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The character of Noah
A grandchild sitting on her grandfather’s lap listening to the Bible story of Noah’s Ark, asked "Were you in the Ark, grandpa?" He chuckled and replied, "Why, no I wasn’t." There was a pause, and the child looked up at him quizzically and asked, "Then why didn't you drown?"
Some of you might remember a few months back I read something that sister Nancy sent me on Facebook
it said Everything I need to know about life I learned from Noah’s Ark.”
Here are the 11 things the author had learned:
1. Don’t miss the boat.
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.
4. Stay fit. When you are 500 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. The point to that is that in God not in the retirement market!
5. Don’t listen to critics, just get the job done.
6. Build your future on high ground.
7. For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn’t always an advantage, the snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you stressed, float a while.
10. Remember the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by professionals. 11. No matter the storm, when you’re with God there’s always a rainbow waiting.
By now you have all probably already figured out that this evening we are going to be looking at One of the most widely known stories in all of Scripture.
Even people who have never read a verse of Scripture have most likely still heard the story of Noah’s Ark.
It ranks right up there with David and Goliath,
Daniel and the lion’s den,
and the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace
It’s one of the all-time favorites of many children.
You know There’s something kinda neat about an old man who built a huge ship on dry ground to house two of every kind of animal in preparation for the greatest rain storm ever seen.
There’s something spectacular about that.
There’s something memorable about “40 days and 40 nights.”
There’s something about a ship that landed on the top of a mountain that sticks in your mind.
It’s a great story of Scripture.
The best thing about this story is that it isn’t just a story.
It’s not just some made up fairy tale.
And it’s isn’t a nice little legend to tell the kids.
The story of Noah’s Ark is completely true.
And it is a story that has many lesson for people of all ages
In fact, I believe there are several lessons that we can learn from the story,
not the least of which is the lesson of complete obedience.
Can you imagine being 500 years old and hearing God say, “OK, get up and build a boat.
I know there isn't any water anywhere near here, but it’s going to rain.
I know you’ve never seen rain before, but there’s going to be a lot of it.”
Another lesson we could gather is that of complete faith.
Can you imagine not only agreeing to build a boat at the age of 500,
but also continuing to build that boat for 100 years in the midst of ridicule and the laughing of others
“What are you building a boat for you fool?
There’s no water.
Rain? What’s rain?
You think that thing is going to keep you safe from a bunch of water that’s supposed to flood the whole world?
Yeah.” Noah was a great man of obedience and faith.
But this evening I’m not going to direct our focus to those things about this story.
But I want to direct your attention to one short verse towards the beginning of this whole story.
And I want to talk to you about an aspect of this story that maybe you haven’t heard a whole lot about when it comes to Noah’s ark.
I want you to look at Gen. 6:9.
Here, I believe, is a verse that summarizes what Noah is all about.
Starting in the middle of the verse it reads: “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”
There are three things in this verse that tell us a great deal about Noah.
And in this short, little sentence I believe we can all gain a deeper understanding of just how we should all live as Christians
First of all, I believe this verse shows us Noah’s commendation.
It tells us that Noah was a just man.
I don't know how many of you know this but Noah was the only figure in the entire Old Testament that was ever referred to as a just man?
Now I believe that there was a few others that were.
But I think it’s quite interesting that Noah’s the only one referred to as just.
Noah was also called a perfect man.
That’s quite a compliment.
That’s quite a commendation that was given to Noah
Now, I don’t want to open a can of Christian perfection worms; this evening
We will leave that for another time and another sermon,
but I do want to consider just what does it mean that noah was just and perfect?
Does that mean that he had achieved a level of never failing?
Does it mean that he was completely faultless?
Does it mean that he never sinned?
No, it doesn’t mean that.
We all know that ever since the fall of Adam there has only been One man who was completely faultless;
only One who man who never failed
only One man who never sinned,
and they crucified him on the cruel cross of Calvary over 2000 years ago
But Noah well he was human.
He wasn’t mistake free,
and I have no doubt in my mind that noah had committed sin at some point in his life.
I believe both before and after the flood
You know, in our holiness circles where we believe that a person can and should live above sin
and, just so you know, that is a doctrine I believe firmly in,
but I also want to say that I think it’s easy for people who get saved to have false expectations.
There are a lot of young Christians who get awfully discouraged spiritually
and are maybe even tempted to quit trying to be a Christian all together because they have this faulty notion in their minds that once they get saved they are all the sudden going to be perfect.
They think that once they’ve been saved they’ll never have to struggle with sin again. They think that since they’ve been saved they are beyond Satan’s reach.
They’ll never have to worry about falling or failing ever again.
And I want to say that that’s a completely false notion.
I think there are even those who are seeking entire sanctification or have been entirely sanctified who feel that they won’t even have to worry about being tempted anymore.
But those are completely wrong ideas as well
You see Getting saved, or even sanctified for that matter, doesn’t make us infallible;
it doesn’t make us untouchable;
it doesn’t make us incapable of sinning again.
We are not made perfect in the sense that we are unbreakable now.
We are not made just in the sense that we are completely faultless.
So, then what does it mean to be just and perfect?
Well, John Wesley said that Noah had right dispositions and principles implanted in him. He was righteous in his lifestyle. He was an upright and blameless man. He was perfect in the sense that he was sincere in his desire and in his efforts to please God. He was perfect in the sense that he loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength; and he loved his neighbor as himself. And he allowed that love to direct his conduct.
Now I don't know about all of you but that’s one commendation that I would like to receive.
I want to be known as a man who loves perfectly;
who may have slipped up at times,
and who may not have achieved complete perfection;
but who always loved God completely and loved my neighbor selflessly, and who always lets my life be directed by that love.
That’s the kind of commendation I want to receive when I stand before God at the judgement day.
That was Noah’s commendation.
But not only do we see Noah’s commendation,
we see his challenge as well.
For that verse says that he was perfect in his generations.
Now, I don’t know if you remember a lot about Noah’s generation,
but it was not a good one.
In fact, it was a wicked one.
Let me just tell you how wicked it was by reading you the verses prior to our text. Verses 5-7…
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Noah was living in an evil day.
So you’d better believe it was a challenge for him to be an upright man
Especially when he was the only one to be that way.
He never had the benefits of being able to go to church.
He had no Christian fellowship to enjoy.
He had no accountability or prayer partners.
He had no special fellowship with other believers
He was the only one who was serving God,
noah and his family.
There was no one else.
There is no way that was easy
I mean there is no doubt that at times noah was tempted to give up and be just like everyone else?
No doubt Noah had to deal with a lot of peer pressure?
You know, psychology books are filled with studies that demonstrate the power of peer pressure.
One classic study that I think really illustrates my point involved a classroom of teenagers. On the board in the front of the class were three charts with a series of lines of varying lengths on each. The teacher instructed the students to each raise his or her hand when he pointed to the longest line on each chart. What one student didn’t know was that the other nine had been instructed ahead of time to raise their hands for the next to the longest line. When the teacher pointed to the shorter line and nine students raised their hands choosing it as the longest line, the lone student would glance around, put his or her head down, and most of the time he would reluctantly raise his hand, even though it was obviously the wrong choice. The same result happened about seventy-five percent of the time.
Even though they knew it was the wrong answer they would just go with the crowd
Peer pressure is a real thing.
People just don’t like to be the only ones who do something or don’t do something.
And I think we’re dead wrong if we think that teenagers are the only ones who are tempted by it
Granted, older folks sometimes have a high enough level of commitment that they are willing to tough it out.
But I don’t think it’s easy for anyone.
But Noah didn't have to go with the crowd
Noah stood alone.
In a world of wickedness, he stood as the only righteous man.
Again, John Wesley said, “It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith to swim against the stream, and to appear for God, when no one else appears for him.”
How right he was.
But the thing of it is, I believe sometimes we find it hard enough to stand up for our faith when we do have many others to stand with us.
I mean think about How many times have you been disappointed with yourself because you didn’t take a stand like you should have
because you didn’t really want to look silly or to cause a controversy or whatever the reason may have been?
We find it hard to stand sometimes, and we have many other Christians surrounding us.
But Noah had no one.
That was his challenge.
He was a just man.
And he was the only just man in his entire generation.
So how did he do it?
What was the trick to his ability to stand when no one else was?
I believe the answer to that question can be found in the last part of this verse in what I’m calling Noah’s characteristic.
The last words of Verse 9 says “Noah walked with God.”
You see The secret to Noah’s ability to stand blamelessly in a generation of wickedness can be summed up in those four words.
He walked with God.
His secret was found in his living relationship with God.
Do you want to know how you can live a life pleasing to God even in such a wicked society as ours?
Do you want to know the secret to walking blamelessly before God in a time such as this?
Do you want to know how to be successful in your attempt to be found perfect in the sight of God?
The secret is found in your communion with God.
If you are here this evening and you are ashamed of the way you have backed down from your call to be a witness;
if you are wondering why you aren’t just struggling with temptation, but you find yourself consistently failing and giving in to those temptations
if you can’t figure out why it’s so hard for you to be a Christian,
Well just ask yourself this question: Are you walking with God?
A relationship is something that takes time.
It’s something that takes energy.
I mean If I really want to please my wife then I have to be willing to spend time with her each day
and I must be willing to make the effort to find out what she would like from me.
If I don’t spend time with her,
if I don’t do what it takes to know her,
then I am going to find myself wondering a lot about how I can make her happy.
But if I do spend time with her and I am walking with her then I am doing what it takes to know her and I don’t have to wonder near as much.
If I’m not building a relationship with her,
it’s no wonder I don’t know what she expects and it’s no wonder that I’m not being a very satisfactory husband.
The only way I can be a good husband is to walk with her.
And it’s the same thing with God.
If we aren’t taking the time
and putting in the effort that is necessary to know God then we will, no doubt, find ourselves coming up short of His expectations.
If we aren’t building a relationship with Him then it’s no wonder we aren’t living blamelessly before Him
and it’s no wonder that we aren’t standing for Him like we should.
If we aren’t walking with Him it’s no wonder that we find it difficult to maintain our spiritual footing,
it’s no wonder that we find it easy to fall.
You see, it’s in walking with God that we find our power;
the power to overcome temptation,
the power to do what God wants us to do,
the power to stand in an unholy age.
It’s in walking with God that we find our direction.
It’s in walking with God that we find our purpose.
It’s in walking with God that we find our safety.
Think about it, if Noah hadn’t been walking with God,
he wouldn’t have recognized God’s voice telling him to build an ark.
And as a direct result of that he would have perished with the rest of the world in the flood.
But he had walked with God,
and he had recognized God’s voice,
and as a result noah and his entire family was saved.
You see There’s safety in walking with God.
The secret to our spiritual success;
the secret to our being commended by God;
the secret to our fulfilling God’s plan for us;
the secret for our ability to stand in the midst of wickedness is all found in walking with God.
Noah walked with God.
When my life on this earth is over I hope that people will say as they said about Noah that “Randy was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Randy walked with God.”
That’s the way I want to live my life.
That’s how I want to be remembered.
I pray that you do as well
Let's pray !
