The “REAL” Noah
Anybody here watch the recent movie “Noah” with Russel Crowe? I went last week. It was pretty good as a movies go, but as I watched it, I thought it would bring up a lot of questions for people who didn’t really know what the bible says about Noah. He’s not a legendary character made up for children’s coloring books. He was a real person and there really was a worldwide flood. Jesus Christ Himself accepted the story of the flood and talked about it in Matthew 24:37-39 and Luke 17:26. I’ve got a book I picked up where a guy named John Woodmorappe (who has degrees in biology and geology) did a feasibility study on Noah’s ark and answered a lot of questions people are asking and other’s that they’re not. Such as…floor space, manpower, food preservation, feeding, living conditions. Let me just deal with a few of the questions brought out by the movie…
Question #1…
1. Would there be enough room on the Ark to carry all the animals? Yes. The movie made it look like every animal on earth went into the ark. But the Ark couldn’t hold millions of animals, so a lot of people don’t believe it could happen. But the bible doesn’t say EVERY animal on earth went on the Ark. God told Noah to take 7 of every KIND “clean” animal and 2 of every KIND of other creature, male and female. (7:3) A “Kind”, is closer to a species. So, for example…not every type of dog would go on the Ark, but two dogs are all that are needed and then from them all the other different variations would develop. So instead of millions, only about 72,000 animals (the avg. size of a small rat went on ark. Dinosaurs?). Since the Arks capacity was equal to 522 railroad cars, they would only take up about 60% of the available deck space. The rest of the space could be used as living quarters and storage of food.
Woodmorappe figured a years supply of food would make up about 2500 tons. They’d need approx. 4 million liters of water (9.4% of total Arks volume). So, yes the Ark was plenty big to do the job.
Reminds me of the Sunday school teacher who asked kids 'Do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark? Little Johnnie raised his hand and said,''No,' Teacher: Why not? He said, 'How could he? He only had two worms!'
Question #2…
2. Could you build an ark without the help of Rock People?
Yes! According to the movie, fallen angels came down to the earth and were cursed to become “giant stone gumbies”. It’s true that the bible mentions the “Nephilum” (Gen.6:4) and theologians speculate that they were fallen angels and giants…but it’s not true that God turned them into stone & that they helped Noah build the Ark. When they showed up in the movie, they looked like a cross between the “Ents” from The Lord of the Rings & Transformers…and I think it made the movie feel more like a mythical “fairy tale” than a true story.
The bible says that when Noah entered the ark he was 600 years old and it took 120 years to build, (so along with his family of 7), he had plenty of time to build an ark 137 meters long and over 3 stories high. In fact, the ancient Grks and Chinese constructed some ships that were that big and bigger! The word “ark” lit. means a “box meant to float”, so the Ark was more like a big barge than anything else. If you doubt they could build it, remember the Ark was built by amateurs, and the Titanic was built by professionals!
Question #3 …
3. What kind of a man was Noah really?
The movie depicts Noah as…a deeply conflicted man who wants justice, but who will spend a lot of the movie contemplating murder suicide, and threatening to kill his grandchildren. But that’s not the Noah of the bible. According to the bible, God used Noah in an incredible way, when mankind was on the verge of extinction. The ques. I want to ask you this morning is…“Why did God choose Noah when he wanted to start over with the human race?” Archeo. tell us that at the time of the flood approx. 1 mill. were living…so Noah was literally ‘one in a million’. Imag. If you were God, what kind of a person would YOU choose to start over with the human race? Ever thought about that? Lets make it a little more personal…if God made a decision to destroy the world again… would he start over with YOU? (hmmm) So why Noah? We’re going to study the person of Noah this morning, because I think we can find in him the 4 Characteristics of the type of person uses…even today! The story of Noah is found in Gen. (1st bk of the bible), chapters 6,7,8,9 Read Gen.6:5-14
The 1st char. that we want to look at from the life of Noah is found in
1. Noah was RIGHTEOUS
In Gen.6:6,7 we see the 1st indication of God’s unhappiness with mankind. Although God had made a perfect world and had been amazingly patient and long-suffering…there came a point where His justice conflicted with His holiness. Gen.6:5 tells us that man’s wickedness was so bad that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time”. In otherwords, they had given themselves over to evil to the point they didn’t even want to do right. People were choosing their sin over goodness. Rejecting God instead of accepting Him to the point that vs.6 tells us that God was “grieved” and “His heart was filled with pain”. You know, for the most part we take sin too lightly, and so we’re totally unaware of how sin affects our heavenly Father. The world God made had become something that He didn’t hardly recognize anymore. It lit. broke His heart! Verse 11 describes the earth as “corrupt”. The Hebrew word (shachath) could be translated “ruined”. It talked about clothing that’s badly stained, or food that’s spoiled. When something is rotten, there’s nothing more that can be done! The world was corrupt, and so God sent a message that He’s not just going to overlook sin. He’s not indifferent to it. The same thing is going to happen in our world very soon. But instead of just wiping the slate clean, God (in his mercy) chose to spare one man and his family start over.
Noah is called in vs.9 a “righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” The Noah we see in the movie is more obsessive than he is righteous. Being “righteous” doesn’t mean he was perfect. It means that He had a right relationship with God. He walked step-by-step in faith as a living example to his generation. His name “Noah” means “rest” or “comfort”, which is exactly what he found in God. Noah did more than build a boat—He preached to the world the coming judgment of God. They had a 100’s of years to repent, but no amount of time would change their minds, and so God said “That’s it! I’m pulling the plug.”
How many of you know that God uses people who dare to be different! Underline the phrase…”blameless among the people of His time…” Noah was a faithful witness to his generation. His lifestyle stood out in sharp contrast against the wickedness of his generation. Morally, Noah was a man of deep convictions. He dared to swim upstream in a downstream world. He wasn’t afraid to stand alone if necc. He wasn’t afraid of what other people thought…as long as God was pleased. The society and culture that surrounded Noah was morally bankrupt…it resembled more and more the world we live in today.
It wasn’t easy to live a life for God…(it never is) but Noah wasn’t influenced by the culture around him…He influenced IT! You know, in America…we have the tendency to believe that the majority is always right… and if everybodies ‘doing it’, then it must be right… But according to the bible…the MAJORITY is often wrong! In fact once you find out what the majority is doing, you need to head 360 degrees in the opposite direction! I don’t care if the whole world votes to smoke pot…it doesn’t mean it’s right! Just think of the criticism Noah had to put up with. Here’s a guy, building a huge boat out in the middle of nowhere…500 mi. from the nearest beach! People thought…”The guys a crackpot! Ol’ man Noah, building his boat!” That guys one toy short of a Happy Meal! Strange ol’ koot! Thinks the worlds going to end! Ha! ” Could you put up with being the brunt of people’s jokes and criticism year after year, because of your convictions? Just because you believed you were right? The temptation to ‘cave in’ must have been tremendous!
But Noah wasn’t afraid to stand for what he believed in…even if that meant standing alone. Noah gained the ‘guts’ to stand out in a crowd because in vs. 9 it says…’He walked with God’. He had a relationship with God that gave him the strength and courage to say, ‘I don’t care what everybody else does… I’m going to do what’s right!” How about you? Do you have the moral convictions you need to swim upstream in a downstream world? Are you standing up for what’s right…or do you cave in to friends and trends? If you’re striving to have a daily walk with God, where you’re allowing Him to convict you, and interject His will into your life… He’ll use you in powerful ways!
This 2nd characteristic may be a little surprising to some of you…because when God was looking for a person He could use, He didn’t necc. look for talent, or good looks, or intellect. He looked for someone who was available.
2. Noah was AVAILABLE
Listen, with God, AVAILABILITY is more important than ability! Believe it or not, people who are available to be used by God in great ways are not a dime a dozen! In fact, they’re very rare! Here we have this entire population of earth…and God can only find one person who’s really open to being used. A lot of us use our lack of ability as an excuse… “Oh… I could never do that! God could never use me! I’m too dumb… I don’t have any experience…ect.” But God doesn’t want our excuses…He wants our PERMISSION!
I heard a great story about from Anthony Campolo, (a well known Christian speaker) He said he was to speak at a college in Valley Forge, PA and before he spoke, several men took him backstage and began to pray that God would use his message. While praying, one of the men, just off the cuff began to pray…“Now Lord, about Bert Harris - Bert needs you right now, real bad Lord… because He lives in the trailer at the end our churches street and he’s considering leaving his wife and family. Somehow Lord, somehow if you could just get through to Bert… that would be wonderful!
Campolo thought… “Well, that’s strange that he would pray for that here… it really has nothing to do with what I’m going to be speaking on… and he went on to give his message. Afterwards, when he was driving home he stopped to pick up a hitchhiker. He said, “I know I’m not supposed to pick up a hitchhikers…but being a preacher, I’ve learned to take advantage of a captive audience!” So this hitchhiker gets into his car, they exchange small talk for a little bit and then Campolo says, “By the way…my name’s Tony, what’s yours?”
The hitchhiker answers…”Bert…Bert Harris.” Campolo immed. stops the car, turns around and begins to drive in the opposite direction …The guys asks, “What’s going on? What are you doing?” Campolo answers, “I’m taking you back to your wife and family, who you’re trying to walk out on!” The guy goes white! He sits there speechless as Campolo drives him right up to his trailer…“How did you know where I lived? “God told me!” (in a way, He had!) He took Bert inside, spent the next few hours talking to him & his wife, and ended up leading Bert to the Lord. Over time their marriage was miraculously put back together, and the family was restored!
What an amazing story huh? Only God can do that! I call situations like that, “God Appointments”. You know we’re tempted to say, “How come God doesn’t use me like that? Why don’t I experience Him that way?” And my answer to you is this… He will! Believe me…If you will make yourself available… God will wear you out with His special assignments and appointments!
So stop focusing on what you CAN’T do… and instead let God decide what you can and can’t do. God doesn’t need super stars. If you want God to use you, remember that you’re greatest ability is your ‘availability’!!
Now, there’s a third principle that people who are used by God have observed…
3. Noah was OBEDIENT
Verse 22 provides us another clue to understanding Noah—obedience: he “did everything just as God commanded him.” He began building before the first raindrop landed; when he was done, he had an incredible vessel--450 feet in length, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high, with 3 interior levels divided into sections and an 18 inch open space along the top for ventilation. There was a total deck space of 101,000 square feet. The ark was coated with “pitch” (Hebrew kaphar, meaning “covering”, a tar-like substance) for waterproofing. Because it was more of a barge than an ocean liner, it was nearly impossible to capsize. There were no navigational systems on board; Noah had no control over the vessel. God was the Captain of this ship; He steered the ark and kept its occupants safe and dry.
What that means is… God uses people who follow His directions and guidance completely. They’re not doing what they want to, when they want to do it… (at their own convenience). Noah didn’t have his own agenda or timetable…He did everything God commanded him. It was UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE to the revealed will of God! Know what obedience to God is? Simply another word for ‘faith’. Faith is following God’s instructions, even when it doesn’t necc. make sense to you at the time.
The project that God gave Noah made no sense at the time… whatsoever! For example…the bible says that until the time of the flood…it had never rained on the earth? Gen. Chap 2 tells us that the earth was watered by a mist that came up from the ground like the morning dew. The atmosphere was made up of a worldwide vapor curtain. Some scientists believe that one of the reasons people lived so long before the flood, (several 100 yrs in fact!)… was because of the shielding of the ultra-violet radiation from the sun.
So here’s Noah building an ark and people are asking, “What’s that for?” Noah: “It’s going to rain!” “What’s rain?” It didn’t make any logical sense! And then I’m sure that Noah was concerned about rounding up all of those animals and having a place to put ‘em! Which is really pretty simple!....
1st… if God could create animals, and equip them with certain hibernation and migration instincts…then surely He can use the same instincts to round them up.
But Noah didn’t know any of that, but yet He didn’t argue or complain…he just said, “Okay Lord! Whatever you say!” See one of the real tests of being a follower of Jesus Christ is…“Will I follow even when it doesn’t make sense? Even when I don’t understand what God’s up to?” I’m not advocating that Christians don’t need to use their brains… but there are some things you can’t (or won’t) know…you have to trust God’s ‘track record’ of truthfulness.
If you’re a parent…when you ask your kids to do something, what do they say?… “WHY???” “Go clean up your room.”…. WHY? Know what your stock answer should be? “Go clean it up, and then I’ll tell you why!” That’s faith! That’s obedience! And that’s what God says to us. “You just obey Me, and I’ll show you the reasons and the benefits later!”
• Noah was available…. Availability supersedes ability
• Noah dared to be different… Uniqueness determines usability.
• Noah obeyed the Lord… Obedience opens up opportunity.
Then lastly, (but not leastly)…
4. Noah was PERSISTENT
It’s a fact… God uses people who never….never … never give up! If you want to find a characteristic that all the great legends of the faith have in common, it’s that they were amazingly persistent! Noah had to wait 120 years for the fulfillment of God’s promise to destroy the earth with a flood. 120 years! (Gen.6:3) Why do you think God waited that long before He sent the flood? I think it’s because, that’s how long it was going to take for him to build the Ark. God was waiting on Noah! Let me ask you…Could you maintain your enthusiasm for a project that took you over 100 years to complete? I have a hard time keeping my focus long enough to read a book all the way through! 120 years is a long time to try and stay motivated! We want immediate answers, immediate results! But Noah waited.
Then think about Mrs. Noah. Noah comes home from dinner and she says, “So how was work today honey?” Oh… same ole, same ole! I’ll bet there were days that Noah didn’t want to get out of bed! He felt like saying, “Get someone else Lord! I’m tired!” Ever felt that way? I have! But yet, everyday for 45,000 days, (120 years)… he faithfully got up…and went to work nailing, chopping, fitting. By the way, know what kind of lights he installed on the Ark? Flood lights!
You know, I think one of the reasons some people never succeed in life is that they give up too soon! If they just would’ve have hung in there, God could have used them! The difference was persistence! Persistence is how the snail made it to the Ark!
3 things are going to tempt you to give up. But don’t do it!
1. Problems: Problems will tempt you to give up on God’s plan for your life. You can only imagine the problems Noah faced. I mean, how are you going to separate animals that like to eat each other like the birds and the worms? What about sanitation? 40 days in an animal pen? Whew! If it wasn’t for the storm outside, you couldn’t stand the stink inside! (come to think of it, that’s the way it is with a lot of things in life!)
2. Pressures: will tempt you to give up before you reach your goal. Noah must have felt the weight of the world (lit.) when He realized that he and his families survival was critical to the human race. The pressure would have been unbearable, if it wasn’t for God. And the same is true with you! Without God’s help, you won’t be able to handle it!
Then 3rdly… the PEOPLE will tempt you to give up! Negative people, critical people, demanding people, undependable people. Noah dealt with every variety! But He didn’t let it get him down (at least not permanently). He had a mission from God, and He was going to fulfill it. Despite all of these tremendous obstacles to overcome… Noah persevered! Aren’t you glad? I love what Winston Churchill said about perseverance… He said, “The nose of a bulldog is slanted backwards so he can breath without letting go!”
It’s okay to take a breather…but whatever obstacles you’re facing today, I want to encourage you… Never Give UP! Hold onto what God has told you to do… like a stubborn bulldog! Everyday of his life, Noah preached a sermon. He didn’t stand up behind a pulpit like this, or quote scripture… but He preached the most powerful kind of sermon of all… He preached a sermon with his life! Everyday, as he stood out under the hot sun and board by board, nail by nail… built that ark, he was saying… I BELIEVE IN GOD! That’s why he stood out in a faithless, non-committal kind of world.
That’s the kind of sermon God is wanting YOU to preach. A message of faithfulness. A message of persistence. A message of commitment to the cause.
As we end our service this morning. Ask yourself, “What’s God been doing in my life lately?” When’s the last time He answered one of my prayers, or used me in an exciting way to help somebody? If it’s been a while, it’s not because He doesn’t want to use you… it’s because He’s getting you usable! Want to be used by God? There’s no more fulfilling, exciting way to live your life! Why waste your live watching somebody else’s life on reality TV? Why not live your own?
You say, “How do I get usable Pastor?”
1. First, you say… “Lord, I’m available!” It may mean you need to rearrange your schedule, maybe drop some things… because for some of you, it’s not that you’re not committed, the problem is you’re TOO committed to the wrong things! You’ve got to make yourself available to serve God!
2. Dare to be different! Deciding to follow Christ, means deciding to be different from the world (not odd or weird)… but to stand for different values, have different attitudes, use different language.
3rdly, you need to commit yourself to God’s plan and follow Him, even when you don’t completely understand what or why He’s doing what He’s doing.
And then, Lastly…NEVER GIVE UP on the dream He’s given you. Ask God to make you a persistent person. In fact, one of the true tests of faith is how long you can wait. Faith that doesn’t wait, isn’t really faith. It’s feeling! Now just in case you think that God can only use ‘perfect people’, I’d encourage you to read Gen.9:20-25, because it’s here that Noah gets drunk as a skunk! (the movie got that part right). Noah wasn’t perfect! He made mistakes… He blew it!
I believe God made sure that the ‘dark side’ of Noah was written down to communicate to us that no matter how many times you’ve blown it…you’re not a failure if you fall… you’re only a failure if you refuse to get up! Whatever your hang-up is… realize that all of us have at least one (and if you don’t know what it is… ask your spouse!), BUT that doesn’t disqualify you from being used by God! Get up, confess your sin, receive God’s forgiveness and don’t go back! God uses ordinary, fault-filled people in EXTRA-ordinary ways…. IF they make themselves available, are willing to be different, remain obedient and are persistent!
God is looking for a few Noahs today… because we live in a sin-filled world. He needs some people like who will stand up for righteousness and God! The truth of the matter is that the same corrupt society that Noah confronted…you & I confront everyday. God promises that judgment is imminent…OUR job is to make sure we get as many in the Ark as possible before it’s too late. The deluge was awful, but the worst thing God can do is to ignore sin. A more severe punishment is God letting all hell break loose on earth. When sin goes unchecked, without restraint, anarchy reigns. Just as the season of grace expired in Noah’s day, it will end when Jesus returns. In Matthew 24 Jesus warns, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (vs 37). Along with a final judgment upon sin, a new heaven and a new earth will be fashioned.
Just like Noah, we find our safety and security in God, Who preserves and sustains us. As we walk with God, we find strength to live a holy life in an unholy world.
PRAY
