Sermon Tone Analysis

The Favor of God!

Name: Nathan Law

Assignment: Noah

Date Due: 10/17/2021

When I was a freshman in college a man shared the good news of Jesus with me.

He shared how God had a plan for my life and that he loved me and that I could have a relationship with Him because of who he was and what he did, died and defeated death.

As a freshman in college I bowed my had and received God’s gift of eternal life.

Right then and there my standing with God changed.

Now instead of being under the curse of sin,

I now had the favor of God.

This is true of every person who has accepted Jesus Christ into their life.

When God looks at a believer He does not see our sin he sees his son.

We are completely accepted by him because of what Jesus Christ has done.

But what I soon found out is their is a different between having the favor of God and experiencing and living out the favor of God.

Christ Followers are not immune from and struggle, and sometimes we struggle just as much if not more than those who are not believers.

There are stats that Christians lives look like lives in the world.

The culture has affected us more than we have affected the culture.

States that say we divorce as much as non Christians, we could list a lot of other sins that we struggle with, but the reality is that from what I have seen not many Christians live and experience the favor of God in a way that sticks out and brings glory to God.

But should this not be one of our greatest passions and desires not only to have the favor of God positionally but to experience it in a powerful way.

“I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf.”

Quote from Brooklyn Tabernacle: Jim Cymbala

Are you living out the favor of God in your life right now?

Are you seeing God moving mightily in your life right now?

What is keeping you from walking in the favor of God?

I want to live my life in the favor of God.

I want God to move mightily on my behalf.

Today we are going to see a man that walked and experienced the favor of God.

There are sone non negotiables that we can take from his life if we want to experience his favor here and now.

If we want to experience this favor we need to make these two things non-negotiable.

The first non negotiable to living in the favor of God is we must:

1.

We focus on the savior not the situation (6:1-7).

God has not called us to walk in his favor just when things are favorable he calls us to walk in his favor regardless of our circumstances.

The circumstances Noah was living in were not very favorable.

Circumstances on this earth will never be ideal

Man was doing what God had blessed him todo, to be fruitful and multiply.

There was one problem now instead of multiplying goodness that God had created sin was now multiplying.

Think about how long they were living and they were multiplying.

Who are the sons of God in this passage has been a highly debated topic.

Three most common interpretations

6:2 the sons of God.

Possibly (1) the godly line of Seth, (2) ungodly kings and kinglets of that day, or, more likely, (3) a group of fallen angels who, because of this unique sin, were confined.

I do not think this is the Godly line of seth because as we are about to see in a moment this is not a good situation.

As one commentator says:

“What does he [Moses] mean?

I do not know, and I do not believe anyone knows.

So far as I am concerned, this passage is unintelligible.”

Then we jump in to

What I want us to see in these first passages is that this is not a good ideal situation.

Another passage with different interpretations.

Some interpret this passage to mean that man will only live for 120 years others interpret it to mean the flood would be coming in 120 years.

Big picture we have to see that this is not a good situation;

The incident is one of hubris, the proud overstepping of bounds.

Here it applies to “the sons of God,” a lusty, powerful lot striving for fame and fertility.

They were probably powerful rulers who were controlled (indwelt) by fallen angels.

It may be that fallen angels left their habitation and inhabited bodies of human despots and warriors, the mighty ones of the earth.

Just like Satan started good and overstepped his bounds these people were trying to take the very place of God.

MINI APPLICATION

In this setting would it not be easy to say: God I would walk with you but don’t you understand how difficult it is.

God I would walk in your favor: [BUT]

But..My family life is too difficult right now

I have too much going on at work right now

I have too much in my past

And it is precisely in this very moment that we are called to walk in the favor of God.

But it is right here and right now that we are called to walk with God.

I have a real problem: Sinful Nature

Without God you are wicked

Without God I am wicked.

Just think for a second if I could get some tape on you and watch five minutes of your ugliest history, the times you steal, lie, cheat, make yourself look better.

It would not be pretty.

Christianity is not about God making bad man good it is about God bringing the dead to life.

We are spiritually dead.

Original sin -The fact that we have original sin does not mean that we are as bad as we could be it means that there is nothing we can do on our own strength that will please God.

We Need Rescue.

The setting was not ideal to walk with God.

Contrast God’s heart to Evil

Pain came from Sin as we saw in Genesis chapter 3.

God still brought comfort to Adam and Eve, he brought them coverings.

God is both just and gracious.

(“Repented” does not suggest that God changed His mind, for He is changeless [Mal.

3:6].

Instead, it means that God was sorrowful.)

Even though swift judgment would fall because God’s Spirit would not always shield (dûn; “shield” is better than NIV‘s “contend with,” Gen. 6:3) mankind, the judgment would be delayed 120 years (v.

3).

During this time Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5).

Application:

Isn’t it crazy to think how at times our difficulties draw us closer to God and are the times that prepare us for greater things.

Kurt Warner-I love his story there is actually a movie that is coming out about it but he wanted to make the NFL and had a few shots but was not breaking through.

He played in leagues other than the NFL and at one point he was actually stocking shelves at a grocery story.

It would have been easy for him to give up and not trust God but he continued to walk by faith in a very difficult situation.

Maybe share how this is the perfect time to start a church.

Are you allowing your circumstances to keep you from living out and experiencing the favor of God?

The next non negotiable to living in the favor of God is we must:

2. Prioritize our walk with God (6:8).

But is a strong word because many times we use but as an excuse.

Noah used this BUT as an opportunity.

As a matter of fact one of my favorite {BUT’S] is in the Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

One word changes everything

Noah was far from perfect but one thing about Noah was is that he had a heart that was given over to God completely.

2 Chronicles 16:9 ““For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

You have acted foolishly in this.

Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.””

God had found his man in Noah, what if you were that man whose heart was completely his.