FROM ZERO TO HERO
PART 3
(Noah) HERO WHO PERSEVERED
NOTE: 4 OF THE 5 MAIN POINTS WERE ADAPTED FROM DOUG FIELDS, OLD SCHOOL GOOD GUYS MESSAGES. ALL THE BODY IS ORIGINAL FROM PASTOR RYAN AKERS, BUT THE POINTS ARE ADAPTED.
Genesis 6:5-22, “5Now the LORD observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. 6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. 7And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them." 8But Noah found favor with the LORD.9This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. 10Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.11Now the earth had become corrupt in God’s sight, and it was filled with violence. 12God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere. 13So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Yes, I will wipe them all from the face of the earth!14"Make a boat[a] from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[b] 16Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches[c] below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat--bottom, middle, and upper--and put a door in the side.17"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die! 18But I solemnly swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives. 19Bring a pair of every kind of animal--a male and a female--into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive. 21And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals."22So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
The great and famous movie Rocky tells the story of a small time boxer given the opportunity of a lifetime-the chance to fight undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. After weeks of punishing, grueling training, on the evening of the fight Rocky finally admitted the futility of his effort. “Who am I trying to kid? I’m not even in the same class with da guy. But I gotta go da distance. I gotta go da distance.”
Rocky set as his goal to go all fifteen rounds. He wanted to hang in there when he knew every muscle in his body would scream to quit. He wanted to endure under pressure. As a fighter, he wanted to go the full distance. The fight began, but in round one rocky was knocked down. The count commenced, but after wildly shaking his head back and forth, he struggled to his feet and lasted not just one or two more rounds, but all fifteen. He was able to go the distance because, during training, his body had been subjected to grueling preparation. Daily he had driven himself to the point of exhaustion. One-arm push ups, back bending sit ups, sprinting, sparring—this had all been part of his schedule of training. The design of a demanding training schedule enabled Rocky to endure.
I love the story of Rocky because it’s about persevering through difficulty. We’ve been doing this series called From Zero to Hero. We’ve been looking at heroes in the bible, men who were common men with an uncommon calling. Who were called by God, who were willing to lay their lives on the line to serve him. They set the ultimate example to us in what it means to be a true believer in Christ.
The purpose behind this series is because I was so tired of watching people fall in love with these fake “heroes” on tv and in movies and books. The world makes a hero someone that is so incredibly special that it is only the select few that could reach that level. And we sit in theaters and in our couches spending our lives saying, “man I wish I could do that, I would love to be famous, to have those talents, if I were this or I could do that…” Maybe some of you have grown up living your life having to hear that you aren’t good enough, your not smart enough, your not strong enough, you’ll never amount to anything. It didn’t have to happen to you as a child, you may hear that today from your husband or your wife or your boss or your mother or mother-in-law.
But God says I will show you how to be a true hero. The last two weeks we have looked at 2 perfectly ordinary men that no one would give a second glance to and see how God took them and their faith and did absolutely incredible things in their life. Abraham was the hero of sacrifice, willing to sacrifice his own son to obey God. David was the hero of courage, willing to face the giant in order to stand firm for His lord and people. They are examples to us to live our lives for God without compromise. This week we are looking at Noah, who is the hero of perseverance.
Perseverance means to persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement. (Webster’s Dictionary)
That right there sums up Noah’s life, it sums up a Christians life. To be a spiritual hero in Christ, to be the spiritual giant God lovingly calls, commands, challenges us to be we must learn to persevere, to stay on task, to remain constant in the face of obstacles and discouragement. And as your pastor I cannot teach you perseverance by teaching health, wealth and prosperity doctrine. I cannot teach you perseverance by telling you to just love God and be nice to everyone and everything will be okay. I cannot teach you perseverance by saying that God loves you just the way you are and he doesn’t want you to change. I cannot teach you perseverance without bringing you God’s Truth.
Can I bring you God’s Truth this morning!?
God’s Truth says, perseverance brings pain. God’s truth says perseverance brings struggle, God’s Truth says perseverance brings hardship, perseverance brings lonliness, perseverance brings heartache, but if you stick with it, if you die to yourself, if you rely on the creator instead of the created perseverance also brings character, love, growth, grace, patience, forgiveness, joy, peace, gentleness, and eternal reward in heaven.
My favorite book in God’s love letter to us is the book of James and one of my favorite passages is in the first chapter. It says, “3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
So today I want to look at how to persevere. Noah is not the only example but he is the one we are looking at today as an example on how to persevere, not how to take away. Its not about God solving all our problems and taking them away the moment they happen. There is no growth in that, there’s no faith in that, there’s power in that, but how to persevere with faith so that God can make us complete and mature, mature being sanctified in his spirit.
HOW TO PERSEVERE
1. Be DIFFERENT than the crowd
Noah found favor with the LORD. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him.Genesis 6:8-9b
God is angry at the world. Vs. 5Now the LORD observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. 6So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. 7And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them."
God has created man but man has failed him. The fall of Adam and Eve has brought sin into life. Man populated the planet but had become wicked in God’s eyes so God decided to begin again. He was going to cleanse the earth. God is hurt, it pains him that his own creation has failed. But there is one man amongst all men in the entire world that God saw as different. Noah was different. Not different in the sense that he was weird, who knows he may have been, but different in the sense that he was faithful in a faithless world.
When you and I believe in Christ we are saying God transform me from being like the world to being like you. I told the youth Wednesday night in the sermon series I am doing there that if you want to be radical, if you want to be different, than follow God. Follow Jesus. Because those that follow Christ in their lives are the ones that live in the minority. The ones that truly follow Christ are the ones that when you look at them, when you are around them you sense something different. They talk different, they act different, they think different. But they are infectious to be around.
When you are different in the godly sense than you will become the light that Christ talked about in Matthew 5.
Noah was different like this. The scripture says that all the world was consistently and totally evil, but then is it says that Noah consistently walked with and obeyed God. He was consumed by God. The bible doesn’t say he was consumed by God, but I have to assume he was radically different because in all the world, of all the people God chooses him. And the scripture says he consistently followed God.
That right there would make him different. So many people want to follow God only when it’s right for them. If God is leading them in a direction they don’t want to go than they fight. They become a child and begin to complain and whine. Or maybe they don’t complain out loud but if they just don’t like what God is doing they won’t do it or they’ll do it another way. They let their emotions control them. They aren’t consistent in their following of God.
Examples of this….
*Israelites wondering the desert- God provided for them but they whined and complained they were tired of the food, tired of wondering
*Moses striking the rock- God told Moses to get water out of the rock by speaking to but in his anger against the people. Moses struck the rock with his staff and disobeyed God
*Peter denying Christ- Peter was always putting his foot in his mouth saying he wouldn’t fail God, he would follow God with everything in him, but when that time came he denied God.
Dare to be different than the person next to you. Noah was different because he consistently walked and obeyed God, meaning he was in constant communion with God. When we learn to be consistently walking with God we will learn the second part how to persevere…
2. Be RIGHTEOUS because of Christ
Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time… Finally, the day came when the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.” Genesis 6:9a, 7:1
But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work. Romans 4:5
But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11
I may only be 25 and didn’t grow up when the Pilgrim Holiness Church was around. I have grown up in the cd, dvd, ipod, xbox generation, but can I be different this morning. Can I be a little bit different and say a word that so many pastors are scared to say today? They’re scared to say it because this word they are afraid will scare off their multitudes of people they worked so hard to get into their building. Holiness, righteousness, sanctification. Many don’t get it. In this life of big mega churches, fancy programs, people’s desire for instant and quick everything, lack of patience, business. we have lost touch with this word. We’ve lost touch with why we do what we do. But this is my heart’s cry. And if you wondering if you really want to be a part of Warrenton Wesleyan Church or not than hopefully what I am about to say will help you decide. This is my desire for you as your pastor. This is why I am here. To learn to be righteous because of Christ. This is why you should want and long to be here each and every week, and to long to be apart of a impact group. To learn to be righteous. To learn to be….holy.(many don’t teach this today) Righteous literally means to be set apart, to be different. When you grow with Christ you will be set apart and you will be different.
I am not talking about a self righteous. Self-righteous is to believe that you alone are great, correct, morally superior. The Pharisees of Christ day were self-righteous leaders. They prided themselves in their laws and how people saw them as these great holy men that loved God, but in reality they only loved themselves. They only worried about themselves and their precious laws they worked so hard to follow. Jesus calls them out. He calls them fakes. He calls them white washed tombs that looked clean on the outside but on the inside they wreaked of filth and garbage.
Noah was righteous meaning his ways of thinking, feeling, and acting was wholly conformed to the will of God
To learn pure, godly righteous is to be sanctified, it is to be holy as God is holy. I Peter 1: 15 says, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
You cannot be a child of God and be self-righteous, you cannot learn how to persevere without God’s holiness, God’s holy spirit filling us up to the brim. And you can’t feel God’s presence fill you to the brim without working towards godly righteousness, holiness. Be righteous, be set apart, be different. And I love what I Peter says when it says you must be holy in everything you do. We try and justify so much of what we think and watch on tv and in movies. We try to pon things off as just entertainment, but scripture says to be holy in everything we do. To be consumed by God.
Don’t wait to feel conviction. To be and live with righteousness, holiness means I don’t do certain things because 1. it in no way will bring glory to god, 2. it only can hurt me spiritually, 3. it may cause my brother or sister to stumble. Noah was righteous and holy in everything he did. He could persevere through trials, hardships because he was consumed by God. He was able to resist the evils of the world when no one else could.
(Quote) 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 (unknown)
It’s easy to put on a show, it’s easy to be religious when you are surrounded by religious people. It’s easy to be bold for Christ when your sitting in your church chair, but the righteous person, the set apart person, the person that is striving to be holy because God is holy is the one that has faith to swim against the stream. To dare to be different, to be righteous because of Christ. That was Noah, he lived in a world consumed by evil yet he remained faithful and righteous through it all.
So like I said I can help you decide if you want to be here or not because as long as God gives me air to breath and a tongue to preach I will preach holiness. I will push righteousness in my own life and in yours. If you desire to truly grow in Christ then stick around, make changes in your life to reflect that. How can I learn to persevere? Be different, be righteous…
3. Be FAITHFUL when it’s tough
"Make a boat from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat-- bottom, middle, and upper-- and put a door in the side.” Genesis 6:14-1
I want you to imagine what Noah had to go through
*God tells Noah he is displeased with man’s depravity
*The earth is going to be destroyed, Noah is to build a big giant boat, he gives him instruction how to build it, what materials to use, he tells him what animals to take, and what people can go with him
*But you got to feel sorry for him. I can imagine that this time in his life would be a test of his faith. I can imagine people seeing Noah begin to build this huge monstrosity of a ship that is equal to 4 football fields in length and laugh at him. They probably came by every day to make fun of crazy Noah who is building this huge boat.
(speculation) *He may have taken a lot of ridicule. Maybe even his family argued with him we don’t know. But I can imagine how it would have been embarrassing for the family to get ridiculed all the time.
*But noah loved God and no matter how crazy or ridiculous this may have all sounded, noah didn’t hesitate to believe and follow God.
When we live for God he is going to ask us to do things that just don’t make sense. And when we obey him we may be ridiculed, we may be insulted. People may call us crazy, our family may be ashamed to claim us, but our lives cannot be spent worrying about what other people think, we have to be focused on pleasing God.
Noah didn’t build the ark in a couple of months either. It took Noah 100 years to finish his ark. 100 years of ridicule, insults, of being called crazy, 100 years of faithfully trusting that when it was done a flood really would come. Can you imagine the nights he would be finished working for the day and how he probably would second guess himself. Did he really hear God? Was he going crazy? But he stayed faithful. God ask us to stay faithful and persevere through the long haul. Our suffering only last a short time, our reward for perseverance and obedience last for eternity.
(ILL) The communist torturers came towards Pastor Florescu again, this time with red hot pokers. “Who else believes as you do? Give us their names.” Florescu would not speak. They had already cut him again and again with knives and beaten him badly. When he refused to cooperate, he was returned to his cell. Starving rats were then driven into his cell through a large pipe. He could not sleep, having to defend himself at all times. If he rested a moment, the rats would attack him. He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and night. The Communists kept asking him to betray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly.
In the end, they brought his fourteen year old son and began to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they would continue to beat him until the pastor told them what they wanted to know. The poor man was half crazy. He bore it as long as he could. But when he could stand it no more, he cried to his son, “Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beatings anymore!” The son answered, “Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, ‘Jesus and my fatherland.’” This enraged the Communists. They grabbed the young man and beat him to death, his blood splattering over the walls and cell. He died praising God.(Jesus Freaks book)
Be different, be righteous, be faithful…
4. Be PATIENT even when your ready to jump ship.
Noah wasn’t on this boat just for 40 days and 40 nights. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Noah and his family were on this boat for much longer than that. Genesis 8 says the boat finally came to rest on Ararat after 150 days, then they sat there for another 60 days waiting for the water to recede. After another 40 days he opens the window and releases a raven and a dove to see if there is dry ground. But the dove couldn’t find a place to land so it came back. Noah waited another 7 days and released the dove again this time it brough back a leaf. Then he waited another 7 days and it didn’t come back. In total Noah and his family were on this boat for 380 days.
I don’t about you but I would have been impatient. I would have been ready to get off that ship. Get away from those animals. But if Noah and his family would have jumped ship to quickly they would have died. They have been stuck on a huge mountain, or drowned. Instead they waited for God to tell them when to leave.
So many times we are sooo impatient. We don’t want to wait for God’s timing. We don’t want to go through suffering. We want what we want now, right now. But this race to live for God and learn to persevere doesn’t happen overnight. It is a lifelong journey. When you give your life over to the lord part of learning to persevere and trust God is learning to wait on him.
Don’t be in such a hurry to jump ship, to get an answer, because if it’s not God’s will you will fail. God knows exactly the right time to tell you to get off the ship. Be patient and trust in him.
5. Be PERSISTANT even when you fail
After the Flood, Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. One day he became drunk on some wine he had made and lay naked in his tent. Genesis 9:20-21
Noah was seen as righteous in God’s eyes but even he was human. He was not perfect. Here he is given over to drunkenness. He sins. None of us are perfect. We will all fail. Romans 3:23 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” It is not a question of will we fail, but when you fail the question is will you get back up? Be persistent. Don’t give up. Don’t quit on God because he refuses to quit on you.
Don’t let people tear you down. Don’t let the problems in life that come along make you quit. Keep fighting, be persistent. And know that you don’t have to do it alone. You have God right there with you and you have your spiritual family. I push all the time that we should be a family. We should be giving to those that have need. We should be holding each other accountable for what we do, we should be encouraging one another, helping one another, loving one another. We should be persistant to keep fighting the fight and running the race and we should keep doing it together. If you try to do it alone you will fail, but together we will win for God’s glory.
(ILL) When I think of persistence I think of Dr. David Livingston. I am extremely proud to say that I am a direct descendent of the famous African Missionary. Dr. Livingston walked over 29,000 miles. His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethern. He ministered half blind. His kind of perseverance and persistence to share Christ spurs me on. As I run, I remember the words in his diary: Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.
One last thought:
For Noah: God was pleased and gave him a promise. (Genesis 9:12-15)
And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life.” Genesis 9:12-15
For me: God is pleased with faith and offers a PEACE-FILLED journey.
Hebrews 12:11 says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Question: Are you ready to put YOUR FAITH in the journey?
How do you persevere? How do you become a spiritual hero. Be different than the crowd, be righteous because of Christ, be faithful when it’s tough, be patient even when your ready to jump ship, be persistent even when you fail.
Sacrifice, Courage, Perseverence.
