"Life Boat Lessons"
Genesis 6:1-22, 7:1-17
Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 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. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Introduction: Most of you know that we were gone on a "Singing at Sea" cruise this past week for a vacation. We have decided that this is our favorite kind of trip for many reasons. We like to be pampered and the crew does a wonderful job of making you feel special. Each cruise is a little different as you might imagine but they all have at least this one thing in common; they all have a life boat drill to begin each cruise. They do this because of international maritime laws and at the beginning all the passengers and crew assemble at your designated life boat station and they go over the instructions on how to put on a life vest properly. You get to see the life boats and listen to several "Titanic" jokes too! You also get to listen to complaints from fellow passengers about having to come out on deck, stand in line for 30 minutes, listen to the roll call, and watch the life vest presentation etc. I have always thought that those who were complaining would probably run over you trying to get to the life boats first if there really was a problem! Speaking of the Titanic, the sinking of this great "unsinkable" ship in April of 1912 is the reason that ships now have to carry enough life boats for all the passengers and crew. The Titanic was only carrying about half of what was needed to save everyone. Let me make an observation is I can: It seems to me that the Ark was the first "lifeboat" in human history! There are many lessons to be gleaned from this Biblical story this morning but we have time for just three lessons that I will share with you this morning. First, it is biblically and historically true that whenever God wants to communicate a message of judgment to the world He has chosen to do so by calling a preacher. He chooses to use a human vessel to deliver a spiritual message. In the book of Romans we read:
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
In this case He chooses a man named Noah. Let's examine this man of God to see if we can learn anything from his life that will help you and I today.
I. The Preacher God Called
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 ESV reads; Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
a. The evaluation by the Sovereign
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
b. The employment of the servant
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
I once asked an adult Sunday school class to write a job description for Noah. This is what they wrote. Wanted: Person to build, maintain and sail a large ship. Must be civil engineer with experience as a zoologist. Must have experience in public relations, navigation and carpentry. Benefits: free 40-day world cruise -- free shovel. Must be able to stand noise and foul odors. Above all, must have patience. Gaither Bailey
Henry Blackaby once wrote,
"When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see--not what we can do--but what God can do."
c. The enlightenment of the sinners
God did not keep His plan a secret for His servant Noah proclaimed the coming judgment to his generation for 120 years. The construction of the ark itself was a testament to what would come upon the earth.
II. The Plan God Conceived vs 27
a. It was gradual in its
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.
b. It was gracious in its specifics
c. It was global in its scale
Genesis 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
III. The Probation God Calculated vs 29-31
a. The
b. The
Genesis 7:16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
c. The rejection of opportunity
THEY REFUSED TO BE RESCUED
On August 30, 2005 Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter to New Orleans and to keep that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic rescue effort. None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to see. They were ahead of every news crew in the nation. The entire city of New Orleans was under water. On their first three missions that day they saved 89 people, three dogs and two cats.
On the fourth mission, despite twelve different flights to New Orleans, he and his crew were able to save no one. None! They all refused to board the helicopter. Instead they told the Coast Guard to bring them food and water. Yet they were warned that this extremely dangerous. The waters were not going to go away soon. Sadly, many of those people perished because of their refusal to be rescued.
In our Gospel lesson today we come face to face with the Son of God and with the greatest rescue effort of all time.
(From a sermon by Michael P. Walther, Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord, 5/25/2011)
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 weren't you drowned?"
Conclusion:
"The church is like Noah's ark: The stench inside would be unbearable if it weren't for the storm outside. It's true--sometimes we stink and the world is stormy. But as imperfect as we are on this side of heaven, the miracle is that God in fact chooses to use his church--us as His proclaiming love, truth, hope." Chuck Colson (Being the Body)
EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM NOAH
In 1988, Robert Fulghum published his best-selling book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Recently, somebody suggested another book title: Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Noah. For example...
* Don't miss the boat.
* Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
* Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something big.
* Don't listen to critics; just do the job that needs to be done.
* Build your future on high ground.
* For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
* Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
* When you're stressed, float a while.
* Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
* No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.
(Source unknown, From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Holiness of Grace, 4/29/2011)
ILL - Faith Involves Resting Securely on God's Revelation --Entering the Ark. Noah's faith in become a verb is completed with his entrance into the Ark with his family. It inspires me to learn that Noah was so confident about God's promise and power that he went into the Ark with his family. It is one thing for Noah to obey God by building the Ark according to God's strict stipulations, but is quite another for him to walk into the Ark, entrusting his life and that of his loved ones to God's protection and provision. It is one thing to lend intellectual agreement to the design and capability of the airplane, but it quite another for you to walk into the plane and fly in it. When you do that, your faith in the plane is complete. Similarly, do our faith in God leads us to entrust not only yourselves but also our loved ones into the promise and power of God to save us and to supply our needs. Peter Chan
ILL - This past Christmas, the Dallas family from our church gave us a wonderful gift of Noah's Ark complete with hand-carved animals. The problem is that it is especially fascinating to children. We have had to glue poor Noah back together more than once. After one visit from our grandchildren, we saw that one of the sheep was missing from the set. We searched for that missing sheep high and low. We looked in the toy cabinet, between the cushions in the couch, in the spare bedroom, but still we couldn't find the vagabond sheep. Things were not right. You just can't have a single sheep going into the ark. Some time had passed and Sue moved the couch in the family room to sweep under it, and when she did, there was the missing sheep. We were very happy. We never gave up wishing we had that wandering sheep back and hoping we would find it. Every time we passed the set we thought about it. Things were just not the same without it being there.
It reminded me of what Jesus said about God's love for lost sheep. My desire for a sheep carved from wood could hardly compare to God's desire for his wandering sheep, the people he had created. Jesus said, "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep'" (Luke 15:4-6). Rodney Buchanan
