Like The Days Of Noah Series

Both children and adults are familiar with the story of Noah. We all know about Noah building an ark where animals entered into by two by two. From our childhood we are taught songs about Noah and the ark. The account off Noah is a big message to the church. It is actually a guideline on how to prepare for the Lord.

Matthew 24:37-39 tells us that the coming of the Lord will be like the days of Noah. This means that the preparation Noah made towards the building of the ark is similar to the preparation one needs to make in order to be ready and prepared when the Lord Jesus returns. It also follows that the people of Noah’s time who didn’t enter the ark and were swept away by the flood, are similar to those who will not enter heaven, those who will be swept away by the pleasures and cares of this world.

Today we are going to examine some things about Noah that made him prepared for the flood and some things in the lives of the people of his time which made them unprepared for the flood.

A PEOPLE PREPARED FOR THE LORD ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE CROWD

The first thing we observe about Noah in Genesis 6:5-8 which made Him prepared was that Noah was different from the crowd. Genesis 6:5 gives us a general description of the people of Noah’s time. They were involved in all kinds of wickedness; they were committing all kinds of sins. Their thoughts were evil. Then verse 8 says “BUT Noah”. Whenever but appears, it is used to introduce a clause or phrase that contrasts or is different from what has already been said or mentioned. So, the BUT in verse 8 is to introduce a man completely different from the people earlier described in Genesis 5 who were out of control and living for sin. Noah was a different man, he didn’t fit into the crowd, he didn’t follow the crowd, he didn’t live for the crowd. A people prepared for the Lord, are set apart from the crowd. They stand out. They do not conform to the standard of this world; their standard is God’s (Romans 12:2).

Unfortunately, for many of us there isn’t any significant difference between us and unbelievers; those that are yet to surrender their lives to God. We dress like them, talk like them, react the same way they would when someone steps on their toes. We respond the same way they do when problems come their way. This cannot be. A people prepared for the Lord are different from the crowd not a part of the crowd. The people Jesus is coming back for are different. Not just because they say they are, but because God likes what He sees in them; something He doesn’t see in everyone else.

They are different because the Holy Spirit lives in them. In 1 Samuel 10:6, we are told that when the Spirit of God came on Saul, he became a different person. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of transformation, the Spirit that makes us new, that makes us different from what we have been before. If we are still talking, acting and thinking the same way we were before we gave our lives to Christ, then there’s something wrong somewhere. We have not yielded ourselves to the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The people of Noah’s days were living for their flesh not for God. Their flesh dictated their every step and action. Their minds were set and focused on the things of the flesh (Romans 8:5). A people prepared for the Lord live for the things of the Spirit and this is what makes them different. Their focus is different, their passions and interests are different. Without the Holy Spirit filling us, leading us and controlling us, we would just be like everyone else. There would be no real difference between us and those who don’t know God. Jesus is not coming for the crowd; He is coming for those that have set themselves apart from the crowd.

To be different, it starts from your mind. In Genesis 6:5, we see that the unpreparedness of the people of Noah’s time began from their mind. Every thought off their heart was on evil and for evil. They were continually thinking of the wrong things. It was what they allowed fill their minds, what they focused their minds on that made them unprepared. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our heart for everything we do flows from it. So, the unpreparedness of the people of Noah’s days flowed from their mind. Their minds were just fixed on the things of this world; getting married, attending wedding ceremonies and other social events, work, business, making money. None of these things in themselves are wrong, but if they are all you are living for, you can’t be fully and properly prepared for the coming of Lord. Colossians 3:2 tells us to set our minds on things above, but these people had no room for God in their mind. They allowed evil thoughts reside in their minds, they made the things of this world their focus. The result was that they were out of touch with what God was doing and saying. Their thoughts kept them away from God. It kept them outside of the ark; outside of God’s safety zone. They didn’t demolish evil thoughts from their minds (2 Corinthians 10:4-5), the effect of this was that their lives and properties were demolished by the flood. May evil thoughts not lead to our being kept outside of God’s safety zone, outside of heaven.