A 30-Point Apologetical Sermon on a Concise Teaching of the Historical, Scriptural and Doctrinal Understanding of the Real Story of Noah's Ark, Pt 1

 Dr. MA Petillo

With grateful heart my thanks I bring,
Before the great thy praise I sing:
I worship in thy holy place
And praise thee for thy truth and grace;
For truth and grace together shine
In thy most holy Word divine.
I cried to thee and thou didst save,
Thy Word of grace new courage gave;
The kings of earth shall thank thee, Lord,
For they have heard thy wondrous word;
Yea, they shall come with songs of praise,
For great and glorious are thy ways.
O Lord, enthroned in glory bright,
Thou reignest in the heavenly height;
The proud in vain thy favor seek,
But thou hast mercy for the meek;
Through trouble though my pathway be,
Thou wilt revive and strengthen me.
Thou wilt stretch forth thy mighty arm
To save me when my foes alarm;
The work thou hast for me begun
Shall by thy grace be fully done;
For ever mercy dwells with thee;
O Lord, my Maker, think on me.  (TH, 76).

1.  The name Noah means "rest" (Gen. 5:29).

2.  There really was an historical figure named Noah.

3.  The father of Noah was Lamech.

4.  Noah had brothers and sisters in the family of Lamech.

5.  Noah found favor with a holy God (Gen. 6:8).  That is, he was found by God through His outstretched arm of His choice alone (Jn 1:13).

6.  Noah lived for five hundred years.  That is, the age of Noah is not something made up or mythology.  Rather the age of Noah is real because of a real preserved and an early humanity.

7.  Noah had three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen 6:10).

8.   Noah was a just man.  That is, the Bible says that the just live by faith (for example Gal 2:20).  

9.  Noah is said to be "perfect."  It refers not to a perfection unto future glorification through sinlessness, but that comes later in heaven by God in the glorification of the merits of Christ alone through an elect sinner chosen by God alone.  Rather it refers to being "complete."  Job is described in the same way.  The Bible says that only the unified divine righteousness of Christ alone avails in how someone is right with a holy God (Phil 3:9).

10.  Noah walked with God.  That is, it refers to a way of life that is set apart (or holy).  Noah had his obedience captive to every way of Jesus Christ. 

11.  Genesis 6:13 refers to God speaking to Noah.  That is, God spoke to Noah face to face as with a friend.  We see this later on in ancient Israel with Moses.

12.  God told Noah that He brought the divine revelation of the end of all flesh that has come before Him.  That is, God sovereignly chose according to His supernatural freedom to bring about the destruction of the world through water in early human history, because of the abundant lawlessness.  God does not have the obligation to save, but only through His graciousness.  However, He may chose according to His good pleasure to grant wrath to His fallen creatures, because it is no surprise that men deserve divine punishment for cosmic treason.  The Bible also refers to the destruction of the world at the end through fire, but it says that God will never destroy the world again through water.   Hence it must be a global understanding of God's way to end the world in a catastrophic flood and later by fire.

13.  Ancient man was filled with violence.  The Bible says a holy God hates a soul that loves violence, because it is extreme lawlessness.  Lawlessness is a characteristic of damnation.   

14.  All of ancient man was spiritually damned by God's choice alone (Rom 9:11, 16).  That is, they rebelled against a holy God that was left to the mutable subjection of their wills toward cosmic rebellion and followed their fallen parents (the historical Adam and Eve) in the sin that rises above a holy God in treasonous idolatry.

15.  God did not chose to be merciful to ancient man.  That is, He destroyed all living things including many millions of fallen sinners.  They must have spread over the lands of the ancient earth.  No matter where they were, He would find them.  No one can escape the divine presence of God.  The world-wide flood missed nobody, and so the ancient world perished.  Do you doubt this historical truth?  If the world did not perish by water, how will the world not perish through fire?  The past world perished through water in a real global sense, but the future world will perish in a real global sense by divine fire where a holy God will make a new heaven and earth for the glory of Jesus Christ alone.

16.  The global flood that destroyed ancient man was for the glory of God alone unto His matchless wrath alone for reprobate man alone, but the eight historical and real people (who were saints of God in Christ that He preserved Noah's Christ-centered family) survived from God's supernatural and providential protection in a real Ark made of real ancient wood received God's choice of mercy alone in general benevolence (in constructing and building the Ark for Noah's family only) and redemptive mercy (in salvation of their spiritual souls).


17.  God blessed the few in ancient history.  That is, He spiritually and really saved eight particular saints.  They did not become saints by their own efforts.  Rather it was the work of God alone.  It's not that Noah and his family never sinned, because the Bible tells us that everyone sins.  However, it means Noah and his family was not engaged in the violent lawlessness of fallen humanity at that time in history.  God preserved Noah and his family in the historical time of hyper-violence on the old earth.  Are you one of the eight people in Christ who serve Him and trust Him?  Remember Jesus Christ as a picture of Noah's Ark.  That is, He is the real Incarnate Ark as a Divine Incarnate Person that rescues His people without additions in how someone is right with their holy Creator.

18.  God designed the predestinarian plan for Noah's Ark through a picture of His eternal Son (though it was a real historical event but still foreshadows Jesus Christ alone in ancient times) by the Spirit's redemptive work in spiritually changing eight souls for the sole glory of His mercy alone.

19.  Noah obeyed the Lord.  That is, we see this with Moses that he also obeyed a holy God.  How did Noah obey God?  Obedience can only come from God's work of a changed heart.  Do you have a changed heart before God and man?  We ought to obey God in all He commands.  You may seek to obey the Ten Commandments, but what about the NT commandments?  Have you obeyed them?

20.  Noah obeyed God to demonstrate his living faith born of God (Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5; Jn 1:13), but he did not obey God to earn favor with Him, because Noah had favor by God through His grace alone before He obeyed God (see Eph 2:10; Js 2ff).


21.  God speaks to Noah and He gives a command (Gen 7:1).  That is, God speaks now through His written Word preached.  Do you want to hear the very voice of Jesus Christ?  Here, take up and read!  It is the written Scriptures that is the very voice of God.

22.  Noah was able to obey the holy Lord.  That is, Noah and his real family entered the constructed Ark.  Ancient man was able to build such a structure like the Ark.  There are historical examples of ancient structures that ancient man was able to build.  


23.  Why Noah and his family?  God was fully aware of other ancient civilizations around the ancient world at Noah's time, but He solely chose Noah and his family alone simply because of His good pleasure without regard to the mere opinions of fallen man.

24.  Noah was six hundred years old when God brought the world-wide flood of Noah upon the ancient world.  God was able to wait from the historical fall of Adam to Noah's time until He freely decided in light of man's cosmic rebellion to destroy the world through His furious indignation in His outstretched wrath according to His good pleasure for the glory of His perfect justice alone.


25.  We ought to be very careful in how we view ancient man in light of our ungodly times.  That is, we would be grossly mistaken to suggest that we are not living in a crooked and wicked generation like the days of Noah. 

26.  Where did the world-wide water come from?   Very simply, it did not rain unto the time Noah entered the Ark, because there was a different way for God to water the earth (see for example Gen 2:6).  The water that overflowed the earth or filled the earth to the brim came from the sky and subterranean chambers underneath the deep surface of the earth (see Gen 7:11).  God caused the rain and the deep waters to come forth and radically flooded the earth for cosmic judgment.  It is atheistic and agnostic foolishness in blind science to say that storms come without the meticulous Hand of God.

27.  There was most likely a natural built-in awareness (created and furthered by God's outworking Hand alone) among the ancient animals of pending danger, doom and destruction concerning some kind of pending disaster upon the earth, but also it was Noah's cosmic responsibility to gather the male and female animals to the ancient Ark for preservation and protection of life (Gen 7:9).  

28.   Does the interpretation of God's supernatural work in causing a world-wide flood and saving only eight people in ancient world history cause us to doubt and consider the ancient account superfluous mythology?  I suggest to you that to deny God's detailed work in Noah's ancient account is to deny essential Christian truth.

29.   Noah's favor was not extra-goodness, because he had the unified divine merit of Christ alone (Gal 2:16; Ez 14:14; 14:20).

30.  The err-free Christ spoke of the LITERAL account of ancient Noah as a real historical example of the future Second Coming of Christ (Mt 24:37), but He curiously asks if there will be faith (Lk 18:8).  The power of Christ is greater than the power of wickedness.  If you will not believe the sinless Son of Man on the interpretation of early history of man, who will you believe?   Where does your allegiance lay if not with King Jesus?

Almighty God, thy lofty throne
Has justice for its cornerstone,
And shining bright before thy face
Are truth and love and boundless grace.
With blessing is the nation crowned
Whose people know the joyful sound;
They in the light, O Lord, shall live,
The light thy face and favor give.
Thy name with gladness they confess,
Exalted in thy righteousness;
Their fame and might to thee belong,
For in thy favor they are strong.
All glory unto God we yield,
Jehovah is our Help and Shield;
All praise and honor we will bring
To Israel's Holy One, our King.  (TH, 619).