THE DAYS OF NOAH

Matthew 24:37–39 “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For 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, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

People read Matthew 24, and frantically and desperately search for the signs of the times. They try to frame Matthew 24 into some preconceived notions of how the end is going to play out, and they miss the real message.

Can I make an assumption? As far as I know, everyone in attendance today is a Gentile and not a Jew. Is my assumption correct? Since my assumption is correct, I am about to burst your bubble if you are one of those Gentiles who searches for the signs of the end times.

1 Corinthians 1:22 “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom

The Jews require signs. The Gentiles do not require signs.

Throughout the Bible, signs are for the Jews.

Gentiles are to rely on what is written in God’s Word. (John 20:30-31)

John 20:30–31 “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

I told you several months ago that you must keep promises made to Israel and promises made to the church separate. The same holds true for signs. We, as Christians in the age of grace, are not to be looking for signs.

Those of us living in the Age of Grace, the Church Age, are to rely on what is written in God’s holy word.

Regarding future events, signs have no meaning to me. I am to trust what is written, and the Bible is very clear about the days of Noah. Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, put pencil to paper and recorded word for word what Jesus said about the Days of Noah, and Jesus did not mention any signs in the passage that I read.

The signs described earlier in Matthew 24 are intended for the Jews who were and are looking forward to Christ’s earthly kingdom.

Jesus tells us, however, that in the Days of Noah people were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, and judgment came so quick that people did not realize what was happening until it was too late.

For Jesus to tell us about the Days of Noah indicates to me that knowing about those days is critical to a Christian who is waiting on the Lord, and I am to trust what is written and not any sign. I believe it to be one of the great biblical heresies, probably started by Satan or one of his ministers of light.

For Jesus to tell us about the Days of Noah indicates to me that knowing about those days is critical to a Christian who is waiting on the Lord, and I am to trust what is written and not any sign. I believe it to be one of the great biblical heresies, probably started by Satan or one of his ministers of light.

If you are saved and you are not a Jew, signs have absolutely no meaning to you. You are supposed to cling to what is written, and did you know the Bible contains many references to the Days of Noah?

The Bible says many things about the Days of Noah, especially if you take a holistic approach to studying God’s Word. With that being said, what does the Bible say about the Days of Noah?

1. The days of Noah were marked by great preaching.

The message of righteousness and repentance was preached by Noah and Methuselah while the Ark was being built and by Enoch before he was raptured.

2 Peter 2:5 “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;”

Noah preached righteousness and repentance. “Well, Jimmy, the Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. It does not mention repentance.”

Well, dear friend, some things in the Bible are understood, and it is absolutely stated and understood that there is no righteousness without repentance.

2 Peter 2:20–22 “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

You cannot claim righteousness and deny a need for repentance. Faith, righteousness, and repentance are inseparable, and that is what Noah preached.

Noah preached that people would have to turn from their sin and enter into the salvation provided by God where they would be sealed by the Holy Spirit until they were delivered.

Genesis 6:14 “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”

Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Noah preached the same message Paul preached, and the same message that called by God preachers preach today. The message has never changed. It is the gospel message.

Noah preached that God had provided a means of salvation for those who believed and repented, and if they believed and repented, God would seal them in His righteousness, but like people today, the people of Noah’s day rejected God’s means of salvation, and they went about their daily routine ignoring God’s Word and God’s messengers.

Noah preached by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the ungodly men of his day had the opportunity to repent. God was patient with them.

1 Peter 3:20 “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.”

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

It is absolutely obvious that Jesus talked about the Days of Noah to His disciples as Peter, Matthew, and Luke, who was a close associate of both Peter and Paul record. Do you remember when Jesus said this verse? John 14:26

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

The New Testament consists of 27 books with 8 different authors. Three of those 8 directly mention Noah. Why? Because the days of Noah are important for those of us saved in the Church Age. What is written should motivate us to preach as fervently as Noah, Methuselah, and Enoch did. The message needs to be heard. The message that judgment is coming but salvation is present. It is a gift from God, an eternal gift through Jesus Christ.

Most in Noah’s day died in judgment. They rejected the message that was preached. The same is happening today. There is much more I could say about this, but I must go along. Study it for yourself. Discover the preachers and the urgency of the message that was preached in the days of Noah.

2. The days of Noah were marked by a great falling away.

The New Testament talks about the falling away prior to Christ’s return. As a matter of fact, the New Testament says that the falling away will happen and even describes the characteristics of that great falling away.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”

Paul describes it further in 2 Timothy. He says the falling away is marked by covetousness, pride, blasphemy, pleasure, lying, disobedience, and a constant search for learning without coming to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul does not say this will be a sign because he is not addressing the Jews. He is addressing the CHURCH. Signs are for Jews, but Gentiles do not need signs.

The great falling away is taking place today, and it will continue through the Great Tribulation as the false church replaces the true church.

How do I know there will be false church? Because a characteristic of the falling away according to Paul would be that men and women would give heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, and would not be convicted by the preaching of God’s true word.

Do you know what the true church is called in the New Testament? The Bride of Christ.

Do you know what the false church is called that will be on earth after the true church is taken to heaven? The Great Whore/Harlot (Read Revelation 17 for details)

At the Rapture, all elements of the Bride will be removed and replaced by the harlot. If the time of Christ’s return mirrors the days of Noah, was there a falling away from the truth in Noah’s days?

To fully understand the falling away in Noah’s days, you must read Genesis 3:23 through Genesis 7:10. As a matter of fact, I had not fully grasped the falling away until Jimmy Anderson said something in Sunday School that the Lord used to get my mind going.

Obviously, we do not have the time to read all of those verses this morning, but I challenge you to take this outline and read those verses, so you can better see the falling away. Until you do that, you will just have to take my word for what I am about to tell you.

From Adam to the Flood is a time period of 1,656 years.

During those years, a great falling away took place. By falling away, I mean those who knew the truth about God who fell away from the truth or who denied the truth. I am not talking about Cain and his degenerate descendants. Cain had rejected God from the very beginning. I am talking about those in the line of Seth, and if you read Genesis 5, you will see Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah are all mentioned.

I think we miss the fact that those guys were all present on earth at the same time except for Noah and Enoch. By the time Noah was born, Enoch was raptured, but the rest were on earth roughly at the same time, so the earth did have some godly men who not only knew God but preached God’s message.

We know specifically that Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah preached.

Jude 14–15 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Their offspring and other people heard the message they were preaching. They heard of coming judgment and the need for repentance, but the descendants of these godly men except for Noah’s wife, sons, and daughters-in-law all fell away from the truth.

By the time of the Flood, no one considered God except for those 8 who entered into God’s salvation.

Genesis 6:5 “And 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.”

They heard but did not heed the message. How do I know that?

(1) Jesus said they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. They ignored God’s message of judgment and repentance and conducted their daily business, and even as judgment started, they did not know what was happening.

(2) Only 8 people entered God’s salvation with 8 being the number of new beginnings. These 8 were going to the new beginning for mankind, and guess what chapter in the Bible tells us of them exiting the Ark? You got it. Genesis 8!

It took man 1,656 years to get to the point where they cared not what God, God’s Word, and God’s preachers said. Does that sound familiar?

2 Timothy 4:3–4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

People do not want to hear about sin, righteousness, repentance, and judgment anymore. They just go about their daily routine not thinking one iota about what is coming. I could preach day-after-day about judgment to come and the righteousness offered through Christ, and do you know what people would do?

They would ignore me and go about their daily business, and no sign from heaven would stop them. How do I know that? Because I know what the Bible says about the Great Tribulation, and all the signs and horrible things that God sends and does and the people do not repent.

Revelation 9:21 “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

Do you know what I am thankful for however? I am thankful for God’s patience.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

The people of Noah’s day had many people preaching to them, godly men who were all living at the same time except for Enoch and Noah because Enoch was raptured before Noah was born, but I guarantee you that Noah knew about his great-grandfather and his message, and I guarantee you that Noah preached that if the people wanted to be delivered like Enoch was that they better enter into the salvation God had provided.

There were great preachers preaching the message just as there are great preachers preaching the message today. There seems to be a trend throughout the Bible that as God prepares to act the intensity of fervency of His messengers increase. I see that today. Never as the gospel message been so available, but people go about their daily routines paying little to no attention.

As Noah, Enoch, Methuselah, Seth, and Adam preached, the majority of the world fell away.

It is a great biblical truth. God has many children, but he has no grandchildren, and a parent and a preacher and a church can only do so much. Each person is responsible for his or her decision regarding the truth.

Today, God has given men 2,000 years to repent. Most, however, ignore God’s Word and God’s messengers and go about their daily business with no fear of judgment, and when the Rapture comes, they will not even realize like those in Noah’s day what happened.

2 Thessalonians 2:10–12 “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

There is one element that is both tragic and ecstatic that I have not discussed yet.

Genesis 7:16 “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.”

Once God’s judgment begins, it is too late to enter into His salvation, and once you have entered into His salvation, judgment cannot touch you.

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”

Listen to me very closely. I do not care how old you are. If you have not trusted Jesus to be saved but know you need to be saved, listen very carefully.

As Matthew said about Noah’s day, people were going about their daily routines and did even know what was happening until it was happening. The same could happen to you.

You could wake up one morning and go to school or work and suddenly, many of your classmates and your co-workers vanish, and you will not even know what happened and because you know that you need to be saved but are not, you will be left to face God’s judgment, and it will be too late for God to open the door to His salvation.

I don’t care if you are 6,7,8,9, 15, or 90 years-old. Judgment is coming, and to avoid that judgment, you must place your faith in Jesus Christ. If you do that, God will seal you in His salvation regardless of what comes, but if you do not place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you will face that judgment and spend an eternity in hell.

You must believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved.

Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”