Then, In a flash of lightning, God delivered the specifications for an ark. In fear and trembling, Noah took the plans and agreed to build the ark. "Remember," said the Lord, "You must complete the ark and bring everything aboard in one year."
Exactly one year later, fierce storm clouds covered the earth and all the seas of the earth went into a tumult.
The Lord saw that Noah was sitting in his front yard, weeping.
"Noah," He shouted, "Where is the Ark?"
"Lord, please forgive me," cried Noah. "I did my best, but there were big problems.
• First, I had to get a permit for construction, and Your plans did not meet the codes. I had to hire an engineering firm and redraw the plans.
• Then I got into a fight with OSHA over whether or not the ark needed a fire sprinkler system and flotation devices.
• Then my neighbors objected, claiming I was violating zoning ordinances by building the ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission.
• Then I had problems getting enough wood for the ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to protect the spotted owl. I finally convinced the U.S. Forest Service that I needed the wood to save the owls. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service wouldn't let me catch any owls. So, no owls.
• The carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up a saw or a hammer. Now I have 16 carpenters on the ark, but still no owls.
• When I started rounding up the other animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. They objected to me only taking two of each kind aboard.
• Just when I got the suit dismissed, the EPA notified me that I could not complete the ark without filing an environmental impact statement on Your proposed flood. They didn't take very kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of the Creator of the universe.
• Then the Army Corps of Engineers demanded a map of the proposed new flood plain. So I sent them a globe.
• Right now, I am trying to resolve a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that I am practicing discrimination by not taking godless, unbelieving people aboard.
• The IRS has seized my assets, claiming that I'm building the ark in preparation to flee the country to avoid paying taxes. I just got a notice from the state that I owe them some kind of user tax, and failed to register the Ark as a 'recreational water craft'.
• Finally, the ACLU got the courts to issue an injunction against further construction of the ark, saying that since God is flooding the earth, it is a religious event and, therefore, unconstitutional.”
"I really don't think I can finish the ark for another five or six years", Noah wailed.
The sky began to clear, the sun began to shine, and the seas began to calm. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up hopefully. "You mean You are NOT going to destroy the earth, Lord?"
"No," said the Lord sadly, "I don't have to. The government already has."
While this is a joke, a great deal of this is true.
Illus: While 911 is considered to be the greatest tragedy in the U.S., what took place during the days of Noah makes 911 look like no tragedy at all.
Let’s look at the story of Noah in the scriptures. The Bible has a great deal to say about things before and after the flood. How were things before the flood? They were …
I. A MESS
Look at Genesis 6:1-7, we read, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 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. 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. 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.”
For further evidence look at verses 11-12, they also tell us how it was before the flood, we read, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”
WHEN DID THIS CORRUPTION TAKE PLACE? All this took place when the population began to expand.
For example, the largest cities in the US are the most wicked cities in America. While this is a statistical fact, it is also true that the smaller cities are the more godly.
WHY IS THAT THE SITUATION? This is true for two reasons, such as:
(1) “GANG MENTALITY”
As the population increases, the people feel they can do whatever they want to do. For example, you can take a street bully by himself, and he won’t open his mouth. But if you put a dozen hoodlums behind him, all of a sudden he talks tough and he wants to hurt someone. Alone, he never opens his mouth, but with a gang behind him he is the toughest man on the block.
This “Gang Mentality” exists among the large crowds. For example, we are told by the experts that there are some folks who can find themselves in the midst of a riot and looting, and to your surprise, these so-called decent people will join in the looting of stores. Why? They know it is wrong, but they feel that since so many are doing it, they can do it also and get away with it. Large crowds bring the worst out of people.
There are motorcycle clubs that travel the country in large numbers. I am not talking about the “Hells Angels” and that crowd. I am talking about clubs that have doctors, lawyers and business people in their membership. Sometimes they will go into a town and literally take the town over. They know that law enforcement is too small to handle them, and in a crowd of 25 to 30 thousand, they feel they can do whatever they want to do and get away with it.
One of the television documentaries was doing a story about this “Gang Mentality,” where around 30 thousand of these motorcycle club members had congregated. The reporter was talking with one of the women that had joined other women in walking around exposing the upper part of their bodies.
The reporter asked this very decent looking woman, “Do you do this back home?” She said, “No! I have never done this before, but other women were doing it, and she said I was just following their lead.” “Since no one knows me in this crowd, I thought I would do it because I can get away with it!”
Listen, when you find a crowd of people you are going to find wickedness. The “Gang Mentality” is going to take over time.
But another reason you find wickedness among the large crowds is due to-
(2) “BLAME GAME” MENTALITY
Anytime you have a large crowd, you can always find someone to blame things on. For example, the lady that was exposing herself did not accept the blame, she blamed it on all the other women because she was only following their lead.
Illus: I always feel sorry for an only child. Why? Because they do not have anyone to blame their evil deeds on. When you have a lot of brothers and sisters, you can do whatever you want to do, and always find someone to blame your evil deeds on.
It seems this is the way it works when the population gets large. People feel safe, because there are so many people they can blame their evil deeds on. It is astounding how people today blame their evil deeds on other people.
Illus: One lady acknowledged that she had a bad temper. She said, “I get my bad temper from my grandfather, he had a bad temper”. Listen, her grandfather had died twenty years ago, and here she was blaming her bad temper on her dead grandfather!
Evil people do not want to take the responsibility for anything. If they have to, they will even blame God.
Illus: They remind me of the little girl in her Sunday clothes who was running as fast as she could to get to Sunday school on time.
As she ran she prayed, "Dear Lord, please don't let me be late. Dear Lord, please don't let me be late."
At that moment she tripped and fell, getting her clothes all dirty. She got up, brushed herself off and started running again, praying... “Dear Lord, please don't let me be late, but please don't shove me anymore!”
The Bible tells us that when the population began to multiply, so did sin. But there is no excuse for people choosing to follow those in the society in which they live.
The wickedness of man abounded. In this MESS, the Bible tells us about-
II. A MAN
Look at verses 8-10, we read, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
Noah was known for his godliness.
Illus: Did you hear about former President Bill Clinton? We are told that on the way back from one of his foreign mission trips he apparently picked up a strange, life threatening disease.
He was rushed to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for a complicated surgery. He went under the knife in the early morning, and when he awoke, he saw that the curtains were closed around him and it was dark.
The president asked a secret Service agent sitting beside his bed, “Why are the curtains closed?” “Is it night already?”
He said, “No sir, but there is a huge fire across the street, and we didn’t want you to wake up and look out the window and think that the operation was not successful.”
While Bill Clinton was known for being ungodly, Noah was known for being a godly man. Noah was not part of the “Gang mentality” or the “Blame Game” mentality.
What folks fail to understand is that GOD SAW THE MESS, but God also saw A MAN in that mess that, “…found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Mankind had made the earth a “Cesspool” of immorality and lawlessness. During this age, mankind was living for:
• Sex
• Money
• Possessions
• Position
• Power
• Recognition
• Honor
Mankind had forgotten God, and all he was living for was himself.
THIS EVIL IN THE WORLD CREATED A PROBLEM. WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM? God had made a promise that He would always have a godly line of people He could use to send the Savior to the earth through.
HOW COULD GOD DO THIS? He looked upon the evil world that mankind had created, and the Bible says, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” He would use Noah and His family.
Look at verses 8-10, we read, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
Noah stood head and shoulders above the people of his day. The Bible says two things about him:
(1) When it comes to Noah, this is the first time the words “Just” and “Righteous” are used.
The words mean to be upright, honest, and virtuous. We cannot go around telling people that we are upright, honest, and virtuous, but our life must reflect that we are.
(2) Also, the Bible says that Noah was, “…Perfect in his generation…”
The word “Perfect” does not mean sinless perfection. It means “Blameless”
Now you might be saying, HOW CAN YOU LIVE A LIFE AND BE BLAMELESS? The Apostles could not do it, how can we do it?
Actually, none of us can live a sinless life. The only one who has ever done this is the SON OF GOD.
We may be accused of all kinds of evil, but it is our job to make sure that the accusations are not true. If they are not true, it means in the sight of God we are BLAMELESS! We can never be BLAMELESS in the sight of man, but we can be in the sight of God.
In this evil society, God looked down, and the Bible says, “Noah found grace in the eyes of God.”
There was A MESS, there was A MAN, and there was …
III. A MESSAGE
Look at verses 13-21, we read, “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. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
In these verses, the Bible tells us that God instructed Noah to build an ark. In fact, God gave him detailed information on how to build the ark; how long, how tall, how wide, how many doors, how many windows, etc.. God gave the instructions for how it was to be built, and God expected Noah to obey.
When it comes to obedience, some dogs are more obedient to their owners than some professing Christians are to God the Father.
Illus: Did you hear about the man who said, “My wife and I enrolled Molly, our lovable but dumb cocker spaniel, in a ten-week obedience class. At the end of the term Molly had made little progress.”
“We re-enrolled her, but at the end of the second course Molly was still noticeably behind her canine classmates.”
“The instructor, perhaps determined to succeed with our dog, offered to let her repeat the course for the third time at no charge.”
That man who had enrolled Molly was telling his friend, "Molly was the only dog in her class to get a scholarship.”
Noah was given very specific instructions about how to build the ark.
HOW DID HE RESPOND TO THOSE INSTRUCTIONS? Look at verse 22, we read, “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”
Obedience involves commitment. We can identify people who are committed to obeying God by two traits:
• The truly committed are concerned about grieving the heart of a loving God when they sin
• The truly committed are concerned with how the consequences of their sin will affect them and others
Noah loved the Lord, and he was a godly man that knew his disobedience would not only affect the God he loved, but the family he also loved.
Something that many disobedient people fail to understand is that their decisions to choose evil in life have serious consequences to them.
Illus: In 2002, President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair sent word to Saddam Hussein to comply with the disarmament obligations that he agreed to, in order to remain in power after the “Persian Gulf War”. The Stalin-adoring dictator has repeatedly denied that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Despite the fact that Saddam used chemical weapons against Iran and the Kurds, previous inspectors finding nerve gas and documents indicating biological weapons, defectors suggesting the development of a nuclear capability, and Iraq recently purchasing nerve gas antidote, Saddam continues to tell the world that he's clean of any offending chemical, biological and nuclear material.
But even though Saddam Hussein continues to make bad decisions in refusing to disarm, President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have warned him that if he refuses to disarm, his decision will lead to some serious consequences.
• If Saddam loved the people of Iraq, he would make the right decision and disarm
• But it is believed he does not love them, he loves the power of being over Iraq, but not the people
His disobedience will lead to some serious consequences.
Likewise, there are those in God’s church, that God has commanded to disarm themselves of the deadly sins in their life, but they refuse. Their disobedience will lead to some serious consequences.
Conclusion:
Why is it important that we consider Noah and His generation? Because God’s Word says, in Matthew 24:37, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
We can relate to everything we read about in Noah’s generation, because we are a carbon copy of that generation. But as God saved Noah, he will saved us in the same manner.
HOW WAS NOAH SAVED? The Bible says he found “Grace” in the eyes of the Lord. Everybody that enters heaven will have this in common, every one of them will be saved by GRACE ALONE!
Some will ask, “What about all that work that Noah did in building the ark?” This they say proves we are saved by GRACE and WORKS!
Before Noah ever drove a nail or cut a board, he had already found grace in the eyes of the Lord. After grace, then comes works.
The same is true for those of us who have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. After grace come works.
I. THE MESS
II. THE MAN
III. THE MESSAGE
