Role Models- Noah

Intro:

Genesis 6:8

Who are some of your role models?

Why is it important to have role models?

What makes someone a good role model?

In our walk with God, the Lord wants to place people in our lives that can serve as a source of encouragement. A role model is someone we aspire to be like. Someone we can look at their lives and think, I would not mind if I could do it they way they do.

We are beginning a study on role models. Throughout Scripture, God provided the life story of people who serve as an example of what God expects from us and how He can use us.

The first role model we will focus on is Noah. He was born nine generations from Adam and a man named Lamech had a son named Noah.

Noah was born in a world that was busy with activity. With busyness came immorality, wickedness, and disinterest in God

Such depraved behavior overtook humanity that God regretted ever creating people. His heart broke as He watched as sin reached its grip into every facet of society.

He determined to wipe everything from the earth, people, animals, and even the birds. However, there was a man named Noah, who found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person who walked in close fellowship with God.

As God prepares to extend His judgment, He spared the family of a man who pleased Him. Noah walked close to God and in the course of their conversations Noah became righteous and holy.

The life of Noah, is not about a flood and human wickedness. Instead he can become a role model for those who want God’s protection in our world.

How does busyness negatively effect our walk with God?

As a husband and father, Noah made time to emphasize salvation, sanctuary, and God’s sight.

1. Modeling the Importance of Salvation

Genesis 6:13-14

Noah and God had a relationship where communication were the norm. Therefore, God took time to speak to Noah and Noah took time to speak to God. He revealed His plans for impending destruction.

However, he wanted to save Noah and his family, but it would require Noah to radically obey God. To receive salvation for his family, Noah chose to obey God before he learned about the flood. All he knew about was the ark .

The miracle of the story is not in the instruction, but in Noah’s obedience. Noah had to gather the materials for the ark. He then had to begin construction on the ark.

Some acts of obedience are done in private. But Noah could not keep this private. Everyone around would see Noah’s unconventional actions and question and mock him.

So Noah had to weigh out which was more important, obeying God or maintaining popular social standing.

Genesis 6:22

Noah obeyed because he knew God and wanted to please the Lord. He also knew the only way to see his family saved was to obey God in every aspect of our lives.

Does God prefer obedience or sacrifice? Explain.

How did Noah’s obedience lead to the salvation of his family?

As leaders in our home, why do we need to model obedience?

Our day is similar to Noah, we live in an era that readily ignores God and His instructions. Therefore it is important that we model obedience to God and His word.

2. Modeling the Importance of the Sanctuary

Genesis 7:1

When the timing was right, God instructed Noah to take his family to the ark. Most of It began to rain for forty days and forty nights.

Dr. David Jeremiah gives this timeline of the flood:

Day 1— enter the ark

Day 7— flood waters rise, twenty-two feet above the highest mountain

Day 40— rains begin to stop

Day 224— tops of mountains begin to dry

Day 271— Noah releases dove and returns for no dry land

Day 278— dove released and returns with olive leaf

Day 285— dove released and does not return

Day 314— Noah removes cover of the ark and sees dry land

Day 370— Noah and family and animals leave the ark

For over a year God protected them as they rain fell. Finally, Noah leaves the ark.

What would you do first after a year on a boat?

What do you think Noah did first?

Genesis 8:20-21

Noah built an altar to the Lord and made a sacrifice. God instructed Noah to bring seven clean animals, both male and female. So Noah offered them to God in thanks for what He did for him and his family.

Why did Noah build an altar?

Why is the altar important in our lives?

He knew he would need God’s help and direction. The world he saw when he entered the ark looked vastly different from the world he saw when he exited the ark.

There were new mountains and valleys, a different climate, silence everywhere, and the absence of the wickedness that once prevailed.

Noah knew he needed God’s help, so he offered his best for God and He was pleased with Noah’s offering.

The ark symbolizes a sanctuary, a safe place where he and his family were protected from the storm. As it was for Noah, it is the same for us. Multiple times a week we have the opportunity to bring our families to the sanctuary in our church.

Furthermore, every home needs to become a sanctuary, a safe place for God’s people. Noah led his family in placing God first and prioritizing sacrifice and times of prayer.

When the head of the home leads the way in serving the Lord, the family will follow. Noah models this.

Modeling the Importance of God’s Sight

Genesis 9:8-9

Noah’s story begins as we read that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace in God’s eyes because he lived in a way that got God’s attention.

How often does God think about us?

How often do people think about God?

What gets God’s attention?

After God saved his family and Noah led his family to sanctuary, God found Noah and told him, I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, never again will I destroy the world with a flood again.

The promise God gave Noah was a covenant. A covenant was a pact, treaty, alliance, or agreement between to parties.

Covenants in scripture occured when God would intervene with humanity and make a person a promise. The covenant included, a sacrifice that included shedding of blood, a meal, and a sign.

Noah made a sacrifice, they ate from the sacrifice, and God gave His sign, the rainbow, as a constant reminder of HIs covenant.

Though Noah had no way of realizing it at the time, God gave him and his family an opportunity that would change the world. They would always be in God’s sight and He would continue to pay attention to them.

Noah’s family repopulated the earth. But through Noah’s oldest son, Shem, God would continue to fulfill His promise to send a redeemer.

The covenant God made with Noah still stands. His promise for humanity is not destruction, but salvation through Jesus Christ.

God watches over us just as He watched over Noah and his family. We never leave His sight and He promises if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4). Leaders in the home set the pace for their families commitment to God.

Application

Hebrews 11:7 NKJV

7 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.

How is Noah a good role model?

Just as God used Noah, He longs to use us. Just as God spent time with Noah, He longs to spend time with us. Just as God saved Noah family, He wants save oru families.

Jesus remembered Noah and how God used him.

Matthew 24:36-39

How does our society mirror Noah’s society?

The days before Jesus’ return will mirror the days of Noah. Before the flood people were busy living their lives. They were eating, drinking, marrying, and having children.

They were so preoccupied with themselves, they didn’t hear the warning of Noah’s hammer and nails as he prepared the ark. Their interest in self and disinterest in God led the their immorality and wickedness, but it all began when they were to busy to make time for Him.

Noah led his family in the ways of God. His leadership in the home ensured that his family were saved from the flood, found safety and sanctuary, and stayed in God’s sight.

As Noah modeled righteous living for his family, God wants us to model that for our families.

How can we model the importance of salvation?

How can we model the importance of the sanctuary?

How can we keep our families in God’s sight?