The Days Of Noah - A Positive Approach

The Days of Noah - A Positive Approach

This is a two part message. In this first part we will look at the positive side of how it was in the Days of Noah, and in part 2 we will talk about the negative and relate it to the man of lawlessness found in the New Testament.

I want to begin by observing how this verse is usually incorrectly used. Most sermons I have heard on it, take the phrase, "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man:" they then go on to talk about all the things the passage doesn't talk about. The murder rate, the rampant immorality, the stiff necked people who wouldn't repent, the mockers, and so on, you get the idea. But in context the passage simply states judgment came when one day seemed as normal as another, and they were all caught unaware and were destroyed.

Here is the passage and you can read it for yourself:

Luke 17:26 "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man:

Luke 17:27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:28 "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

Luke 17:29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:30 "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

I think there is a legitimate place for what these preachers have done with the passage, because most of the things they talk about Noah's generation are very true and that is why God judged them. With that as a back drop, I want to flip this sermon around and talk about another aspect of how it was in the days of Noah. I want to use Noah as an example of the last days church.

I see two main groups in the last days, the hot and the cold. God is destroying the middle ground. He hates people living in the middle, neither cold nor hot. You will read in several places in the NT about what happens to worldly people in the last days, they are given over to a reprobate mind, evil men will wax worse and worse, God will send them strong delusion, the antichrist performs lying wonders and they believe them. I could go on, but just grasp this fact in the last days whatever direction you are leaning in God wants to emphasize it. If you are hot He wants you hotter, if you are cold you will get colder, (unless you repent!).

So let's talk about the hot in the last days, and use Noah as a pattern and example.

Ge 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (KJV)

Ge 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (NAS)

So on the one hand we can lay out all the evil and sins of the rest of Noah's generation but it is important we note the sterling quality of Noah's faith as he lived among this evil generation.

A just man, perfect in his generations, Noah walked with God.

A righteous man, blameless in his time, Noah walked with God.

I have a couple NT references that shed light and this truth and my hope is that they energize your faith to believe for special grace in a dark time.

Mt 13:30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'

This text is from a portion of scripture where workers are trying to decide what to do with the tares, and Jesus relates it to the end time harvest and advises his harvesters to wait so that no wheat is inadvertently lost.

"Allow both to grow together," both the wheat and the tares mature. At the end of the age it will be easily apparent what is a wheat and what is a tare. There is a maturing that will have taken place. The wheat will be easily discerned, the difference between wheat and chaff will be distinguishable in a way that is has never been before in the growing process. The wheat will no longer resemble tares and the tares will no longer resemble wheat. A transformation and maturing has taken place. Most Christians focus on grown up tares and miss the awesome truth that the last days church is vibrant, victorious, fully ripened!