The First Church Of Noah

THE FIRST CHURCH OF NOAH

1 Pet. 3:20-21

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. I heard about this elderly couple. They were having a terrible time with their memory. They went to the doctor. He instructed them to start writing down everything they were doing so they wouldn’t forget.

2. The next night, they were watching television and the wife said, “I sure would like a bowl of ice cream.” The husband said, “I’ll go get it for you.”

3. The wife said, “Honey, you know what the doctor said, you better write it down.” He said, “I’m just going in the kitchen. I’m not going to forget.”

4. He came back a few minutes later, handed her a plate of bacon and eggs. She shook her head and said, “I should have known it. You forgot my toast.”

B. THESIS

1. Today, first we compare Noah’s Ark to modern churches and then observe 7 details about the Ark which are revelations about the Church of Jesus Christ and our salvation.

2. The title of this message is “The First Church of Noah.”

I. COMPARISON OF OUR CHURCH TO NOAH’S

A. CONVERTS

1. Noah preached (2 Pet. 2:5) for 100 (Gen. 5:32; 7:6) years but never had any converts except for his own family members. His church had no children’s department and their membership never increased.

2. There were, however, many salvations at the First Church of Noah but they were all animals, whom he saved from the flood. So in the sight of people of his time, Noah was not a very successful preacher, but in the sight of God Noah was the hero of that generation (Heb. 11:7).

3. There were a lot more people protesting outside Noah’s church than there were inside it. They mocked and scoffed at Noah’s church (2 Pet. 3:3-6). They undoubtedly thought he was crazy. Who else would build a giant boat that far from water? Noah had to learn not to listen to his critics, but just do his job. Good lesson for us!

B. BUILDING PROGRAM

1. The First Church of Noah DID have a building project, but it wasn’t a church building or a gymnasium – but a big boat. The purpose of this boat was to escape from judgment.

2. Noah depended on his church to save him. WE would probably be better off if we took a more definite view of the supreme value of our church!

3. Noah was a “works-salvation” type guy. Today the “grace-only” crowd would say he’s a heretic; that his works could not save him, yet his works did.

C. MOTIVE

1. The modern church would consider Noah’s motive for building the Ark to be a bad one. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, MOVED WITH FEAR, prepared an ark to the saving of his house...”

2. According to this verse, he was motivated by fear. Today that’s considered a twisted motive. We’re supposed to be motivated by love. John said, “There is no fear in love,” 1 John 4:8. But God didn’t mind that Noah was motivated by fear because Noah obeyed God, when everyone else in his generation didn’t. God counted his obedience as faith – Noah believed what God had said.

3. Fearing the Lord isn’t a bad thing, it’s the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10). A lot of people who say they love God, don’t obey Him. It might be better if they feared Him! They might get out and get doing what Jesus told them to do – to work for the kingdom and the salvation of souls.

II. 7 PARALLELS BETWEEN NOAH’S ARK AND JESUS’ CHURCH

For centuries Christians have drawn the analogy that the Church is like a ship. They’ve sung, “I’m going to take a trip, on the good ole Gospel Ship.”

The Early Church Fathers saw the Ark as a type of the Church. Just as the ark was the means by which Noah and his relatives were spared destruction, so also the Church is the instrument by which Christians are saved from judgment.

Here are 7 parallels between Noah’s Ark and the Church of Jesus Christ:

1. WOOD AND WATER

1). Comparing the words of 1 Peter 3:20-21, the ark parallels the primary means of salvation in the New Testament—the WOOD of the cross and the WATERS of baptism by which sin is washed away.

2). “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the [wood] ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God” 1 Pet. 3:20-21. Thank God for the wood of the Cross & the waters of baptism! (See St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, Book XII)