Noah: A Godly Father in an Evil Age
A Father’s Day Sermon
Chuck Sligh
June 19, 2016
TEXT: Genesis 6:5-11 – “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. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 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. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
Hebrews 11:7 – “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
INTRODUCTION
Today is Father’s Day. You know what?—[SAY WITH RELIEF:] I’m sure glad I’m a man! Guys, do I hear an “Amen” on that?
ICE BREAKER: I read something titled “50 Reasons It’s Good To Be a Man.” – I won’t read them all but I did compile my own top-10 list of “Why It’s Good to Be a Man”:
10. Number 10, you know stuff about tanks.
9. If someone forgets to invite you to something, he can still be your friend.
8. You can drop by to see a friend without bringing a little gift.
7. If another guy shows up at the same party in the same outfit, you might become lifelong buddies.
6. Guys in hockey masks don’t attack you…unless you’re playing hockey.
5. You can admire Clint Eastwood without starving yourself to look like him.
4. Your pals can be trusted never to trap you with, “So…notice anything different?”
3. If something mechanical doesn’t work, you can bash it with a hammer and throw it across the room.
2. Car mechanics tell you the truth.
1. And the number 1 reason it’s good to be a man is...(Drumroll): You can go to the bathroom without a support group.
JOKE – You know, it’s just human nature for boys to brag about their dads, isn’t it? Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, “My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a POEM, and they give him $50.”
The second boy says, “That’s nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a SONG, and they give him $100.”
The third boy says, “I got you both beat. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a SERMON, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!”
The Bible is replete with examples of some of the worst and some of the best fathers.
Noah is one the “Good Dad List” (except for one notable exception, but that’s not the subject of today’s study). We normally think of him as the guy who built the ark, brought the animals on the ark two by two, and restarted the human race after the catastrophic flood. That’s all true, but you know, overall he was also a GOOD FATHER.
Building the ark was probably the most remarkable accomplishment in history up to that time when you look at the dimensions for the ark that are given in the Bible and men, this will blow you away—he had no power tools 4000 years ago! But Noah’s GREATEST accomplishment was his family’s faith!
Noah raised a family in a difficult time. It was an age of wickedness and evil thinking – Genesis 6:5 says, “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.” –That sounds much like our own day, but guys, Noah proves you can be a good dad and raise a godly family even in the worst of times.
His was also an age of corruption and violence – Genesis 6:11 says, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” – Again, that sounds much like our own day; but again, it offers us hope today.
How did Noah succeed as a father in such a time?
I. Well, one clue is found in Genesis 6:9 – “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” – The thing God wants us to know about Noah here is that NOAH WALKED WITH GOD.
• Before we’re told that Noah walked with God, verse 9 says he was “a just man.”
The term “just” in the Bible doesn’t have to do with living a good life. To be “just” in the biblical sense means to be without sin before God. This is not something that is earned, but is bestowed upon a person by God. The idea of God making a person just before Him is known as “justification.”
The word “perfect” here does not mean that he never sinned. – The Hebrew word means “without blemish, complete, sound, upright, whole.” Hebrews 11:7 gives us some insight into how you can be justified where we read that Noah “became HEIR of the righteousness which is by faith.”
Now from Hebrews 11:7, want you to get some important things:
> First, note that Noah had “righteousness.”
“Righteousness” means the same thing as the word “just” in Genesis 6. To be “righteous” means to be able to stand without sin before holy God.
Well, none of us are perfect, including Noah, so that presents a dilemma. Even if we reform and live for God, we’re still not perfect. Yet that’s what God demands—absolute perfection.
> But note that his righteous standing before God was bestowed, not earned.
Hebrews 11:7 says Noah became “heir” to this righteous state. To become an heir means to receive something absolutely free. That’s what salvation is: a free gift from a loving God.
As Romans 6:23 puts it, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That phrase, “through Jesus Christ our Lord” is critical. It’s only through JESUS that we can have this gift of God’s righteousness. The Bible teaches that on the cross, Jesus died for our sins in our place.
> Lastly, Hebrews 11:7 teaches that the way to receive this righteousness is by faith. – He “became heir of the righteousness which is BY FAITH.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace [i.e., “undeserved favor”] are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
How did Noah receive righteousness?—By FAITH in God. How can you receive God’s righteousness and free pardon for your sins—by faith, or trusting, in Jesus, who died for your sins.
Jesus said in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The first thing to do to be the dad God wants you to be is to have your sins forgiven by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
• Now not only was Noah a man who had received full pardon for his sins by God’s grace, we’re also told that Noah “walked with God.”
Noah looked around at the wickedness and the violence of his day and he refused to follow the lead of his culture. The world said, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die,” but Noah said, “No, that’s not God’s way. I want to walk with God. / I want to please God. / I want to live for God. / I want to obey His commandments.” The world was going to hell in a hand-basket, but Noah resolved to be different from those around him and to walk with God.
Well, what does it mean to “walk with God?” Walking with someone means you’re going in the same direction as him.
Now if you travel with God, who’s going to lead the way?—Why God is, of course. That’s the only way God will have it.—HE has to be in control. So to walk with God is to walk in His ways, to follow His lead.
How can you walk with God as a godly father?
> First, spend time with God in His Word and prayer.
You cannot cultivate a relationship with someone you don’t spend time with. Dad, do you have a time in God’s Word and in prayer every single day?—A time when God can set you straight; correct you; get you reoriented on a daily basis; get you to refocus your priorities? You’ll need to do that to walk with God.
> Second, be the spiritual leader of your home.
When Joshua came into the land of Israel, he didn’t give his kids an option about serving the Lord while they were in his household. He said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Illus. – When I was growing up, I was in church every week. Basically, I had two choices: Go willingly or unwillingly. Either way, I WAS GOING TO CHURCH! And if there was a teen activity that week, I was going to it! If there was a revival or a missions conference, I’d be there. Now if my dad had been a hypocrite, I might have rebelled against that and rejected his teachings and his demands. But I knew my parents believed with all their heart that when Jesus said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” Jesus meant it to be put into practice in every area of life—and they followed that in their lives.
Dads, you need to be the key leader in going to church and putting the Lord first in your life and reading the Bible in your home.
> Third, to walk with God, OBEY Him.
God came to Noah and told him to build an ark. “A what?” his sons asked, “What in the world is an ark?” It had never rained before and there were no large bodies of water. What God was asking him to do didn’t seem to make any sense. But he did it out of obedience to God.
God commands us to do many things we may not fully understand. He says to give up your life to save it. He says to give so that you may receive. He says the way to greatness is to be a servant.
You may not understand why God says to do this or that, but if you’re going to walk with God, you’ve got to obey God.
1) God says to “let your speech be seasoned with salt”—so that means that you need to clean up your speech.
2) God commands “Be angry and sin not”—so that means to make sure you never let your anger get out of control—at home, at work, or in your neighborhood—no excuses; no exceptions.
3) God said “You shall not steal”—so that means you return the ten cents over-change you get from the cashier, and you don’t cheat on your income taxes.
4) God commands us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, so that means you turn off ungodly or sensual TV or movies; and you don’t listen to music that glorifies sex or violence.
Men, WALK WITH GOD through a vibrant, passionate daily time with God, by being a spiritual leader in our homes and by being consistently obedient Christians in each of these areas.
Yes, Noah was declared righteous before God, and he walked with God…
II. BUT HERE’S THE COOLEST THING ABOUT THIS STORY: BY DOING THIS, NOAH WON HIS FAMILY.
In Genesis 7:1 we read these words shortly before God destroyed the whole world with a flood: “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”
And look down at Genesis 7:7 – “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.”
This was the most important thing he did in his life! You can put all kind of rank on your sleeve or collar, but if you lose your family to sin and the world because you neglected to lead them to God, or because you were a poor example of Christian living, you will fail in God’s MOST important task for you!
Noah’s family members were his only converts—yet God deemed him a success! He was not a great FINANCIER, but he was a great FATHER for his boys. He was not a CORPORATE EXECUTIVE, but he was a CONSCIENTIOUS EXAMPLE. Noah may not have been a great PREACHER (after all, he had no converts but his family), but he was a great PATTERN.
What a day for Noah as his entire family entered the ark!
Contrast Noah with Lot: When Lot fled Sodom and Gomorrah, he begged his family to escape, having received warnings of Sodom and Gomorrah’s imminent destruction. But Lot, who compromised every step of the way with the culture around him, had absolutely no credibility with his family spiritually. In fact, the Bible tells us that they mocked his warnings. And when God began to rain down His judgment and Lot fled…he fled almost alone. All his family members perished in Sodom and Gomorrah except two of his daughters
How did Noah win his family? Here’s the key—he was authentic in his walk with God and not hypocritical.
Illus. – When I lived in Okinawa in the 1970s, I had to leave the country to have my visa renewed, so I flew to Taiwan where my parents had a network of friends from when they were stationed there in the 1960s. I stayed with a missionary who had been tortured by the Red Chinese when they took over China. He was still serving God in Taiwan and while visiting in his church I heard the testimony of a vibrant young believer. I asked him what was the deciding factor that brought him to Christ. He looked at the missionary and in broken English said, “He tell me many, many times about Jesus. But first I watchy his life, I see that ‘his walky matchy his talky.’ So I say, I want Jesus too”
Not only is authenticity and genuineness without hypocrisy a persuasive argument to those we witness to in the world, they’re of the utmost impost importance to our kids of the reality of our faith—the strongest argument that can be made.
That’s why Noah was able to reach his family. He was not hypocritical and they saw the reality of his faith. Because perceived that “his walky matchy his talky,” they believed what he had was real.
Kids react to hypocrisy, but they respond positively to a genuine faith in God lived out in genuine integrity. Men, God help us to be REAL Christians; to practice what we preach; to be faithful to what we profess; to be obedient to God’s commandments—just a as Noah was.
CONCLUSION
A.
B. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is in our day: a time of wickedness, violence and sin.
C. But you know what?—God’s grace is sufficient for fathers now as it was then.
D. May God enable us to win our families to Christ!
1. Men, walk with God by first giving our lives to Christ and second by obeying God.
2. And second, be so authentic as Christians that our families are convinced Christianity MUST be true, and thereby lead them to faith in Christ by your godly example.
E.
Illus. – In his book, Anchor Man, Steve Ferrar says that in Jack London’s famous book, White Fang, he tells the story of a dog that is half wolf, half dog. As a puppy, White Fang is treacherously abused by his cruel master. He was repeatedly kicked, beaten and half starved. After several years of abuse, he found his way to a new master, Weeden Scott.
In the story there is a tremendous section where the wolf dog undergoes an amazing transformation from his old like to a new life. It’s as though the animal had a change of heart.
White Fang was very fond of chickens and on one occasion raided a chicken-roost and killed fifty hens. His master, Weeden Scott, whom White Fang saw as man-God and “loved with a single heart,” scolded him and then took him into the chicken yard.
When White Fang saw his favorite food walking around right in front of him, he obeyed his natural impulse and lunged for a chicken. He was immediately checked by his master’s voice. They stayed in the chicken yard for quite a while and every time White Fang made a move toward a chicken, his master’s voice would stop him. In this way he learned what his master wanted—he had learned to ignore the chickens.
When Weeden’s father said you couldn’t cure a chicken killer, to prove him wrong, Weeden locked White Fang in with the chickens all afternoon, and whthout his master even being around, White Fang acted as if they did not exist and did not touch even one of them. Out of love and desire to obey his master’s will, White fang overcame his natural, inborn desires. He may not have understood the reason, but he chose to bend his will to his master’s.
White Fang learned to love his new master, Weeden Scott with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might. He wasn’t halfhearted toward his master. He followed his new master with everything that he had. Farrar sums up the point of him telling the story of White Fang this way: “That’s what children need to clear up the moral and spiritual confusion in their lives. They need a father to lead who isn’t confused about whom he is serving. And they need a father who doesn’t confuse them by trying to love God with half his heart….” (Anchor Man, pp. 85-86)
Men, I challenge you likewise to know who you are serving, and love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. Do that, and you just may save your own kids for eternity.
