1 Valley View Chapel May 25, 2014 Noah: The Real Story, Part 4 Noah s Faith Genesis 6:11-22 Introduction On May 2, 2005 Pfc. Lynndie England pled guilty to mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. She became a central figure in the scandal after photos emerged in 2004 showing her and others humiliating Iraqi prisoners. The judge asked her why she chose to participate in these activities. Ms. England replied, [The other soldiers] were being very persistent, bugging me, so I said, 'OK, whatever.' I had a choice, but I chose to do what my friends wanted me to." She served 521 days in military prison and received a dishonorable discharge. In his book Brandwashed, consumer advocate Martin Lindstrom wrote: There is ample research to show that we instinctively look to the behaviors of others to inform the decisions we make everything from which way we should walk, to what music we should listen to, to which kind of car we should drive. It seems, in short, that we instinctively believe that others know more about what we want than we ourselves do. Psychologists have a name for this phenomenon. It's called peer pressure. The first life-lesson in today s text Genesis 6:11-22 - is: The Power of Peer Pressure Noah must have been tempted to cave in to the peer pressure of his culture because everyone was dishonoring God and living for themselves. And if everyone is doing something, then it s awfully hard not to go along. Let s take a closer look at Genesis 6:11-13, Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. The earth was corrupt in God s sight. This means all the people who lived on the earth. All the earth was filled with violence. All the people who lived on the earth employed violence to get their own way.
2 Verse 12 is clear: All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (ESV) From this text we gather that disobedience to the laws of God and rebellion against the authority of God was worldwide. Now look at Genesis 6:9, Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. In other words, Noah was definitely out of step with his peers. Ever feel like Noah? Ever feel like no one else at work, at school, in the neighborhood, even your own family is like you? Except when you re at church on Sunday morning, no one else supports your beliefs, values and code of conduct? When you re standing alone for Christ, it s tempting to respond in one of two ways. The first is to drop out of the race altogether and join your peers. That s what Paul s friend Demas did when the going got tough. Paul told Timothy: Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life. 2 Timothy 4:10 (NLT) The second is to keep quiet about your commitment to Christ. This is what Joseph of Arimathea did: Joseph of Arimathea had been a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jewish leaders. John 19:38 (TLB) Amy Carmichael was a missionary to India who rescued scores of girls from slavery. She once said: Certain it is that the reason there is so much shallow living much talk but little obedience is that so few are prepared to be, like the pine on the hilltop, alone in the wind for God. Noah was prepared to be like the pine tree on the hilltop, alone in the wind for God. He resisted the pressure to corrupt himself like everybody else. The Hebrew word for corrupt means spoiled or ruined. It was used to describe something that was no longer useful for its intended purpose. We ve all gone through our refrigerator and found fruit or vegetables that have turned bad or milk that has soured. We paid for them but now they re useless to us. That s how God viewed the people of Noah s day. He made them for a purpose to worship him; glorify him; obey him; serve him. But they were now spoiled beyond salvage; ruined beyond redemption. Only Noah and his family were serving the Creator s intended purpose. They were serving God s intended purpose because Noah, the family patriarch, refused to bow down to peer pressure.
3 When I think of Noah s courageous stand against the dominant world view of his day, I m reminded of the three brave young men who refused to bow down to the image of King Nebuchadnezzar. The story of their heroism is told in Daniel 3:7: Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Not quite everyone bowed down to the idol. There were three exceptions. And they were conspicuous by their refusal because it s recorded that the king was given a report which said: There are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon-Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up." Like Noah, these three young men stood like the pine on the hilltop, alone in the wind for God. The great hymn writer Isaac Watts put pen to parchment 300 years ago and wrote a hymn that is as challenging and bracing today as when he first composed it: Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace To help me on to God? Sure I must fight if I would reign; Increase my courage, Lord! I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Thy Word. This vile world is still no friend to grace. Still today, courageous followers of Jesus Christ who refuse to bow down at the altar of peer pressure must expect opposition from those who neither know the Lord Jesus nor care about his gospel. Jesus himself predicted it in John 15:20, No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
4 The Apostle Paul agreed. While awaiting his execution at the infamous Mamertine prison in Rome, he warned his apprentice Timothy: Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there's no getting around it. 2 Timothy 3:12 (MSG) Today s first life lesson: Peer pressure to desert your commitment to Christ is intense and we d better be prepared to face it, sometimes alone. The second life lesson in today s text is: The Need for Faith God told Noah in no uncertain terms: I will judge the world for its sin by destroying everything I have made. It took faith for Noah to believe that. And it takes faith for Christ followers to believe that Jesus is coming back to earth again to judge the world for its sin and set his house in order. I It took faith for Noah to believe that God would judge the world and takes faith for us to believe that Christ will come again judge the world because at the moment anyway we see no visible evidence that this will happen. Noah s generation didn t believe the warning about judgment. And neither does our generation. The Apostle Peter described the spirit of the age just prior to Christ s return in his second letter: In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. " 2 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV) The reason for crime, immorality, injustice, deception and all sins is that the world doesn t believe two fundamental facts taught in the Word of God: the immortality of the soul and ultimate judgment. If everyone believed in the immortality of the soul and ultimate judgment at the bar of a holy God, do you think the world would be a better place in which to live? Noah stood alone in his day and believed in sure and certain judgment even though at this point in the story he didn t know what form God s judgment would take. This makes God s command in verse 14 all the more incredible: Make yourself an ark. Noah had no idea what an ark was. God hadn t yet told Noah that there would be a flood. Some scholars don t even think that Noah knew what rain was since they believe that up until this point the earth was watered by a fine mist.
5 Noah had never seen an ark. Didn t know what it looked like or what purpose it would serve. But Noah believed what he had never seen simply because God said so. One of my favorite movies not just at Christmas but any time of year is the 1947 version of Miracle on 34 th Street. There is one scene in which Fred Gayly is trying to convince Susan Walker that Santa Claus is real. He says: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Common sense told Noah to walk away from the whole business. Build an ark? How ridiculous! How illogical! But Noah violated the rules of common sense and believed God. Throughout sacred history, the heroes and heroines of faith have discarded common sense. Abraham believed when common sense told him not to when he left the security of Ur to go to a place known only to God. Joseph believed when common sense told him not to when he resisted the advances of Potiphar s wife though he knew he would pay for it with a prison sentence. Moses believed when common sense told him not to when he returned to Egypt to lead his people to freedom. Jesus believed when common sense told him not to when he selected twelve ordinary, no account men to whom he would trust the future of the gospel. Paul believed when common sense told him not to when after being beaten and left for dead outside the city gate of Lystra, he picked himself up, wiped off the blood and went back into the city to finish his sermon. The Bishop of Smyrna Polycarp believed when common sense told him not to when he gave himself to the burning stake rather than deny his Lord. Dr. David Thompson believed when common sense told him not to when he forsook a lucrative medical practice in the states to build hospitals and treat the poor in Africa. Have you ever attempted anything by faith when common sense told you not to? Is common sense telling you that you can t teach a Sunday school class; that you can t tithe; that you can t share your faith; that you can t make a career change that will impact the kingdom of God; that you can t understand the Bible; that you can t pray out loud; that you can t forgive someone who wronged you? Common sense has its place but if we let common sense dictate our every decision, our lives will be boring, narrow, and ultimately unfruitful.
6 Conclusion Francis Chan said: Our Scriptures teach that if you know what you are supposed to do and you don t do it, then you sin. In other words, when we stock up on knowledge without applying it to our lives, we are actually sinning. You would think that learning more about God would be a good thing and it can be. But when we gain knowledge about God without responding to him or assimilating his truth into our lives, then it is not a good thing. According to the Bible, it s sin. Noah heard the Word of God. He believed the Word of God. And he obeyed the Word of God when common sense told him not to. Noah s faith was counter-cultural and outrageous to almost everybody in his world. But in the end it was rewarded and he was blessed. Let us, like Noah, stand like the pine on the hilltop, alone in the wind for God.
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