Where Do I Find Help This Coming Year? – A Look At Noah, A Wise Builder
INTRO: We are going to continue on for our theme…Where Do I Find Help This Coming Year?
I have talked about friendship and how it can help our lives. I have spent time on Daniel’s faithfulness. Then I looked at teamwork and Joshua. Next I spent time looking at David and our pursuing God. Then we spent time looking at our obedience to the Lord. I then looked at Jacob’s life and how love changed him. Next we looked at Joseph and how forgiveness saved him. I looked at Gideon and his willingness to do battle for the Lord. I looked at Barnabus the Encourager, and then last week I looked at Job and patience.
Today I want to look at Noah. Who doesn’t know about Noah and the Ark. Two by two of the animals (actually some clean animals there were more pairs – by sevens). The rain, the flood, the dove… Yeah we all pretty much now it. I want to look at Noah
I have been sharing the meaning of the characters I have been preaching about each week.
Noah – Rest. Noah had three sons: Shem (Renown or Name), Japheth (Beauty, or He That Persuades) and Ham (Hot or Dark – Hot in Hebrew and Dark in Egyptian).
The reason I mention them, is that it wasn’t Noah Ship Building Co. L.L.C. It was Noah & Sons, Inc. The story is about more than just Noah. It includes his sons and families as well.
Let’s begin reading the 6th chapter of Genesis
Genesis 6:1 KJV 1And it
came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and
daughters were born unto them,
2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were
fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for
that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty
years.
4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that,
when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children
to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of
renown.
5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it
grieved him at his heart.
7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the
face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls
of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and
perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled
with violence.
12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for
all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me;
for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy
them with the earth.
14Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of:
The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it
fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with
lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and
every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort
shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall
be male and female.
20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort
shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt
gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
In the face of oppressors (giants maybe 9-10 feet tall) – Gen. 6:4
In the face of evil doings and people – Gen. 6:5
Bright is the dimmest of light in darkness
May our lights be bright
In the face of family – Gen. 6:10
Not just one-sided
With God – 6:8; 6:18
Billy Sunday – who was a great baseball player in the 1880’s, started preaching revivals. A fiery deliverer, he was well liked and successful. His three sons, however were disappointments. In fact when asked if he would have done anything different in life, he mentioned that he would spend more time with them, winning his family to the Lord. Here was a man that had won countless people to the Lord and he bemoaned his relationship with his family.
Nevertheless, even as the crowds declined during the last fifteen years of his life, Sunday soldiered on, accepting preaching invitations and speaking with effect. In early 1935, he had a mild heart attack, and his doctor advised him to stay out of the pulpit. Sunday ignored the advice. He died on November 6, a week after preaching his last sermon on the text "What must I do to be saved?" - Wikipedia
He, like Noah was building something more important than he was.
Noah built a rescue for needy souls
Interesting that the Ark was six times longer than wide – the same ratio used today in our big ships. Noah must have known something (God was the resource).
He had a limited time to serve – 6:3
Whatever, we only have a short time to work on the rescue of our loved ones
Are you using you time wisely?
Are you building the kind of relationship that will help bring your child to Christ?
Are your family members more important that your hobbies, work, etc.?
Evil was rampant – 6:5
I am not sure we can totally imaging how evil things had become.
Today, we see more and more evil and forgetting God in our society.
Matthew
24:37-38 KJV 37But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into
the ark,
I do not care how much people like to ignore God
I do not care how many times they wish to explain Him away
OUR NATION WAS FOUNDED BY MEN AND WOMEN WHO KNEW OR AT LEAST ACKOWLEDGE GOD OUR CREATOR!!!!!
Not only was his time small, evil huge, but…
Hope was small and hidden for others– 6:13
1 Peter 3:20 KJV Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
For many today…
Hope is in their job
Hope is in their possessions
Hope is in their government
Hope is in their knowledge or degree
Hope is in their church, minister or priest
Where is your hope today?
Genesis 7:5-13 KJV 5And Noah
did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters
was upon the earth.
7And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives
with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of
fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the
female, as God had commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood
were upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great
deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth,
the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them,
into the ark;
Genesis 8:1-2 KJV 1And God
remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was
with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters
asswaged;
2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Genesis 8:20-22 KJV 20And Noah
builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every
clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the
imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again
smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 9:1 KJV 1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Answered God’s call – 7:1
Hebrews 11:7 KJV 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; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Continued his obedient ways – 7:6
Proved God’s caring is real – 8:1
Worshiped God with sincerity – 8:20
Helped bring blessings to those he touched – 9:1
Genesis 9:8-17 KJV 8And God
spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed
after you;
10And with every living creature that is with you, of the
fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go
out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh
be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth.
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I
make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for
perpetual generations:
13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth.
14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and
you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become
a flood to destroy all flesh.
16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I
may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of
all flesh that is upon the earth.
17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant,
which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the
earth.
Noah Built remembrance for those who will remember
We see a…
Godly covenant – 9:8
Memories to recall – 9:12-14
Noah was not perfect…
He was obedient to God
He was consistent in his life
He was persistent in his faith
2 Peter 2:5 KJV And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
What are you building in life?
Wood?
Brick?
Metal?
Money?
Should you be building the things that are important in life?
That is the things of God.
His love and His care – His Son.
Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 032209am