Noah's Obedience
Obedience • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We are in our second week of Obedience. Last week we visited Adam and Eve and gained some perspective on their lives and hopefully it caused you to go home and to look into the mirror and ensure that you are following through with obedience in your life. This week we find ourselves in Genesis 6 and 7 with Noah. We will look at obedience from the perspective of Noah. Can you imagine the place that Noah had to be in when God said that He was going to flood the world? I mean Noah’s initial response was probably not expected. He is walking with God and God says I am going to flood the world and Noah says something like oh ok, sounds good. God says, Noah did you just hear what I said? Noah says yeah I heard you. Noah nor the people of his time really understood rain. Remember to this point the ground water is what kept things watered and growing, the concept of rain was not something that Noah nor the people of his time would have understood. I can only imagine the guy at the hardware store when Noah went and ordered all the Gopher wood. Could you imagine the guys surprise when Noah tells him how much wood he needs to order? I mean that was more wood than all the people in the town had ordered combined for the last 10 years, what is this guy going to do with all of that wood? This whole concept of what God told Noah to do and what He told Noah He was going to do was out there. So how do you know what you should listen to? There are so many things out there that can make you feel like they are what God is calling you to do. How is it that you can understand what things God is really telling you and what you just want to do or hear? I have friends who struggle in the area of not discerning the spirit of things. They are really good at doing difficult things but they are not good at ensuring that those things are the things of God. I know in my early years as a husband I have done the same thing and then in my years as a father I have struggled with this. I have done some very extreme things as a parent because I am concerned about making sure that what I am doing is honoring God. I want to make sure that I am not doing things that dishonor God. I have to imagine you have been in the same place of trying to discern what things you should and should not do. What things you should keep doing and what things you should stop doing. Today it is my prayer that the example of Noah makes these decisions easier in our lives. That our lives are marked by people who understand how to hear the voice of God and how to obey the voice of God.
A farmer hired a man to work for him. He told him his first task would be to paint the barn and said it should take him about three days to complete. But the hired man was finished in one day. The farmer set him to cutting wood, telling him it would require about 4 days. The hired man finished in a day and a half, to the farmer's amazement. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn't take long at all. At the end of the day the farmer came back and found the hired man had barely started. "What's the matter here?" the farmer asked. "I can work hard, but I can't make decisions!" replied the hired man.
So many Christians want to be obedient believers but it is difficult for them to make the decision on what they should do and how they should do it, or what they should not do and why they should not do it. If you are like most Christians, while there are times of flat out disobedience in your life most the time is not knowing how to decide what God wants you to do. How was it that Noah knew what God wanted him to do and knew that it was real? What kept Noah from saying well it was just a dream, it was just an idea, it was just an emotion? Something brought Noah to a place of obedience to one of the craziest ideas he had ever heard of. Build a boat, whats a boat? It floats on water, what water? Water I am sending from the sky and the depths of the earth? Oh OK so water from the sky, got it. Turn with me in your Bible today to Genesis chapter 6. In Genesis chapter 6 we will find the answers as to how Noah knew to listen and what to listen to.
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
In this scripture we will see three things that lead Noah to knowing what to do and when to listen and to discern the voice of God. First we will see that Noah found favor. Second we will see that Noah was righteous and blameless. Third we will see that Noah walked with God. These things in Noah’s life led him to a place of obedience and listening to the voice of God. They will lead you to a place of obedience if you understand them and apply them in your life.
Noah found Favor
Noah found Favor
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
What does it meant that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord? Was it because Noah was just God’s favorite? Out of all the people on the planet God found favor with Noah because he just liked him better than all His other creation? The answer to this question comes from the context of the scripture that surrounds it. Listen to this scripture.
5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.”
Noah was not favored because God just liked him more than everyone else. Noah was favored because before this call to obedience Noah was faithful in the small things of his life. Noah was a man who took to understanding the importance of seeking first the kingdom of God. Noah sought the Lord and as a result he found the favor of God. Are you in your life seeking the Lord and would you find favor in His eyes? I am not talking about being a perfect person because there are no perfect people in this world. I am talking about a conscious decision to seek God. Do you spend time in prayer? Do you spend time reading the word? Are you active in seeking God in your life? You see the rest of the world around him decided that God was not the most important. The rest of the world sought their own desires and wants and as a result had become wicked. Noah did not do this he sought God first and put God first in his life and as a result we see that he found favor.
When you think about the Favor of God, remember one child’s description of an elevator: “I got into this little room and the upstairs came down.” That’s a good description of receiving God’s favor.
Noah decided that while the rest of the world was seeking their own things, he would seek God. Are you seeking God? How would you know that you are to listen to God if you are not even seeking God?
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
17 I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
“Seek me and live;
It is not possible to find favor if God is not important to you. The reason that Noah found favor in the eyes of God was not because Noah was God’s favorite, but because God was Noah’s favorite. Is God your favorite? We find first that Noah found favor with God. We see second that Noah determined to be righteous.
Noah was Righteous and Blameless
Noah was Righteous and Blameless
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Noah in the face of a world of wickedness made the determination not to follow the ways of everyone around him but to stand out and to be different. This not only saved Noah but also his family. The decision for Noah to live a righteous life resulted in him being rescued when the rest of the world would face destruction. This is no different than what will happen with the world and those who chose to be righteous in our time. We know the end destruction that is coming and we have a choice to either seek our own desires or to seek righteousness. Noah came from a family of righteousness, his great grandfather Enoch was a righteous man who foretold that God would execute judgment against the wicket. Noah was a herald of righteousness.
5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Are you living a righteous life? I guess to answer that we will have to explore what righteousness is. The word used in Genesis 6:9 was the Hebrew word Saddiq. This word in Hebrew means just, innocent, upright, or devout. Based on the evidence of the scripture surrounding verse 9 we can infer that the author was saying that Noah was just and devout. In a world of wickedness Noah was devoted to being just in the eyes of God. Noah did not care about what everyone else was doing. Noah said that no matter what everyone else was doing he was going to be devoted to God and to God’s ways and devoted to being just in the eyes of God. Are you just and devout to God in your life? Before you quickly answer this is deeper than just saying that you go to church, you pray, and you read your Bible. This goes much deeper. When faced with the decision to seek your own good or to lay your pride, desires, and wants down. Do you lay them down for what is right in the eyes of God? Are you willing to do what is righteous over what is beneficial? The greatest example I can give you is Jesus in the wilderness. As Jesus was in the wilderness He was tempted with what was good for him. The devil said look you are hungry, so eat by changing this rock to bread. Jesus said I will do what is righteous and quoted, Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. then the devil said throw yourself down. For it is written, “He shall command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus could have let his pride win and done it instead He chose righteousness and said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” This happened one more time when the Devil offered to give him all the world, yet Jesus chose righteousness. What are you doing with the offerings of the devil in your life? You think it is just a silly argument with your neighbor. It is the devil offering you the opportunity to seek righteousness or your own will. You think it is just a fight with your spouse or your children. It is the devil presenting the opportunity for you to choose yourself over humility for the benefit of your family. You see Noah lived in a world where it would have been acceptable for him to choose himself and seek his own good. So similar to the world we live in today. Righteousness is not something that the world seeks. Are you seeking righteousness in your life? Are you seeking what benefits you the most? You will find that often times Righteousness and what benefits you the most in this world are different. Righteousness and what benefits you in the Kingdom of God are the same.
15 years of asking high school students throughout America whether, in an emergency situation, they would save their dog or a stranger first, most students have answered that they would not save the stranger. "I love my dog, I don't love the stranger," they always say. The feeling of love has supplanted God or religious principle as the moral guide for young people. What is right has been redefined in terms of what an individual feels.
“ Dennis Prager”
Is this not how it works in our world? When we are faced with doing the right thing we convince ourselves that the right thing is what ever makes us feel the best. The right thing is not what God calls us to do or how God calls us to live but is summed up with how we feel about the decision we make. Are you truly seeking righteousness or are you seeking the feeling of rightness. They are not the same.
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Your righteousness should be an example of Christ. Not of doing “good things”
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Doing the righteous things will feel like losing in this world, it will feel like struggling. But what it will do is it will show your desire to store for yourself treasure in heaven. Noah was favored because God was his most important relationship. Noah was righteous because he chose God’s way over his way. Noah did these things and it resulted in him walking with God.
Noah Walked With God
Noah Walked With God
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Noah built the Ark because God told him to do it. Noah knew it was God who told him to do it because he walked with God. Noah walked with God because he made God his most important relationship and sought to be righteous above all else. Do these things sound like your life? Is it any wonder why there are so many opinions about what the right and wrong things are in our world? We have so many people trying to make the determinations on what is right and wrong and how things should and should not be done. Yet there is a God who has already determined these things. There would be fewer denominations if all the leaders of those denominations sought God instead of their own “rightness”. The church would be one and the family of God one if everyone in the family sought the righteousness of God and chose to walk with God daily. If we were living with God daily we would be obedient because we would know His voice and we would follow His way.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Noah was able to be obedient in his life because he put God first and made God primary in his life. Noah knew the voice of God and as a result he obeyed. Do you find obedience in your life difficult? Do you find it difficult to know the right thing to do? The problem may not be that you do not know the answer, but the bigger problem is that you do not truly know who to hear the answer from. God has the answers for all of us to live obedient, and righteous lives but we must be willing to walk with God. This means to lay down all the things inside us that lead us to our own desires.
Walter Knight told of an old Scottish woman who went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed.
One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!
The problem with Christians today is that they are walking in directions that they want to go and ascribing their will to the will of God, all while God is walking the opposite direction. Are you walking with God? Are you in a place where you know the voice of God because you walk with Him daily. What saved Noah and his family is that he knew the voice of God because he found favor because of his righteousness and because he walked with God daily. Do you want to make the right decision in your faith? Walk with God daily, listen to His voice daily, seek righteousness daily.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
