Noah Found Grace In The Eyes Of The Lord

v     “NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD”

v     HEBREWS 11:7

v     GENESIS 6:8

v     “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

v     “But Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of the Lord.”

v     INTRODUCTION

§         In Genesis 6:6-7, we read of God’s displeasure with the world and its wickedness

¨      “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 

¨      The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

§         Then, as God looks over the whole earth, He sees one righteous man

v     NOAH

§         Simply put, he means that Noah found favor in God’s sight.  For Noah was living in obedience to God’s revelation.

v     THE EVENTS SURROUNDING NOAH

§         Noah

¨      The ancestry of Noah

§         His father—Lamech who lived 595 years

§         Lamech’s father—Methusaleh who lived 969 years

§         Methuselah’s father—Enoch who never died

§         Enoch’s father—Jared who lived 962 years

§         Jared’s father—Mahalalel who lived 895 years

§         Mahalalel’s father—Kenan who lived 910 years

§         Kenan’s father—Enosh who lived 905 years

§         Enosh’s father—Seth who lived 930 years

§         Seth’s father—Adam who lived 930 years

Ø      Noah was the 10th generation of mankind on earth

¨      Since the time of Adam, the world had become populated

§         With many human beings

¨      6:2 “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”

¨      Descendants of Cain (daughters of men)

¨      &

Descendants of Seth (sons of God)

Resulting in more and more men who tended towards evil instead of righteousness

God’s perspective

¨      Saw the evilness of man

v     The seemingly disregard by man or what God termed unrighteousness

Ø      Decided to destroy ALL of man

Ø      But as He looked over the earth, He saw

v     ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN

v     Who obeyed God’s commands

v     Who listened to God?

v     Who followed God’s leadership

v     NOAH

·         Decided to save this one man along with his family

v     Wife

v     Three sons

v     Three daughters-in-law

v     GOD’S DIRECTIONS TO NOAH

v     Build an ark

v     This was to be no short term project

v     Something that would be done in

v     An afternoon

v     A weekend

v     A month

v     Or even a year

v     It would take 120 years

v     Longer than the average lifetime of any person on earth today

v     Record of the oldest human being to live (excluding those in Old Testament)

v     Jeanne Calment who lived 122 years 164 days

v     A man from Japan (disputed) lived 120 years 237 days

v     From efmoody.com web site

v     LIFE SPAN

v     LIVING LONGER: The Japanese still live longer than anyone else. Japanese women born in 1993 are expected to live 82.51 years- up .129 years from the previous year. Men are expected to live 76.25 years- up .16 years. French women placed second at 80.94 years followed by Switzerland at 80.90, Iceland at 80.89 and Sweden at 80.79. American women placed at 79.10 years. For men, second place was Iceland at 75.74 years, Sweden at 75.35, Hong Kong at 74.90 and Israel at 74.54. U.S. males were at 72.2 years. The Japanese said their long lives was due to moderation in eating and drinking. Other advice was early to bed and early to rise religious faith and hard work.

v     From a 1996 actuary- a man age 65 can expect to live to 80.3. A woman to age 83.8. A girl born in 1996 who misses the diseases of breast cancer and heart disease can figure on a lifetime to age 92.

v     Made of “gopher-wood”

v     3 stories high within

v     450 feet long

v     75 feet wide

v     45 high

v     Divided into cabins

v     With partitions so that all the different creatures would have room and yet no space left unused

v     Exact dimensions were given to Noah by God so that there would be enough room

v     For the 4 couples

v     Noah and wife

v     Three sons and their wives

v     For every animal

v     For all the food needed

v     To feed the 8 people

v     To feed all the animals

v     Pitch to be placed inside and out

v     Without—

v     To shed off the rain

v     To prevent the water from soaking in

v     Within

v     To take away the bad smell of the beasts in close quarters

v     A little window towards the top of the ark

v     To let in light

v     Not for looking out to the destruction of the earth

v     A door on the side of the ark for the going in and out

v     One commentator wrote

v     “Before the flood began, God shut the door.  I would imagine that had God not done so, Noah would have opened it to those who later wanted in, [possibly those men and women who were caught in the water of the flood], but the day of salvation must come to an end.”

v     “The spirit will not strive with man always”

v     Gen. 6:3

v     While building the ark, Noah

v     Was not just building the ark

v     Not just focused only on the ark

v     Not just the nuts and bolts of building a mighty ship

v     But was seen preaching “repentance” to those who would listen

v     Matthew Henry—a theologian of a few centuries ago, wrote

v     “His (Noah’s neighbors would ridicule him of his credulity.  And he (Noah) would be the song of the drunkards, his building would be called ‘Noah’s Folly.”

v     2 Peter 2:4, 5 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

v     Noah had a concern for those who would not be in the ark with him and his family

v     Knew that repentance was what God demanded

v     Knew that repentance would turn their world around

v     Response of those under Noah’s preaching

v     Not even one turned to God, according to scripture

v     For, I believe, that if one had repented, God would have recorded that miraculous event

v     Instead they

v     Ridiculed Noah

v     What’s rain?  For rain had not existed before this time

v     All the water had come from bodies of water

v     Or the dew in the mornings

v     Tormented Noah

v     The call of the animals

v     Noah did not have to go to the ends of the earth to gather the animals

v     God caused the animals to instinctly to make the trek to the ark

v     Two by two

v     All species that would be saved

v     Which animals?

v     Why more unclean animals than clean animals?

v     To provide for the coming animal sacrifices that would come in the future

v     Into the ark

v     All the animals that would be saved

v     Note: just the land based animals

v     During the boarding, the journey, and debarking

v     The meat eating animals did not try to eat the other animals

v     All the animals were safe from harm

v     All ate plants during their journey

v     Noah and his wife, their sons and their wives

v     Shutting the door

v     Noah did not shut the door

v     Wasn’t an automatic door such as we have today

v     Shut by the Hand of God

v     Rains came

v     Not just a minor downpour

v     But the heavens opened up and a torrential rain fell

v     That had never been seen before

v     Try to imagine what was going on through the minds of those who were on the outside of the ark

v     Questions

v     What is this coming from the sky?

v     Will this last forever?

v     After a few days of rain

v     Will it ever end?

v     Or had been seen since

v     Not only the rain from the heavens, but the waters from the bowels of the earth rose to cover the earth

v     Those on the outside of the ark possible statements

v     Noah, let us in!

v     Why don’t you open the door?

v     Where can we go to get away from the rising water?

v     Are we all going to drown?

v     Those on the inside might have thought

v     What is going on outside

v     What is that coming from the sky?

v     Noah might have been asked:  can we let some of them in?

v     How long will be in this hot, humid, place

v     How long?

v     Long enough to cover ALL the earth

v     Not just a small part where Noah had lived

v     The whole earth

v     Almost all civilizations have recorded in their history of the event known as a great flood

v     Every

v     Valley

v     Hill

v     Mountain

v     Even Mt Everest at 29,028 ft tall

v     Were covered by water

v     Until every animal and human being were dead

v     Rains stopped and waters began to recede

v     Stopped after 40 days and nights

v     After 150 days of floating on the seas, the water had receded enough that the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat

v     After the water had receded enough to allow for the land to be exposed

v     And the dove did not return

v     After the land had dried enough to allow it to be walked upon

v     Muddy

v     Puddles everywhere

v     God opened the door to the ark

v     Animals left the ark

v     Noah, along with his family,

v     Left the ark

v     Offered a sacrifice to the Lord

v     Promise of the rainbow

v     Never again will God allow so much water to be released that would cover the whole earth

v     LESSONS FOR US

v     God looks on the heart of man

v     Not the outward expressions

v     Nothing hid from God

v     Our attitudes are known to Him

v     Our motives for our actions are known to Him

v     God desires obedience to Him

v     Psalmist says “God loves obedience rather than sacrifice”

v     God loves man

v     No longer will God destroy all of man by water

v     Even though wickedness runs rampant upon the earth

v     Even though man, today, is very similar to the way man was during the days of the judges

v     “Every man did what was right in his own eyes”

v     Without any consideration about what is

v     Pleasing to God

v     Right in the eyes of man’s creator, God Jehovah

v     Provides a way of salvation from the final consequences of sin

v     Through His Son, Jesus Christ

v     He provided salvation for Noah, his family, and the animals

v     He provides salvation for us today