“And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.”

We come now to the second illustration of God’s judgment.

And did not spare the ancient world

The “ancient world” here is the ante-diluvium (pre-flood) civilization. God did not spare the ante-diluvium civilization but destroyed it by the flood. He did spare eight people out of the flood. Peter talks of the flood in three places in his epistles (1 Pe 3:20; 2 Pe 3:6).

God will not spare apostates. He did not spare the apostates before the flood, and He will not spare apostates after the flood. God did not withhold retribution.

but saved Noah

Noah spoke out against the depravity all about him.

one of eight people

The eight people were Noah, his wife, three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their three wives (Ge 6:10,18).

a preacher of righteousness

Noah preached righteousness. This is judicial righteousness of God’s salvation.

“Preacher” means herald. A herald was an eminently respected person. This person frequently spoke for the Emperor or an ambassador. The verb means to proclaim or announce. Noah announced God’s message for 120 years to the ante-diluvium civilization, warning of the coming flood.

Noah preached for 120 years with only his family as converts. This was 120 years of long-suffering on God’s part.

PRINCIPLE:

God cannot spare societies that compromise the essence of who He is.

APPLICATION:

God deals with societies that lose their standards and become corrupt. The media condition us to accept filth, profanity, and vulgarity. Our educational institutions pass off filth for art. They parade pornography as literature. This we call education!

Nothing shocks us anymore. It is going to get worse and worse. Today it very difficult to spare our children from filth and smut.