The Story of Noah and His Times

Introduction

Please be seated. Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to invite you, if you will, to open actually in your Old Testament to Genesis chapter 4 as a beginning place. That’s not what it says up on the screen, but we’re going to start a little bit early in Genesis chapter 4 in just a moment.

Glad you’re here. this morning. You know, the story of Noah is one of the most popular stories in all the Bible. It’s one of those stories that many people can remember hearing even from childhood.

And so, it’s not hard to to find children’s books or toys based on this story or even household decorations that have to do with Noah and his ark full of animals. People like Noah. But it’s possible for us to turn the story of Noah into nothing more than kind of a, you know, a biblical old McDonald’s farm if we’re not careful. You know, just kind of a neat story about a guy and some animals.

But the story of Noah actually provides us with a number of practical lessons. It’s not just a story. It was written, as was the entirety of scripture for our instruction. And it deals with the concept of God’s kindness and his severity.

1. Noah and His Times

It’s a story about God’s salvation and also his judgment. It’s a story, it seems to me, that can provide encouragement to people who live in difficult times, ungodly times. And so, as we begin this morning, I want us to to first talk for a little bit about Noah and his times. And Noah lived in the midst of an ungodly world.

And that’s not much of a surprise. We understand that’s why God chose to destroy the world at that time. But something we need to recognize and talk about a little bit to kind of set the stage for what’s going on. The story of Noah and the flood is built upon what is contained here in Genesis chapter 4 and chapter 5.

And in these chapters, we’re introduced to some of the the children of Adam and Eve. We read about Cain and we read about Abel and we read about Seth. They had other sons and daughters. We’re told in Genesis 5 and verse4, but nothing’s really said about them in the scriptures.

And for the purposes of our study this morning, Abel’s not really all that significant either. He was apparently m murdered before he h ever had children. And as we’ll see in just a moment, that’s why he’s not significant for our purposes uh as we study today. Cain and Seth are the important figures in our study this morning.

If you were here yesterday and got to go through the lessons that Brother Jeff Wilson taught, he he talked about two lines, two lineages, one godly and one not. And that’s where these two lineages come from. One from Cain, one from Seth. And so Cain was an ungodly person.

He committed the first murder in human history. He killed his brother Abel. The Lord punished him for that as a result of what he did. We’re told here in Genesis 4 and verse 12, uh, that the Lord said to him that he would be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

And of course, that’s exactly what happened. We’re told in verse 16 of chapter 4 that Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of a east of Eden. That word nod just means wandering. So Cain went out to dwell in the land of wandering.

And the fact that Cain moved away from the presence of the Lord had a tremendous impact not only on Cain himself, but also on his descendants after him. The descendants of Cain turned out to be even worse than he was. And so you read as you get uh a little bit down in chapter 4 down to verse 18, we read about Lamech, who was Cain’s great great great grandson. In verse 18 of chapter 4 says, “To Enoch was born Irad and Irad fathered Mahujael and Mhujael fathered Methusel and Methusael fathered Lamech.

And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Ada and the name of the other was Zilla.” And I want you to look at what Lamech says to them down in verse 23. Ada and Zilla hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.

Listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for strike. He’s boasting about this is what he’s doing here. He thinks he’s something.

And so that’s one of the lines that we’re going to talk about. The other son of Adam and Eve that we’re told about in the book of Genesis is Seth. And whereas the descendants of Cain were responsible for a lot of evil, the descendants of Seth were responsible for some good, at least for a time. And so go down to verse 25.

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. To Seth also a son was born.” And he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

So, they’re serving the Lord here. And we can see the good influence of Seth’s descendants in men like Enoch. We read about him in the book of Genesis also. But I want you to notice what is said about Enoch in the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament.

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him.” And now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. It’s the kind of life that he lived. Enoch was a good man.

And so our lesson this morning is primarily about another one of Seth’s righteous descendants. Noah was another good man. He was a righteous man who was descended from Seth. And we’re told about him in chapter 6 and verse eight that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

That’s one thing that’s said about him. And when we get into chapter 6 of Genesis, we find that the rest of mankind had become corrupt. You look at verse 5, it says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” You couldn’t describe that in a way uh as to to highlight the depravity of the world at that time any better.

Then a few verses later we read in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 6 that the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and the earth was filled with violence and God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for [snorts] all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Everybody have you ever wondered how that happened? I mean how did we get to that point? I mean, we know that Cain’s descendants were evil.

I mean, we see that from the from the beginning and the picture that’s painted for us. But what happened to these other guys? What happened to the descendants of Seth? I think we’re told about that in verses 1 and two of chapter 6.

It says this. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. That seems, you know, innocent enough, but not everyone agrees about who the sons of God are in this passage. But I think that, you know, there’s one more than one possibility.

But I’m inclined to think that the sons of God here are those descendants of Seth. those who had called upon the name of the Lord, those who were seeking to do what’s right. And the daughters of men here, not just, you know, any any, you know, females, they are the women who were born to and also influenced by Cain’s ungodly descendants. And so, we’re talking here about people who were not spiritually minded.

They were not spiritually minded women. And they were women whose spirituality suffered because their forefather went out from the presence of the Lord. In other words, what we have in this is that the descendants of ste Seth start making bad decisions and they marry carnally-minded women and eventually they too become corrupt. A and and things became so bad that the Lord is sorry that he even made mankind and even determined that he’s going to wipe them out.

And so in verses six and seven of chapter 6, the Lord regretted that he made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. And so the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. For I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah’s different from everybody else.

As I pointed out a moment ago, he found favor in the eyes of the Lord. It says in verse eight, he’s not like everybody else. The Lord even said of him in chapter 7 and verse one. I’ve seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

Which is why I put that word up on the screen. I can see that you alone are righteous. One translation puts it. And so it was a bad time in the history of the world, but Noah Noah was a righteous man all the same.

And so when the Lord decided to destroy the world because of its wickedness, because it was so rampant, he also decided to save the human race through Noah. He told Noah about his plans to destroy the world. He gave him instructions about what he needed to do in order to save himself in order to save his household. And we read about those here in chapter 6 and verses 13 and 14 that God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.

Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an an ark of gopherwood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch.” He says then in verse 17, “Behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, and which is the breath of life under heaven.

Everything that is on the earth shall die, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons wives with you,” he tells him. And I want you to notice what is said in verse 22. It says, “Noah did this. God gave him instructions and it says Noah did this.

He did all that God commanded him. He did exactly what God said. But I want to look again at the way the writer of Hebrews puts this in Hebrewsap 11 and verse 7. Here’s how the writer of Hebrews puts it.

He says, “By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. And so he is a righteous man by faith. It says and we learn, I think, a couple of important lessons about faith from Noah and the way he went about things.

2. Faith Is Based on God’s Word

One thing I think we learn in all of this is that faith is based on God’s word. That’s what we see in this story. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Noah did what he did because he was warned by God concerning events as yet unseen. No way for Noah to know about any of this if God doesn’t tell him.

He acted on information he received from God. And I’ll just go and tell you that’s the only way to act by faith. The only way Noah knew about the flood in advance. The only reason he knew to build an ark was because because God warned him about the impending judgment that was coming upon mankind.

Noah’s faith was based upon God’s word. And there may be differences in, you know, the way we come into contact with the word of God today. God doesn’t speak to us directly like he did with Noah. But the principle that we see in all of this is still valid.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that it’s impossible to please God without faith. Hebrews chap 11 and verse 6, right before he tells us about Noah. But the kind of faith that is pleasing to him is the kind of faith that is based upon what God has said, what God has revealed. That’s what we have in scripture.

In second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, all scripture is breathed out by God. In other words, he spoke it and therefore it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness. Or as Jesus would quote from Deuteronomy chapter 8 and:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” That that’s that’s the principle that we’re dealing with here this morning.

3. Faith Is Demonstrated by What We Do

But there’s another thing I think we learn from Noah about faith. And that and that is that faith is demonstrated by what we do. The writer of Hebrews says, “By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” All of that goes together.

In other words, Noah took the information he received from God and he acted on it. Noah heeded the warning that was given to him. And when you look at the situation with Noah, that’s the only response that makes any sense, isn’t it? Noah was warned by God concerning the fact that God’s going to destroy the world with the flood.

And he was warned for one reason, so that he could do something to save both himself and his household, to save others. And it would have been foolish for Noah to ignore that warning. God did more than give Noah information to believe. He gave him information to act upon.

And I think it’s important for us to recognize that biblical faith is the kind of faith that leads a person to action. It’s but it’s important to also recognize that biblical faith is the kind of faith that leads a person to act in a way that is prescribed by God. That is in keeping with what he says. And so when you put all of that together, that’s what sets God’s people apart from everyone else in the world.

That’s how we show whether or not we truly have faith in God. We take what he said, we believe what he said, and then we do what he tells us to do in response to that. That’s faith. It’s not simply I I believe something in my mind and that gets the job done.

Now I’m, you know, I’m I’m set on a course for heaven. That’s not it. This is it. And although many people in our world do seem to believe that the faith that saves has nothing to do with works of any kind, that’s not something you find in God’s word.

All through the New Testament, we read about faith being a requirement for salvation. And yet, what many people fail to understand is that it’s only the kind of faith that we’ve been talking about this morning. That’s the kind of faith that saves people. And so, Noah did whatever he needed to do in order to save both himself and his household.

And he tried to save others as well. In fact, in second Peter chapter 2 and verse 5, Peter would refer to Noah as a preacher of righteousness. And I take that to mean that during the the period of time that he is he is preparing the ark, Noah’s also trying to persuade other people about what’s coming and trying to bring them to the point of repentance where they’re going to get on the boat, so to speak. But it didn’t work.

Only Noah and his household were saved. Peter talks about that in first Peter chapter 3 and verse 20. He said, “God waited patiently while the ark was being built.” But then he goes on to say in it a few that is eight persons were saved by water.

That’s all you got. Only eight people were saved. Noah and his family. And everybody else just kept acting like they’re that nothing’s going to happen.

In fact, Jesus talked about that in Matthew chap 24 and verse 38. Jesus said in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. What does that mean? They just went about it business as usual.

That’s what they were doing. We don’t know what this guy Noah’s got going on over there. He’s building something really big. We don’t really care.

You know, let’s just go about life. And can you imagine what it must have been like for Noah? First of all, just the enormity of the task he’d been given. He’s trying to persuade these wicked people that the world’s going to be destroyed with the flood, that they need to repent.

I don’t know how long he did that. I don’t know how long it took, but not one thing changed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing seemed more ridiculous to everyone around him the further it went. Noah, we’re not seeing any signs of what you’re talking about.

But Noah was vindicated, wasn’t he? That’s what the writer of Hebrews tells us. Again, by faith Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear constructed an arc for the saving of his household. Then he says this, “By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

He was vindicated. No one and his household were saved. Everyone else perished.” But what I want us to do do with the time we have remaining this morning is I want to consider some lessons that we can learn from the account of Noah and the flood that I think can help us in our time we live today.

4. We Can Be Influenced for Evil by Other People

And the first thing I want us to see is that we can be influenced by people who are going to lead us in the wrong direction. We can be influenced for evil by other people. You already know that. I’m confident that’s not really a shock to most of us.

We’ve read what Paul said in in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and:e 33 when he said, “Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.” We know that passage. Parents and Bible class teachers teach that principle, but they didn’t come up with it.

It’s a it’s not it’s a principle that has been demonstrated time and time again throughout the history of the world to the harm of those who have failed to recognize the truthfulness of it. This same thing’s played out over and over and over again. And the thing is, there may be times when we’re tempted to believe that we are the exception to this rule. We recognize that other people may not be able to handle the pressures of an evil influence.

But have you ever tried to convince yourself that you can, that you are different? We do that sometimes, don’t we? When we adopt that kind of attitude, we not only show a disregard for the lessons of history, we show a disregard for the teaching of God’s word. The Bible not only teaches this principle, but it also illustrates the validity of it time and time and time again.

But I want to point out though that although it’s true that evil company corrupts good morals in a general way, just does that the problems that eventually led to the flood resulted not just from evil influences, you know, just kind of across the board, but from evil influences within the marriage relationship. Did you notice that the fact that the godly descendants of Seth began to take for themselves women who may have been beautiful, they were attractive, the text says, but who had no spiritual values appears to be what led to the decline in morality to the point where God brought judgment upon the world. And of course, that wasn’t the only time that kind of thing led to problems. Even a man with with Solomon’s wisdom was led away to serve other gods because of the wives he had married.

We’re told that in scripture. In fact, I want to take just a moment. Let’s go to First Kings chapter 11. First Kings chap 11.

In verse one of that it says, ‘Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabitete, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations, concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” And so Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines. and his wives turned away his heart.

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashareth, the goddess of of the Sidonians, after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And so Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done.

And Solomon [snorts] built a high place for Kimosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. How does a man with the wisdom that Solomon has get to that point?

Because evil companions corrupt good morals. That’s how you got to that point. You know, we need to do our best to help those who are looking for the person that they would like to spend the rest of their lives with to make good decisions in that process. And we need to encourage them to take more into consideration that than what the other person looks like.

Now, I’m not saying this this morning that people have to marry someone ugly. That is not at all what I said. I do recognize that some people will do that. And I I mean, it just is what it is.

But we need to warn them not to be like Samson who in Judges chapter 14 and:e three he sees this cute Philistine girl and he says to his parents in Judges 14 and verse three get her for me for she looks good to me. I tell you what that’s about the extent of his thinking on the matter. He is not thinking about anything else. And what we see in all of this is that principle bad company corrupts good morals.

5. We’re Not the Only People to Face Difficult Times

But another thing I think we can learn in all of this is that we’re not the only people to face difficult times. You know, we sometimes act like we’re the first people who have ever been challenged with the task of serving God in the midst of an ungodly world, but we’re not. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be the only righteous person in the world? Can you imagine how difficult it was for Noah?

Not only did he face the tremendous task of preparing the ark, but the even greater task of preaching to people who were simply unconcerned about what he was saying. Despite all of his efforts, a total of seven other people were saved. Everybody else just dismissed him, maybe even ridiculed him because of what he was doing. Do you ever feel like you’re one of the only ones interested in spiritual things?

Do you ever think no one really wants to hear the message anymore? Do you ever get the feeling that the the burden of the work falls on you? Do you ever feel like it’s time for, you know, maybe to to just kind of retire from the Lord’s work? Do you think Noah ever felt that way?

I mean, I can see him at some point said, “Look, I am almost 600 years old. I think it’s time for the 300 year olds to start doing their part.” You know, the younger generation, they need to take over. I mean, who else is there to do it?

He’s the only one. And it may just be that in every generation believes basically the same thing. Things can’t get much worse. And we would have to admit that from a spiritual standpoint, things do look bleak at times, do they not?

They do look bleak. But we need to recognize that we’re not the first people to live in a society that doesn’t honor God the way that he deserves. And I don’t know that there have been too many generations that were otherwise. And we certainly can’t look at Noah’s generation without recognizing that we are not the first people to try to live in the midst of an ungodly society.

And while I recognize that there’s at least a sense in which we live in bad times, let me ask you this. How bad do we really have it? As bad as things seem sometimes, there are still people who are interested. And we do have help.

I mean, all you have to do is look around the room this morning. And when we do that, we’re confronted with the fact that things are not as bad as we’re tempted to believe sometimes. But even if they were, we have a good example to follow. I mean, Noah would just say to us, “Join the club and get back to work.”

6. We Serve a God Who Is Patient, Willing to Forgive

That’s the answer. But the final thing I want us to see, and we’re going to talk about this one briefly, is that we serve a God who is patient, willing to forgive. That’s what we see in all of this. In fact, he doesn’t want anyone to perish.

Although that’s not stated explicitly in our text, it still comes through pretty clear. God didn’t take pleasure in what had to be done in Noah’s day. God was patient with that generation just as he’s been patient with every generation. He wanted people to repent.

But what I want you to notice is that the rain did eventually begin to fall. And let me tell you that we stand in the same kind of situation today. God is being patient. He’s holding off judging the world again.

And he’s doing so in hope that people will respond to the preaching of the gospel and be saved. But again, his patience will run out one day, just as it did before. Peter talks about that in second Peter chapter 3 and verse 5, beginning talks about people who question whether or not the Lord’s going to return. And he says in verse 5, they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.

And that by means of these, the world that then existed was flooded with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord’s not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Conclusion

But the day of the Lord will come, he says, like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Don’t you want to take advantage of the salvation that God offers? We hope that you do. And we want you to know that you can do that today.

There doesn’t have to be only a few saved. You know, the Apostle Peter in that passage in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 20 when he says, “God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is eight persons were saved by water.” went on to say this.

Baptism which corresponds to this or some translations say which is symbolized by that water now saves you not by removing dirt from the body. This is not taking a bath that we’re talking about but by asking God for a clear conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, when we are baptized, it’s not us doing something that earns our salvation. It is what God in his word has commanded.

Remember, that’s what faith is all about, right? God warns us and he tells us what to do. We believe it and we follow through. And when we do what God says, when we go down into the waters of baptism and come up, what we are doing is we are asking God for a clear conscience.

What does that mean? It means all the sins are washed away and you don’t have a reason to have a guilty conscience anymore. That’s what’s being done when we simply obey the Lord. When we do what he says.

If you’ve ever done that, then why not this morning? Why not make the decision to obey the Lord based on what he said, not what anybody else says. You can have the hope that you can live with him forever. If you’re here this morning and you owe some duty to God, if we can help you with that, please let us do that.

Come as we stand and as we sing. Who at me?