Reaping The Harvest - Lessons From Noah

Did you hear the story about the little girl sitting on her grandfather’s lap. He was reading the Bible story of Noah’s Ark to her. And in her innocence she asked, “Granddad, Were you in the Ark?” “Why, no I wasn’t.” Said the granddad - And she looked at him and said - “Then why weren’t you drowned?” she asked.

Let me ask a question - how many of you actually believe the story of Noah and the Ark?

I think most people will have learnt the story as a child either in Sunday School or in School Assembly. And because of that, there is a danger that we file it away inside our heads under the category ‘Childhood fairytales’ alongside Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and the Wizard of Oz….

I am a 52 year old man, I’ve been a Christian for 45 years! I work amongst some of the toughest guys in the country, and I have ministered in the middle of war zones…. But do you know what - I believe in the story of Noah and the Ark. And I believe it for a couple of reasons.

1. Did you know that there are over 270 different cultures around the world that have ancient stories about a great flood, and they all tell pretty much the same story:

* Man became corrupt

* The Flood was worldwide

* Eight people survived the flood

* Representatives of all land animals were saved

* A dove was released to find dry land

* The survivors came down from a mountain to repopulate the whole world

* And the hero's name is often a variant of Noah: Nu-u; Nu-Wah; Noh, Nos; and Nuh

And historians have a rule they follow when they encounter stories that are repeated across a number of different cultures and which seem to agree on so much. If there are these many facts that agree... then the story is probably true! Or based on truth.

2. But more than that – it’s in the Bible! Not only is it a story in the Old Testament, but it’s in the New Testament as well!

? The writer of Hebrews talks about it! ‘By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.’ Heb 11:7

? The Apostle Peter talks about it, ‘For if God… did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.’ 2 Peter 2:4

? And of course, Jesus himself mentions it, ‘ And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.’ Luke 17:26

Mankind had become unbelievably evil... There was no kindness in these people. There was no compassion. They couldn't even THINK clean thoughts. Unless they could hurt someone, or gain advantage over someone, or they could tell a foul joke or make an obscene gesture... they just weren't happy.

Life was cheap and honor was despised. Morality was not to be tolerated - it made too many people uncomfortable. After all, who appointed YOU to be judge over me? Who made YOU God with the right to say what was is good and what is bad?

And humanity had become so wicked, it was so evil, it was so deprived, that God was grieved and filled with pain and decided to send a flood to destroy all of mankind. But - in a world that was unbelievably evil... there was one man who was unquestionably righteous. His name was Noah. Genesis 6:8 says "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."

What was it that made Noah so righteous? What was it that made him so different from everybody else?

I believe over the last few weeks you’ve been looking at the theme ‘Reaping the Harvest’, and the key verse for us today from the story of Noah is Genesis 8:22. Noah and his family have just got off the Ark and God declares ‘“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Of course, this principle of “seedtime and harvest” applies to the earth, it applies to trees and to plants and to crops etc; but it can also apply to other areas our lives as well.