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)
There are three things that God saw in Noah’s life that found favor in His eyes that also gave Noah the power to finish the immense task that God called him to do. Noah was able to fulfill the mandate because:
1. Noah live a RIGHTEOUS LIFE
“Noah was a righteous man…” The word “righteous” here means: being just and fair, right, being lawful. Noah is righteous, just, and lawful in his moral relationship with God. not only before men, but in the sight of God; and not by his own works of righteousness, for no man is just by them before God, but by the righteousness of the promised seed, the Messiah; for he "became heir of the righteousness which is by faith", Heb. 11:7 the righteousness which was to be brought in by the Son of God, and which was revealed to him from faith to faith; and which by faith he received and lived upon, as every just man does, and believed in as his justifying righteousness before God; though he also lived a holy and righteous conversation before men. Noah is here characterized by two new and important descriptions - “just” and “perfect.” It is to be remembered that he had already found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Adam was created good; but by disobedience he became guilty, and his entire race, Noah among the rest, became involved in that guilt. To be just is to be right in point of law, and thereby entitled to all the blessings of the acquitted and justified. Noah was a just man that is, justified before God, by faith in the promised Seed (Jesus). As such he was made holy, and had right principles; and was righteous in his conversation. He was not only honest, but devout; it was his constant care to do the will of God. God looks down upon those with an eye of favor, who sincerely look up to him with an eye of faith. It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it shows strong faith and resolution, to swim against the stream, to live a life of righteousness and to appear for God when no one else appears for him; Noah did so. All kinds of sin were found among men in his time and yet Noah remains to live a life of righteousness, just and lawful.
2. Noah live a BLAMELESS LIFE
“…blameless among the people of his time…” The word “blameless” here means: to have integrity, being reliable, without blemish or no fault, being upright or straight, being sincere and earnest or genuine, truthful. Not that he was perfectly holy, or free from sin, but was a partaker of the true grace of God; was sincere and upright in heart and life; lived an unblemished life and conversation, untainted with the gross corruptions of that age he lived in, which he escaped through the knowledge, grace, and fear of God; and therefore it is added, that he was holy, upright, and blameless "in his generations": among the men of the several generations he lived in, as in the generation before the flood, which was very corrupt indeed, and which corruption was the cause of that; and in the generation after the flood: or "in his ages", in the several stages of his life, in youth and in old age; he was throughout the whole course of his life a holy good man. Noah did not find favor in the eyes of men; they hated and persecuted him, because both by his life and preaching he condemned the world: but he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and this made him more truly honorable than the men of renown. Let this be our chief desire, let us labor that we may be accepted of him. When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah kept his integrity. God’s good-will towards Noah produced this good work in him. Noah is blameless in his character and conduct. When the rest of the world was wicked, Noah kept his integrity. What is having integrity in life? (ILL. P1000.00 bills crumpled and ask them if they still want to have it. Ask why? The value doesn’t change!)
3. Noah live an OBEDIENT LIFE
“…and he walked with God.” To “walked with God” means: to behave or to conduct oneself, to walk near constantly, to follow or pursue or to keep and stay o and to go after, to be familiar or up to date or get acquainted. His righteousness and being blameless were manifested in his walk with God, walked according to his will, in the ways of truth and righteousness; walked in a manner well pleasing to him, and enjoyed much communion with him, as Enoch had done before him, Gen. 5:22 who was being translated because of walking with God. The people in his time corrupted God’s worship. Sin fills the earth with violence, and this fully justified God’s resolution to destroy the world. The contagion spread. When wickedness is become general, ruin is not far off; while there is a remnant of praying people in a nation, seeking God’s face, walking according to His plan, focusing unto him to empty the measure as it fills, judgments may be long kept off; but when all hands are at work to pull down the fences, by sin, and none stand in the gap to make up the breach, what can be expected but a flood of wrath? We can see how focused Noah’s life is by the course of action that he did in doing the mandate. It was one of Determination, one of Dedication, one of Devotion thru faith and obedience to God. These give him to pursue, follow, to walk near continually with God. He lived a life of communion with God; it was his constant care to conform himself to the will of God, to his likeness, to please him, and to approve himself to him. Note, God looks down upon those with an eye of favor who sincerely look up to him with an eye of faith.
Conclusion:
And because of Noah’s righteous life, blameless life and focused life because he walked with God he was able: first to finish the task God set before him and second he save not only himself from destruction but his whole family as well and all the animals in the ark. “If you declare Jesus as your Lord you and your family will be save.” And from him new covenant was established and the whole new generation starts with him and was blessed by God.
