"Until that first raindrop fell"
2 Peter 2:4-5
This evening I want to talk with you about two boats in history and two men who were each on one of those prospective boats. One of these men is as well known to you as Moses, Peter, John or Paul but the other has gone unheralded in the last 87 years so tonight I want to be as clear and concise as possible with you. From the first moment I sold out to Jesus there has never been a feeling this world has to offer that means more to me than standing on this HOLY GROUND to share God’s word with his people and I haven’t come here to entertain you and then go on my way. I have come here tonight to share the life changing message of Christ Jesus because there will be decisions made for God in this little church tonight. Some of you will choose to accept salvation in the blood of Jesus and others will walk out the door no different than when you came in, condemned already.
1. In 1909 construction was begun on what was to become the largest moveable object ever built by mankind in Belfast North Ireland. This object was designed by Alexander Carlisle and commissioned to be built by Harland and Wolff along with about fifteen thousand other people and would require more than three years to complete. They built a ship that was 883 feet long, 92 feet wide and 175 feet high that had a loaded weight displacement of more than 132 Million pounds and would cost more than 400 Million dollars to duplicate in our economy.
2. Hollywood glamorized the story of the RMS Titanic a few years ago with the personalities of Leonardo diCaprio and William Zane but for all the glitz and glamour they have heaped upon that disaster, they have only managed to create an illusion
On April 14, 1912 at 11:40 PM in the bitter cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean the Titanic struck and iceberg on it’s starboard side and began to take on water. There were only 20 lifeboats available for the passengers and what ensued afterward was a dog eat dog world of only the strong surviving. 1528 people went into the icy cold waters without a lifeboat and the next morning at sunrise, they only pulled out six survivors…
Yet we have watched the portrayal of the illusion Hollywood would have us accept as truth and fallen in love with the filth and iniquity and nudity and the sex scenes between a fair haired young man and woman. I remember full well the words spoken by a children’s Sunday School Teacher to me after seeing that movie almost twelve times in the theater. "I wish I had been there to meet someone like Leonardo diCaprio". My only mission is to challenge you to consider the truth of the gospel as recorded in the written word of God and to share the information available to us for the decision making process of salvation in Jesus Christ…
2 PETER 2:4-5 (PRAYER)
Most people really don’t know how to take me either my friends so if you’re sitting there squirming in your seats wondering where all this is heading, just sit back and enjoy the ride. I promise it won’t hurt for long!
In the book of Genesis chapters SIX AND SEVEN, Almighty God came down and spoke to the only righteous man who found favor in his eyes on the whole earth. God told this man Noah some suprising things about the fate of the earth and all those who called it home…
"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 creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them… but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… and God said to 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."
Genesis 6:5-8,13
1. God told Noah that he was going to destroy every living thing because man had become so vile and evil
2. Told Noah in Verse 17 that he was going to bring a flood of waters and that rains were going to come even though it had never rained until that moment on the face of the earth
3. Told Noah to build an ark of gopher wood 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high coated with pitch so that eight people and some of every creature could be saved from the destruction just over the horizon
Noah made a decision when God spoke to him, and I want to share with you that he made the right decision that day to trust in the plan of God for his life and his ultimate salvation. He could have decided not to believe God and chosen to die with the rest of the world but instead Noah chose to trust in God and obeyed his instructions. He might not have understood what the Lord meant by a great flood coming and he might have had no idea how some of every animal on the face of the earth would fit into a boat of that size.
Yet for all the things Noah could have done or not done, for all the theological questions he could have asked at that time about how a loving God could destroy all flesh, Noah chose to believe God and trust in his plan of salvation. And the Apostle Peter chose by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to make reference to Noah more than 2500 years later as a
"PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"
That statement in the bible always puzzled me until God showed me why the Arkbuilder would be called a preacher of righteousness until the day I became a pastor, I never understood the meaning of those words. Noah spent 120 years of his life building and ark that would be the salvation of his family and the death warrant on a lost generation. I believe with every fiber of my being and with my whole heart that God himself has shown me why Peter made reference to Noah all those years ago.
· Noah had a heartfelt desire to see other people’s lives changed forever by a relationship with God that was real and personal
· I believe that every time Noah bent his knees to pray the name of his lost next door neighbor was on his lips and that God would use him in some way to lead him to salvation
· I believe that every time Noah went to the supermarket to pick up groceries he remembered the sweet face of the checkout girl and asked God in his prayers that night to save her soul
· I believe that every time Noah walked by the playground on his way to work on that ark, he heard the laughter of little children and saw their sweet little faces playing. I believe that as the tears flowed down Noah’s cheeks the rest of his way to the ark, he begged God to use him in some way to lead those children or their parents to salvation.
I also believe that every night when the sun went down and he took off his carpenters apron to go home and eat supper, that somewhere along the way he stopped and climbed up on a platform to preach to the people how much God loved them and desired to not destroy them. I believe he stopped on the street corners and preached salvation to the people all around him busy with their lives asking them to repent and turn from their wicked ways to serve the Living God. I believe he climbed up on milkcrates at every oppurtunity to share the life changing message of the salvation available through a merciful and gracious God.
120 YEARS IS A LONG TIME TO PREACH AND NEVER LEAD ANYBODY TO SALVATION. LONG TIME TO SHARE THE MESSAGE OF GOD AND NOT SEE ANY CONVERTS BUT THAT’S WHAT I BELIEVE NOAH DID FOLKS!
Now I understand the passion that goes along with preaching and wanting everybody to feel the security of salvation that I feel in my heart. I understand the passion of sharing the gospel with people who need the Lord but I have to stand by helpless as they choose to do things their own way. I understand the passion of preaching for decisions of salvation in Christ Jesus and seeing people choose life instead of death and have seen that lived out in my own family…
I was twelve years old and the toughest man I knew was my Uncle Meb but I saw him cry like a baby at my grandmother’s kitchen table asking her to pray that God would save his soul before he died of liver cancer. God had tried years before to lead him to the cross and we know that none of us are saved unless God draws us. He waited too late!
John Harper Story
I understand now the urgency involved in leading other people to Christ to be saved and if your eyes close in death without accepting the shed blood of Jesus you will spend and eternity separated from God in a place called hell. But who has the power to convince people of that these days? Wish I had that power as I see moma’s and daddy’s give their children the best of everything the world has to offer but never open their bible with them. WE HAVE RAISED THE BEST BALL PLAYING, BALLET DANCING, VIDEO GAME PLAYING GENERATION THAT HAS EVER WENT TO HELL. YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE IT ALL BUT IF YOU DON’T HAVE JESUS YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING MY FRIEND!
"WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?"
1. But I’m a member of the local church
2. I give my tithe and support the work of the church with my money
3. My moma was a saved woman if there ever was one, surely that’ll help me?
Just as in the days of Noah they were marrying and being given in marriage making great plans for their future and how they might spend retirement or build that new addition to the house or plan their next vacation…
RIGHT UP UNTIL THE MOMENT THAT FIRST RAINDROP FELL!
Then moma’s and daddies picked up their little children and beat on the side of that boat begging to be let inside. Begging with their whole heart and soul for just one more chance, just one more invitation, just one more alter call so they could give their hearts to God but it was too late!
Genesis 7:16 " And they that went in went in male and female of all flesh as the Lord had commanded him: AND THE LORD SHUT HIM IN!"
NOW I KNOW WHY GOD HAD TO SHUT THE DOOR SO THAT NO MAN COULD OPEN IT BECAUSE AS A PREACHER I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LOVE THE PEOPLE AND WANT THEM TO BE SAVED NO MATTER THE COST TO ME OR MY OWN FAMILY. GOD SHUT THAT DOOR BECAUSE NOAH WOULD HAVE OPENED IT AND BROUGHT DESTRUCTION ON HIMSELF! HE LOVED THE PEOPLE THAT MUCH… WHEW!!!
FOLKS TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION! TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS AND YOU SHALL BE SAVED! I AM BEGGING YOU TONIGHT TO GIVE YOUR HEART TO JESUS AND I’LL BEND DOWN AND KISS YOUR FEET IF YOU DO. TRUST JESUS RIGHT NOW TO WRITE YOUR NAME IN THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE BEFORE THE RAINDROPS START FALLING IN YOUR LIFE AND IT’S TOO LATE!
INVITATION…
