him who is the Saviour of sinners, the Friend of sinners,
the Man who receives us sinners and leads us with Him. Or He
says all that come to Him, He will never cast them out. All
to be those then who would be coming to Him, ever coming to
the Lord Jesus Christ. But then let us turn secondly
for a while to consider something of the preaching the preaching
of this man Noah. How is he spoken of? This is
his great business. The preacher of righteousness. The preacher of righteousness. And that righteousness was not
his own righteousness. No, he experienced the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was found in him, shut into
him, not having his own righteousness, but that righteousness which
is of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
what he preaches. It's interesting to see in the
Old Testament how time after time the coming of Christ is
prophesied and spoken of as a revealing of righteousness. For example,
in Isaiah 56, in the opening verse, my salvation, God says,
my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. And it's speaking of the coming
of Christ, salvation. And what is that salvation? It's
the revealing. of righteousness and then we
have those great words again in Isaiah in chapter 45 verse
8 drop down your heavens from above
and let the skies pour down righteousness Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I the Lord have created it. This is the great work of God.
All creation is a great work of God, the first creation. But
this is that new creation. It's the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what is it? It's the heavens pouring down
righteousness. Again, In Isaiah 42, 21, concerning
Christ, it says, "...the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honourable." All this is the work of the Lord Jesus. He's
made under the law. He magnifies the law. He fulfills
the law. He obeys every commandment of
the Lord of God. Oh Christ is that one who is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that's believer. And this is the message that
we see this man Noah preaching. He proclaims righteousness. A preacher of righteousness. Those who preach sassimetries
of this must do so simply because they have no righteousness of
their own. He had nothing of himself to
preach. He can only preach of another. He could only preach of the doings
of the God-man, of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see it time and again. We
see it in the New Testament. We see it very much in the ministry
of the Apostle Paul. Once, of course, he was a Pharisee.
He was the son of a Pharisee. In that sense, he's a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. He scored at the feet of the
great Jewish teacher, Gamaliel. He's learned in all the laws
of the Old Testament and all the traditions of the elders.
And he imagines that he's a righteous man touching the righteousness
which is in the law. He says he was blameless. That's
how he thought. Didn't understand anything really
about the law of God. Didn't see the spirituality of
that law. He thought simply in terms of
his legal righteousness he lived. He lived the Pharisaic life. He was better than other men
are. He was full of himself. but then the Lord deals with
him and he becomes nothing though I be nothing he has to confess
he feels it a zero a cipher a nothing he has no righteousness of his
own so what does he do? he preaches the righteousness
of another though he confesses I know that
in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing And so,
as I said, his desire is to be found in Christ. And that's the
message that he preaches. By Him, all that believe, by
the Lord Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified, accounted
righteous. That's the message of the Apostle. But go to the Old Testament,
it's the message of David. Or King David knew something
of that blessed righteousness? What was he in himself? He confesses
his sins against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight. Oh, he had sinned so grievously,
guilty, guilty of adultery, guilty of murder, And yet, when he comes
to make his confession, there in Psalm 51, he recognizes that
he's offended against God. It's not just a matter of Bathsheba
and Uriah and his sin there, it's God. Against thee, thee
only have I sinned. Though he feels himself to be
full of it. Full of it. No soundness in my flesh, because
of thine anger. Neither is any rest in my bones
because of my sin. Mine iniquities are gone over
mine head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I
am troubled, I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the
day long, for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and
there is no soundness in my flesh." This is how he describes himself.
No righteousness there, he's a sinner. So what does David
do? Look at Psalm 71. Look at Psalm
71. Here is David At the end of his days, he says,
cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when
my strength faileth. Oh, he's an old man. And what
does he say? I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of His righteousness,
even of His own. My tongue shall talk of His righteousness. all the day long, for I know
not the number thereof." David's a preacher of righteousness. He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's a prophet, we know that. We see it in the Psalms, so many
of those Psalms. Messianic is speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's a preacher of righteousness.
Just like Paul was a preacher of righteousness in the New Testament.
There are You see these preachers of righteousness and so too with
Noah. All he preaches is something
of what he had known and felt because he was a sinner and he
was saved by the grace of God and by faith he knew what it
was for that righteousness of Christ that was to come to be
imputed that counted to him that robe of righteousness and so
he preaches these things that he had experienced in his own
soul and yet how solemn it is, there
he is preaching and he's preaching for 120 years and how many a
side just eight, eight souls, his
wife, his sons, their wives, the only ones who are saved.
And yet he perseveres in preaching that message, the preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Oh, that old world, that wicked
world. And this man, you see, we We
speak of the first Adam and in a sense this man is the second
Adam. Adam is the father of the race but you know all who are
living now are descended not only from Adam we're all descended
from Noah. Oh the Lord Jesus we sometimes
speak of him as the second Adam but he's not really the second
Adam. It says the first man is of the earth, earthly. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. But then, there in 1 Corinthians
15, it speaks of the Lord Jesus as the last Adam. The first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam! The last Adam
was made a quickening spirit. There's the first Adam, There's
a second Adam, Noah, and then there's a last Adam. Oh, and
the great thing surely is to be found in that last Adam, that
second man, the Lord from heaven, to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be shut into him. Just as Noah and his wife and
his sons and their wives were all shot into the Ark, to be
shot into the Ark of Christ. And who shots them in? Oh, what
does it say there in Genesis 7, 6 to him? The Lord shot him
in. Oh God grant that we might be
those then who are shot in to the Lord Jesus Christ. All our
salvation, all our desire found only in Him. May the Lord bless
this word to us. Amen. Now let us sing our concluding
hymn tonight. It's number 103. The tune is Winchester New 439. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed. With joy shall I lift up my head. The hymn 103.