advancing evil than good. We may wonder, at times, why God delays ending the world. Perhaps Peter supplied the answer in 2 Peter 3:9.

Transcription

1 A Lesson from Noah A few weeks before the Super Bowl, I saw a posting of what was supposed to be a church sign where it listed the number of scriptures that had Patriot and the number that had Eagles. Obviously, someone had a bias and way too much time on their hands. However, we may face reading the Bible with similar misdirection. We are either trying to prove or disprove something that we have read or heard. For some, reading the Bible becomes so intimidating that they shy away from the process all together and either shut out the messages that God has revealed or they depend on someone else to explain everything. This really places a tremendous responsibility on those who fill the pulpits and proclaim the word of God. We see in the Bible that evangelist like Paul encouraged people to read the Bible to establish his credibility. Consider Acts 17: The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number (lit. not a few) of prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17:10-12 NASB) The people of Berea are mentioned specifically for the fact that they realized the importance of fact checking the message that Paul and Silas presented. Sometimes, people are turned off by the Bible because it seems to be full of spectacular events that portray a Magic Man that is capricious in his dealing with humans. This morning we will examine one of those stories that seem too fantastic to be real. It is a very familiar story that many of us learned or heard in Sunday 1

2 school classes many years ago. We will be looking at the story of Noah and the great flood. We will try to glean lessons from this story that are still applicable for us today. Before we begin, let me be very clear. I believe this story to be absolutely true. When we start to distrust the validity of the Bible and to pick apart the sacred word of God, we have placed ourselves in a very untenable position. If God s word is filled with fables and untruths, then where do we establish the truths that God wants us to learn? At what point do we place ourselves in a position that we judge God s motives and lessons? Frankly, if we don t believe the Bible, then we need to quit pretending we are Christians. With that said, let s understand why God was ready to destroy the world in the first place. Early in the recorded history of mankind, we read the following passage from Genesis the 6 th chapter. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8 NASB) We are given enough information to know that the evil thoughts and actions of the people on earth grieved God. God was at a point that He wished that He had never created mankind. We may look around today and think that we have reached a similar stage now. Evil is held up as good and we seem more interested in 2

3 advancing evil than good. We may wonder, at times, why God delays ending the world. Perhaps Peter supplied the answer in 2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NASB) God does not want anyone to be lost. He affords us ample time to repent and come to Him. So, even while God had determined to destroy mankind and wipe out the evil that was rampant, he looked for a reason to continue dealing with these humans that He had created. We continue to read in Genesis the 6 th chapter dropping down to verse 11. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:11-13 NASB) We know about the building of the ark. We know about the flood. We know about the saving of the animals and eight people. We know these things because we have heard the story since childhood. We know that after the rain stopped and the waters receded, Noah and his family left the ark along with the animals. Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the 3

4 ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. (Genesis 8:13-19 NASB) Here we are with the world ready to be repopulated with humans and animals. God commissioned this repopulation. Noah builds an altar and makes a sacrifice to God. God talks to Noah and makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants. We are reading from Genesis the 9 th chapter beginning with verse 8. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations (or everlasting generations); I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become 4

5 a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth. (Genesis 9:8-17 NASB) What are some of the lessons that we can learn from the flood? First, when God reaches His limit, He will acted in a manner to remove evil from His presence. In 2 nd Peter the second chapter, we read about God acting against evil and it even mentions Noah. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:4-10 NASB) We are told that the wages of sin is death. That is on a personal level. On a grander scale, when evil is so pervasive that no one sees anything wrong with it, God will eventually drive out evil. 5

6 Second, when God acts to drive out evil, He provides an avenue of escape to those who seek Him. Again we look to Peter for this assurance as we read from 1 Peter the third chapter. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water (or great flood). Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. (1 Peter 3:18-22 NASB) We see that Jesus died for all. His death was for those who are caught up in evil as well as those who strive to follow God. Through Jesus, we all have the redemption if we turn from our evil. Third, faith is required to be pleasing to God. Noah had that faith as we read in Hebrews 11:6-7. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:6-7 NASB) 6

7 When we act in faith, we secure our salvation. We may not bring anyone else to the same salvation but we, through faith, have our salvation. The final lesson for us today is that we need to act now because we don t know when God will reach His limit and act as He did in the days of Noah. Jesus warns us in Matthew the 24 th chapter about the uncertainty of waiting until we see the time is right. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:36-39 NASB) We live in an evil world and evil times. God will not allow evil to continue beyond a certain point. He will allow us time and opportunity to turn from our evil ways. He will rescue us from the coming destruction. Are we ready to accept God s salvation? 7