From Ordinary to Extraordinary - Week 2
(Noah: the Man with Perseverance)
Dr. Rik B. Wadge
Opening Story:
+It was one of the darkest nights, which the little town of Salem had ever experienced. +The darkness beckoned to the enemies of all that is good... to come. +Salem as of late, had been experiencing evil as never before. If it were not for all this having been confirmed by the most highly +respected Rev. Cotton Mather, one would never have believed that such occurrences could ever have taken place. Let me give just a short example of what those days in Salem were like. I’ll retell them from Cotton Mathers’ diary, dated 1689:
+"In the night, a man named Morse was pulled by the hair and pinched and scratched. He was also hit until he bled from parts of his body. A little boy was the principal sufferer of these horrors, for he was flung about at such a rate, they feared that his brains would be beaten out. All the knives which belonged to the house were one after another stuck into the little boy’s back, and many times the boy would be thrown into the fire. There were occasions when they could actually see this shadowy figure strike the boy, but they couldn’t catch hold of it."
+These events in the history of America, remind me of the time in which +Noah lived. The earth was destroyed because of man’s wickedness.
Genesis Ch. 6:1-8
+"The Moral Climate"
“When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, {2} the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. {3} Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." +{4} The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. {5} The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. +{6} The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. {7} So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." +{8} But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
Notice:
+vs. 2 says "the sons of God, .... the daughters of men" +Alexandrian translation reads “Angels” for sons of God.
+vs. 2 says "they married any one they chose..."
+vs. 3 says that God was "contending" with the people then. This means “to plead (the cause) with someone.”
vs. 4 a race of people (giants) called +"Nephilim". They show up again in Numbers 13:32-33 (NIV) +"… They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. {33} We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."”
Were there such beings as the Nephilim, the Bible says Yes! The Rabbis indicate a number of ancient legends about these giants… who or what were they… we really don’t know for sure, but they may have left a mark for us to explore.
Just outside of Fort Worth Texas, lies the Paluxy river with some strange imprints left during the time of the dinosaur.
+ could these be the footprints of Nephilim?
+ These prints are 19 to 24” in length and were etched in stone at the same time that the dinosaurs walked the earth…. Who were these people?????
If these were the same race of giants....
Gen. 6:5, 6 suggests that these people were so bad, so evil, that it caused God pain.
Though there have been horrible, godless times on the earth, God hasn’t destroyed it because of the wickedness. +Genghis Khan of the twelfth Century, who with 60,000 warriors destroyed everything in His path. To this day there is no parallel in all of history. They conquered all of eastern Asia, all of Central Asia, India, Persia, the Near East, and Russia. Never since has so much of the earth’s surface been ruled by one nation.
+WWII Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. Where more than 6 million Jews were brutally murdered because of a nation’s prejudice. More Christians have been martyred in this century than in all previous 19 centuries combined. +Yet, the time when Noah lived was the most horrible period in the history of the human race.
yet...+vs. 8 Noah found grace in God’s eyes.
"God’s Man"
Look at the characteristics of Noah’s life:
+Ch. 6:9: "righteous, blameless, walked with God." (morally impeachable)
characteristics of Noah’s life:
1. +Noah walked with God in spite of surrounding wickedness. (Gen. 6:8-12)
2. +Noah was obedient when appointed to a difficult task (Gen. 6:14-21; 7:5)
3. +Noah was remembered by God and delivered from death (Gen. 8:1)
4. +Noah was known for his faith. (Heb. 11:7)
(Heb 11:7 NIV) "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."
5. +Noah warned his neighbors of impending judgment. (II Peter 2:5)
+ (2 Pet 2:5 NIV) "if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;"
There was total Moral Darkness / Noah alone became a preacher to those who were lost.
These were dark times.
Quote:
+Dostoevsky reminded us that "if God does not exist, everything is permissible."
6. +Noah was honored by God with an everlasting covenant (Gen. 9:12-17) (the rainbow)
It took Noah +120 years to build the ark.
+The Ark was 450-525 ft. long 1-1/2 football fields in length.
It was the equivalent of a +4 story building in height.
And it was 75-87 ft. wide. About the total width of both sides of a modern day +super- hiway.
Noah was up against ridicule, ungodliness, against all of humanity… for all that +time.
+Little Known Facts about Noah:
It was in a stadium in Noah’s hometown that the people did the +first wave.
+He never sank under public opinion.
+But, he did experience a flood of emotions.
Noah persevered in the midst of adversity, in the midst of wickedness, in the midst of the most horrible of all situations he stood firm in his relationship with God.
The Bible on +perseverance:
(Rom 12:2 NIV) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
+ (1 Cor 10:13 NIV) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
+ (Eph 6:13-14 NIV) Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. {14} Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
+ (1 Cor 15:58 NIV) Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
+ (Gal 5:1 NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Conclusion:
Noah was a great man, but +Noah wasn’t perfect.
In Gen. 9:20ff it tells us that Noah become drunk with wine. “Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. {21} When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.”
The writer of the book of Genesis wants us as well to see a deeper meaning in the text. When you compare the fall of Noah in chapter 9, with the fall of Adam and Eve in chapter 2-3, +you see something significant.
It starts off with the word “planted” In Chapter 9. It’s the same word for planted in Genesis chapter 2. In chapter 2 +God planted a garden. In chapter 9 +Noah planted a vineyard. In chapter 3 Adam and Eve +eat from the tree. In chapter 9 Noah +eats the fruit, , Adam and Eve +sin. In chapter 9 +Noah sins. Adam and Eve + realize their naked. In chapter 9 +Noah becomes naked. In chapter 3 Adam and Eve +clothed by God. In chapter 9 Noah is +clothed by his 2 sons.
DejaVu! The Point? Even in a perfect world man will mess things up. God knew that Noah would end up blowing it, but he still chose to use him. God knows you’ll blow it, but He still chose you. You’ll make mistakes… but God has a rainbow just around the corner!!!
What does the future hold for humanity?
Jesus said that the setting in which Noah lived characterized how the culture would be at his second coming.
+Jesus said in (Mat 24:37-42 NIV) "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. {38} For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; {39} and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. +{40} Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. {41} Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. {42} "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."
+ (James 5:8 NIV) You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Noah was known for his perseverance…+What will you be known for?
