A Godly Father Leads His Family To Jesus (Genesis 6:9-22)

Valley View Baptist Church                                                                 Pastor Curt Audet

6N656 Route 25                                                                                    June 21, 2026

St. Charles, IL  60174                                                                       VVBCIL.COM

“A Godly Father Leads His Family To Jesus” (Genesis 6:9-22)

15th in the sermon series Harbors For Our Soul

BI: A godly man shepherds each of his family members uniquely to know the Lord.

Happy Father’s Day! One of my most treasured roles on earth is that of being the Father to four precious men!  Gordon, Benjamin, Timothy and Peter!  Like many of you, this blessed family has made me a grandfather as well to Grace, John, James; Novea, Skyea, Mariyea, Veronica;  Lillie, Timothy, Anna, Sunny; and Liam, Levi.   Thanks to each of the mothers of these beautiful children too!

Let me share with you a little Father’s Day humorous—possibly historical—conversations between Noah and a couple of his neighbors and friends:

Noah’s Nutty Neighbors

 For decades Noah was building a giant boat on dry land nowhere near any body of water.  One day Noah received a visit over the fence from his long time neighbor, Ralphizek. 

Ralphizek: “Noah, I’ve been watching your construction project for the last few years, and I have only one question for you. [pause]  What on earth are you building?

Noah: Why its an ark Ralphizek. it’s a big boat.  A special boat. 

Ralphizek: Sure is. What’s it for?  We are hundreds of miles from the sea.

Noah: It’ll be a rescue-boat  to carry people, a lot of animals, and supplies.   God told me there’s going to be heavy rain.

Ralphizek: What is rain? 

Noah: I’m not sure. But I think its water falling from the sky.   God said there was going to be a big flood too.

Ralphizek: What’s a flood?

Noah: I’m not sure exactly, but it sounds like a lot of rain.  Apparently it’s big enough to need this sized boat!

Noah obeyed God before he could see any evidence that rain or a flood was coming.   This ties beautifully into Hebrews 11:7:  “By faith Noah… constructed an ark.”

Later in life Noah had another neighbor named Bargatze asking him many questions like these:

Bargatze: I heard that there was no card-playing on the Ark.  Why didn’t the animals get to play cards on the Ark Noah?

Noah: Because I was was always standing on the deck

Bargatze: Noah, is it true  you had problems with some of the animals? If so, which animals could you simply not trust on the Ark?

Noah:  Why, the cheetahs of course.

Bargatze: Ok.  With all the water surrounding the Ark, Noah, why couldn’t you catch many more fish during the flood?

Noah: Because I only had two worms.

Bargatze: One last question, Noah.  I imagine it was pretty dark on each of the decks during the storms.  What type of lights did you use on the Ark?

Noah: Flood lights of course.

In honor of Father’s Day, please use such  Noah-inspired  ‘Dad Jokes’ to bring smiles to others.

Now, going to our text today, we are reminded that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)  In the midst of darkness and pursuit of evil being the dominant trait among the vast majority of the world in Noah’s day, God saw and determined to bless Noah because Noah’s faith was strong in the Lord.

As we track Noah’s family, please keep close in mind that the application of the text is showing us that a godly man shepherds each of his family members uniquely to know the Lord.

Being a ‘godly’ or ‘God-fearing’ or ‘Christ-following’ father is a challenge.  It is intentional.  It a disciplined position.  I’m speaking about and to Dads, but each of us can apply this to our lives. 

I. Noah had Godly examples to follow (Genesis 5:21-32; v.6:9-10)

²¹ Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. ²² Enoch walked with Godafter he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. ²⁵ When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. ²⁸ When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son ²⁹ and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” ³⁰ Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. ³² After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  (Genesis 5:21-32)

⁹ These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 6:9-10)

Noah stood on the shoulders of his forefathers in the faith as he lived out his faith in front of his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Everything was on the line. During the days of Seth and his son Enosh, a sustaining revival of faith took hold. The genealogy shows that Noah could have personally known and learned from many of the earliest patriarchs:

His life shared 84 years with Enosh.  179 years with Kenan. 234 years with Mahalalel.  366 years with Jared. 600 years with his grandfather Methuselah before the Flood.  595 years with his faithful, praying father Lamech.  His legendary great-grandfather Enoch walked with the Lord all his 365 years, and even then did not die.  He was raptured up to be with the Lord without experiencing death!  This was a story told over and over again in that family!

Whether you are the first of faith in your line—like Seth and Enosh in whose time men and women began to seek the Lord and call upon the Lord—or you are like Noah and get to stand on the shoulders of faithful people in and around your family, make the direct choice to learn from the faithful people around you.  Conversely, consciously choose to turn from your own sinful patterns, and of the sinful habits within our families and follow hard after Christ.

The Apostle Paul boldly calls people to ‘imitate him as he imitates Christ’.  Select and learn from these godly examples in your circles.

II. Noah had been given the plan of salvation to follow. (Genesis 6:10-21)

I Will Make An End Of All People.  ¹⁰ [And] Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  ¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

You Will Build A Ship Of Salvation.  ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. ¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷ For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”

תֵּבָה (tevah)

The specific Hebrew word used for Noah’s ark is extremely rare and is used only in two settings in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word is:

It shows up 26x in the Noah’s Ark narrative (Gen 6–9); it also appears 2x in Moses’ ‘Ark’ his mother placed him into then into the Nile River. (Exodus 2:3-5)

‘Tevah’ Is Not the Normal Hebrew Word for Ship. Ordinary Hebrew words for boats or ships are different, (oniyah = ship or  sfinah = boat)

So tevah is deliberately reserved for these two divinely appointed vessels of salvation.  Tevah references a vessel of rescue, and salvation.  Illustratively, tevah references a “ambulance boat”, a boat used to preserve the lives of those who it carries, a boat bringing safety.

A Beautiful Gospel Picture. The ark becomes an incredible foreshadowing of the saving work of Christ.  God provided the ark. The ark alone was the way of salvation from the great flood. Those inside entered by faith in God’s promise to save.  Therefore, they were saved from judgment. Likewise: Jesus said I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to Father but through me. (John 14:6)

The ark is a picture of refuge in God’s appointed means of salvation. The Bible uses the word tevah to describe only two vessels—Noah’s Ark and Moses’ Ark. In both, God preserved life through certain death. Both then point us to Christ, through whom God saves His people from judgment.  See here how the Apostle Peter explains the Gospel in Noah’s Ark:

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison (fallen angels), ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when 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. ²¹ Baptism, (identification w/ Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection) which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him. (1 Peter 3:18-22)

III. Noah did all that God commanded him to do. (Genesis 6:22)

The target is simple in principle:   Do your best to obey each command that God calls you to do.  ²² Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. (Genesis 6:9-22)

Because Noah did all that God commanded him to do in this critical historical juncture,

1. God preserved all the animal kingdom through Noah.
2. The open door of the Ark was a 120 year opportunity for people to turn from their sin and turn to faith in the Lord.
3. Noah’s wife, 3 sons, and 3 daughters-in-law were saved from promised judgement by believing the Lord and stepping into the Ark.

Noah did what every Godly father must do for his family.  They need this from us!

Live-out an authentic testimony of faith in Christ 24-7-365.

Imitate Jesus Christ’s character qualities—aka, fruit of the Spirit.

Share the condemnation the people of the world are in that Christ seeks to save them from.

Shepherds with intent and care each family member uniquely to know the Lord.

I thank God for each father here who is striving each day to walk in love and live with your family this way!