Living As In The Days Of Noah

2 Timothy 3: 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. NIV

We are living in evil times. What should we do? Should we give up, and go crazy? Should we just bury our heads in the sand? Should we climb a mountain and just wait for Jesus to return? No, we should do none of these.

There is a man that lived a godly life even in the midst of evil. Today, we are going to look at the walk of Noah.

Matthew 24: 36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. NIV

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. NIV

In holy fear built an ark to save his family. (Love to save others)

By his faith he condemned the world (separated from being defiled by the world)

Became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Why is Noah important for us? He was a crossover person/generation/people. A people of new beginnings.

Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” NIV

In Terrible times, Noah was righteous. (dared to be different)
Noah was different. The Bible says that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). What a testimony. God had planned to destroy the entire human race because of wickedness, yet there was one man that hadn’t let himself be corrupted. He had remained righteous.
It’s easy to go with the flow. It takes a strong person; it takes a righteous person to stand against the overwhelming tide of public opinion.

Noah didn’t have the opportunity to go to church and be surrounded by like-minded believers that sympathized with him. He was it.

“Noah, the entire world thinks your crazy for your beliefs.” We live in a time that the world thinks what we do and believe is crazy!
Noah wouldn’t back down though. He knew God and couldn’t be persuaded to join the evil lifestyles of the people around.

Not only was Noah righteous during a very wicked time, but he called others to righteousness. It’s one thing to hold quietly to a set of beliefs when surrounded by evil and another thing to speak out. Noah could have gone about his business without ever telling anyone about what was coming.

2 Peter 2:5. “[God] did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.” Noah was actively preaching during the time leading up to the flood.

In Terrible times, Noah heard God. (Stayed in relationship)
During evil times, men desperately need to hear from God. Yet there are so many voices to choose that it’s easy to let God’s voice be pushed to the side. A believer must actively listen to what God is speaking. Noah was a man that listened.

We need to hear clearly Genesis 6:11-16 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. NIV
Noah must have known God’s voice before. If you were praying and God suddenly spoke and told you to build an extremely large boat, what would be your response? It would be very easy to question and doubt what God had spoken unless you were use to hearing his voice. Jesus said “My sheep know my voice.” Noah had received some crazy instructions, but he listened and accepted them because he recognized the voice of God. It was the same voice he listened to for years.

Would you know your wife’s voice in a crowd, your mothers’?

In Terrible times, Noah obeyed. (Do it)
Beyond just listening, Noah took the next step. He listened, but then he obeyed. God says a lot of things to people. He speaks through a still small voice and His Word. Many people hear and listen to the voice of God, but that’s as far as it goes.

James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”

Many people in these evil times are being deceived. They think it’s enough to just listen to the Word of God. Across the country people sit in churches hearing the very words of God preached and they listen, yes, but they don’t act upon it. Listening only does so much good. It informs us of the truth, but we must act upon it. Obedience is required.
When God spoke to Noah, he could have walked around the next one hundred years telling people how God had spoken to him. “I heard God clearly. HE told me to build in ark. I know it was God speaking.” Then one day when the rains began to come, Noah would have realized that he should have been acting upon what he had heard.

Genesis 6:22, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

To make it through evil times, we must learn to obey.

In terrible times, Noah was faithful. (Stay with the plan)
The final area we learn from is Noah’s faithfulness. God had given him the word to build the ark. From reading the text, it appeared that it was 120 years from the time God’s word was given and the flood happened.

Noah was 500 when his sons were born. Add a few years for them to grow and get married. However long that was Noah had a long time to resist the world he lived in and to be grieved by it all. Genesis 6:3* “Then Jehovah said, "My Spirit must not forever be disgraced in man, wholly evil as he is. I will give him 120 years to mend his ways."” TLB).

The same reason that Noah had to have patience and continue faithfully building day after day was the same reason we need to have patience. God was giving the world a chance to repent. I am sure there were days when he wished it was all over.

That is a long time to be obeying God’s word. During that entire time the world kept getting worse, but Noah patiently kept building the ark. Imagine if you had spent your entire adult life working on one project for God.

Conclusion: When the flood did come upon the earth, everything was destroyed except Noah and his family. They had been saved from destruction. It was only because of a few reasons. Noah was found to righteous even amongst an evil world. He was willing to listen to God. He was willing to obey God. And he was willing to patiently work out God’s plan even though he saw very slow progress. We need to dedicate ourselves to living by these four truths in our day and age.