Noah
(Genesis 6:5-8, 13-22)
1. Everybody knows the story of Noah and the ark and the great
flood...if I were to ask any one of you to recite the basic facts of the story,
no doubt you could do it...the story has become part of the folklore of human
culture...and in one sense, makes it more difficult for us to deal with...
2. The most difficult Bible passages for us to learn from the ones
with which we are most familiar...when we come to a familiar passage or story
in the Bible there is a tendency to think, "I've already heard
this. I know what it means. There's nothing else for me to learn from
this part of the Bible."...two problems with that kind of thinking...
--first, we may not know the facts of the
story as well as we think we do...kind of like the man whose young son came
home from Sunday School and asked, "Dad, do you know the name of
Noah's wife?"...father rolled his eyes and said, "Son,
I can't believe you don't know that.
Everyone has heard of Joan of Arc!"...sometimes we may have
the facts a little confused!
--second, even when we have the facts
straight, we may not really understand the theological significance of the
story...
3. And that's especially true when it comes to stories like the story
of Noah and the ark which we tend to associate with children... however, the
Bible does not treat the story of Noah as a children's story...there are many
tremendously important adult lessons to be learned from the example of Noah…
4. The significance of the story of Noah can be seen in the
fact that four full chapters in the Bible are dedicated to him…Genesis 6-9…actually
there are two accounts of the flood interwoven throughout Genesis 6-9…Old
Testament scholars refer to them as J and P…there are some slight variations in
the two accounts, but the essential story is the same…
5. There are many things we can
learn from this story, but the main theme has to do with salvation…the story of
the Noah and the ark is a type, sort of a preview, of the salvation God offers
us in Jesus…Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah "became
an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."...Noah
is the first person in the Bible to be called righteous...Genesis 6:9 says, "Noah
was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." .In Scripture word "righteousness"
means "rightness with God"... because of Noah's faith he was
made right with or reconciled with God...
6. The
story of Noah and the ark is in reality a preview of our salvation...in giving
Noah instructions in building the ark God told him in Genesis 6:14 to "cover
it inside and out with pitch."...the Hebrew word for pitch has the
same root as the word "atonement" ...John MacArthur
points out that just as "...the pitch kept the water of judgment
from entering the ark, so Christ's atoning blood keeps judgment from the
sinner"...in faith Noah entered the ark and did not perish in the
flood...and through faith in Jesus we enter relationship with God and do not
perish in our sins...
7. That
is the main lesson of this story, but there are multiple other lessons as well…I
want to focus on what we can
learn from the story about overcoming what seems to be impossible situations in
life… Some times in life we come against things which may literally overwhelm
us…maybe it is some task that we think is impossible…maybe it is some
relationship that we feel is broken beyond repair…maybe it is a financial
crisis from which we see no way out…want you to see from Noah’s example what to
do when those times come…
I. Don’t listen to negative people
1.
Noah was
surrounded by negative people…he grew up in an ungodly family…his father,
Lamech was characterized by moral perversion… in Genesis 4:23-24 brief
description of character of Moses’ father…Lamech was the first recorded
bigamist in Bible, having two wives in disregard of God’s standard of monogamy
established in Garden of Eden…he was characterized by harsh cruelty…he bragged
about killing man for wounding him and a boy for striking him…
2.
Not only
did Noah live in negative home environment, lived in one of worst societies
world has ever known…Genesis 6:5-7 gives brief, graphic glimpse of world in
which Noah lived…
“…wickedness of man was great upon the
earth…” (v.5)
“…thoughts of his [man’s] heart was only evil
continually…”(v.5)
“…the Lord was sorry that He had made man…” (v.6)
3.
Noah was
surrounded by a horrible family and horrible society…social psychologists would
say he didn’t have a chance…that he was destined to be like everyone around
him…but look at v.8…”But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”…he
didn’t let his negative environment drag him down…and that quality put him in a
position of being selected by God to do something which seemed impossible…
1.
Whenever
you are faced with a seemingly impossible situation in your life, one thing you
can be sure of is that there will be some people around giving you bad
advice…and to make it through those difficult times we must learn not to let
the negative people drag us down…doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek advice and
counsel of wise people…but does mean that we shouldn’t take at face value
everything anyone tells us…
2. When Charles Kettering was president of General Motors would sometimes
call a group of engineers together to solve a problem…said would place a table
at door with sign instructing engineers to “Leave slide rule here”…some you don’t know what slide rule
is…just substitute calculator or IPAD for slide rule…said if didn’t, some time
during presentation some engineer would be working on slide rule and then stand
and say, “Boss, what you are asking
can’t be done!” [Charles
F. Kettering in Bits and Pieces, December, 1991, p. 24]
2. And from Noah can learn in face of seemingly
impossible situation we must not let negative people discourage us…
II. Do listen to what God is saying to you
1.
When God spoke to Noah, He told Noah an
amazing thing…said going to send great flood to destroy the earth…and he told
Noah to build an ark to save himself, his family, and two of every kind of
animal…
2.
When God gave that information to Noah,
Noah was faced with a clear-cut choice...he could do what God said or easily
found a reason for not doing what God said…for example he could have said—
--this makes no sense to me…God’s instructions went against everything
he had ever experienced… Noah had never seen such a flood...some contend that
Noah had never even seen rain...Noah could have said, “Lord, I don’t
understand your instructions so I am not going to follow them.”
--this
task is too big for me...Noah
probably lived in Mesopotamia, a long way from any ocean or even sizable
lake...while at some point in his life he may have seen some kind of small
boat, he'd never seen anything like the boat God wanted built...it was to be
450' long, 75' wide, 45' high with three decks, one window, and one door...to
construct such a boat would be an enormous task...Noah could have said, "Lord,
I don't think I'm capable of doing what you ask."
--this
is embarrassing...no
doubt Noah was viewed by his contemporaries of something of an eccentric...he
was not the kind of person you'd want buying the house next door to
you...people laughed at him...made jokes about him...he was probably known as
"Crazy Noah"...I read this week an interesting comment about people
like Noah...one person wrote, "Every [person] who takes God
seriously is considered mad by those who take Him lightly."
[BBC, p.81]...Noah could have said, "Lord, I just can't do what you ask
because it's too embarrassing."
--I
don’t have time for...after all, in his world it was a full-time job
just to produce food for the family...no doubt Noah's life was already full
before God gave him this task...he could have said, "Lord, I just can't
fit it into my schedule."
- But Noah
didn’t do any of those things…to his credit, he took God at His word and
did what God told him to do…and because of that, he was able to do what
seemed to be impossible…
- One key to
dealing with situations that seem to be impossible is to listen to and
obey God…and when God speaks to us we are faced with the same decision
Noah faced…
--are we
going to believe God or not believe God?
--are we going to trust ourselves or trust
God?
--are we going to follow our instincts,
intuition, thoughts, or follow God’s instructions…
These are questions we constantly
face...one writer put it this way: "The
choice come to every [person], either to listen to, or to disregard the message
of God. [We] may live as if the message
of God was of no importance, or [we] may live as if the message of God was the
most important thing in the world ... Noah was the man who heeded the warning
of God. And it was because he heeded it
that he was saved from disaster. God's
warning comes to us in many ways. It may
come from conscience; it may come from some direct word of God to our souls; it
may come from the advice or the rebuke of some good and godly [person]; it may
leap out at us from God's Book, or challenge us in some sermon. Wherever it comes from, we neglect the
warning of God at our peril." [Barclay, p.159]
2. Remembering to listen to God and to do what
God says to do is one key to dealing with situations which seem to be
impossible…
1. When Japanese invaded Yangcheng during WWII
missionary Gladys Aylward was forced to flee with more than 100 orphans for
whom she had been caring… during the terrible journey across a war-torn
countryside, the missionary was overcome with fear and despair…one of young
girls came up beside her and said, “Don’t be afraid. Remember how God took care of Moses and the
Israelites.”…in her despair Gladys said, “Well, I’m not Moses!”…and
little girl said, “Of course you aren’t.
But God is still God!”
2. One key to dealing with impossible situations
is simply remembering that God is still God…and as Jesus said, “All
things are possible with God!”
Conclusion
1.
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was executed in a prison camp in Naz1 Germany
just before the end of WW II wrote a poem entitle "Stations on the Way
to Freedom"...one of the stations or steps to freedom Bonhoeffer calls
"action"... want you to hear what Bonhoeffer said about action or
obedience...think it sums up well the example of Noah…
Do and dare what is right, not swayed by the
whim of the moment.
Bravely take hold of the real, not dallying
now with what might be.
Not in the flight of ideas but only in action
is freedom.
Make up your mind and come out into the tempest
of living.
God's command is enough and your faith in him
to sustain you.
Then at last freedom will welcome your spirit
amid great rejoicing.
2. When you are faced with a seemingly impossible situation, do what
Noah did…don’t listen to negative people…instead listen to and obey God…
