Noah – Mission Possible Series

TOPIC: NOAH – MISSION POSSIBLE!

Text: Genesis 6-9

6:9, “Noah was a RIGHTEOUS man, BLAMELESS among the people of his time, and he WALKED WITH God.”

Introduction:

I like the movie “Mission Impossible”, because the task that Tom Cruise was given is always seemingly impossible but in the end the seemingly impossible task become possible through good and high tech way of doing it, and even the viewers after the movie they think that what they watched is just on the movie and is not possible to happen in real life, even though they love he movie, but it is just a movie. This hold true with what we read and know from the Bible, many people although they believe in God, they believe that the Bible is the Word of God, but when we read from it and read the creation, the crossing of the read sea, etc., people thought all of it as a myth and could not happen in reality, specially in our time. Even when Jesus was born, people who heard God explaining how Jesus will be born couldn’t believe that it will happen but God said them in Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.” And in Matthew 19:26, “With man this (eternal life) is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Yes folks, what is impossible to man are possible to God!

This morning we will study one character in the Old Testament that makes a difference in his lifetime by doing an immense task; by showing that the impossible is possible to those who trust and obey God and this person is Noah, the Ark builder. For man’s view and ability what Noah’s task “Mission Impossible”, but for Noah it is “Mission Possible”! Because for God everything is possible, actually there is one thing that is impossible to God is to do: Hebrew 6:18, “…it is impossible for God to lie.” That is why we can trust God that what he give us will come to pass. What He promise he will keep, what God being said and declared from His word will come to pass: Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Jesus is saying that what He said will come to pass, it will happen.

Just to give you a little background about Noah and the condition of his society in his time. Nothing is known of his early days. He first appears in Scripture when he is five hundred years old (Gen. 5:32). His great grandfather, Enoch, was a man of notable piety who, because of divine favor, escaped death by being translated (Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5). His grandfather, Methuselah, was the longest-lived man, according to Genesis 5:25-27. His father’s name was Lamech, apparently a religious man, who gave his child a name that is thought to mean “rest” (Genesis 5:29).

He lived in a desperately corrupt age, when men had become so universally depraved that the Lord determined to destroy the race, Genesis 6:1-7. In the midst of this moral darkness, Noah’s life found favor before God v.8, “But Noah found favor (grace, kindness, beauty) in the eyes of the Lord.” (NIV), “But Noah was different. GOD liked what he saw in Noah.” (MSG)

And because the earth was filled with violence, God revealed to Noah that there was to be a great flood which would destroy man from the race of the earth. He was given a strange, and from a human standpoint, impossible task: to build an immense boat for preserving the lives of his own family and certain numbers of the animal kingdom (show the power point about the ark & the gathering of all the animals). The greatness of the task is difficult to appreciate. Noah was surrounded by godless unbelievers, who scoffed at his work. He became a laughingstock, yet he maintained his faith and soiled on, year after year, at a task which, to his neighbors, seemed to indicate he had gone mad. Considering his surroundings, the magnitude of the work he was called on to perform, and the many years spent in hard work, he stands unsurpassed, if not unequaled, among all the characters of the Bible in persistent faith. Out of the condition of his time and the great task before him Noah was able to do everything according to what God instructed him 6:22, “Noah did EVERYTHING just as God COMMANDED him.” 7:5, “Noah did ALL that the Lord COMMANDED him.” The big question is how on earth Noah was able to do it?

Let’s read Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a RIGHTEOUS man, BLAMELESS among the people of his time, and he WALKED WITH God.” (NIV) “This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good (not nice) man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God.” (MSG)