Sermon Tone Analysis

| 4~/20~/97 \\ \\ MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN AN EVIL WORLD \\ GENESIS 6:8-10, 22 \\ \\ The eyes of our country have been turned backward a few years this week.

There has been a lot of focus on a \\ baseball player who wore #42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It is the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking in \\ to the major league baseball world.

No person has made as much difference in the world of baseball in the past \\ generation as Jackie Robinson.

He opened the door of opportunity by paying a price.

He has made it possible for \\ black children to grow up with a realistic dream of making it big time in the world of baseball.

\\ \\ Every generation has a few people who make a difference in a big way.

Some make a difference in the world of \\ business, finances, entertainment, education, or some other realm.

However, for each one who makes a difference \\ in a big way that gathers a lot of attention, there will be many more who will take advantage of their opportunities and \\ make a difference in their smaller way in a very significant fashion.

\\ \\ Tonight we want to look at a person who made as much difference in his generation as any person who ever lived.

\\ Never did a man have more against him and less likelihood of making a difference than Noah, the builder of the ark.

\\ He lived in a very evil and corrupt time.

It was so corrupt that the Creator God decided the only solution was \\ complete destruction.

He made known in Noah’s generation his plans to destroy the whole world.

But through Noah \\ God was able to preserve His purpose and the future of the human race.

You and I are actually here tonight \\ because of the difference Noah made.

He, his wife, his three sons, and his three daughter-in-laws were the only \\ survivors in that time of complete destruction.

So every person in this room is a direct descendent of one of the \\ sons of Noah.

You owe so much to the contribution that was made by this one solitary figure in the Old Testament.

\\ \\ Surely all of us carry in our hearts a dream of making a difference in our day.

It is possible for you to make a \\ difference.

A careful look at what is revealed concerning the life of Noah will give us insights into the kind of person \\ that makes a difference in a evil day.

\\ \\ I.         CHOSEN TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. \\ This is where the divine record begins.

It begins with God and not with Noah.

In his inspired record of all that \\ transpired, Moses wrote, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

You will recognize that the word translated \\ “favor” is translated “grace” in the old version of the Old Testament.

The whole life of Noah and the contribution that \\ he made found its beginning in God.

God was pleased to bestow grace and favor upon Noah.

\\ \\ Students of the life of Noah have debated back and forth concerning this grace that he found.

Did Noah find grace \\ in the eyes of the Lord because of the kind of person he was?

We will hear in the next verse that he was a \\ righteous and good man.

Is this the explanation of the grace that came upon his life?

Or, is the good life described \\ in the next verse the consequences of finding favor in the eyes of the Lord?

My heart is inclined to understand it in \\ this second way.

God took the initiative and exercised a choice.

Out of the sinful family of man, God chose Noah, \\ the grandson of Enoch, to be the one through whom the family of man would continue.

God choosing Noah was an \\ expression of his grace and favor.

Once he became aware that God had chosen him, then his life began to be \\ molded by this awareness of having been chosen.

He had come into the family of man for just this moment by divine \\ favor and divine providence.

\\ \\ This is true of all of those who make a difference eternally in our world.

God has chosen them to have a relationship \\ with Himself and to be used by His grace to make a difference in his world.

I would encourage you to believe tonight \\ that in the course of your life that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is going to lead you into \\ circumstances in which you will have an opportunity to make a difference.

When those opportunities to make a \\ difference come you should be encouraged by knowing that you have been chosen by God for just such a calling.

\\ \\ II.

PERSONS WITH CHARACTER \\ The people through whom God makes a difference in an evil age are persons of character.

In the summary \\ statement concerning the life of Noah we read, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, \\ and he walked with God.”

The first two statements by Moses give us insight into the godly character of this man \\ Noah.

His character set him apart from the corrupt world in which he lived.

\\ \\ 1.

A righteous man.

\\ How are we to understand this reference to righteousness in the life of Noah?

Are we to understand it in light of the \\ New Testament as being gift righteousness?

Is this a reference to a righteousness that God gave him because of \\ his faith?

Or is it practical righteousness that simple refers to the way he related to his fellowman in that day?

It may \\ actually include both of these possibilities.

I think, however, the emphasis is upon the manifestation of his godly \\ character in the day to day affairs of life.

Noah was a man who did the right thing at the right time as he related to \\ his fellowman.

In a world that was characterized by violence, dishonesty, deceit, and immorality, Noah was found \\ doing the right thing.

He did the right thing because in his walk with God godly character had been developed in his \\ life.

\\ \\ 2.         Blameless among the people of his time.

\\ The older version translates this “perfect.”

The newer version is probably a better translation in our day.

The word \\ “perfect” suggest sinless perfection to a contemporary congregation.

This was not the idea in the word used by \\ Moses in the Hebrew text.

A better translation would be, “whole.,”

or a person of integrity.

It simply means that as \\ he lived his life out in the midst of a corrupt society, Noah was found to be a person of moral wholeness, of integrity, \\ and thus was considered “blameless” in the eyes of his fellowman.

As they judged his conduct, they could not find \\ any point of his conduct against which they could lodge blame.

\\ \\ It does not mean he was sinlessly perfect.

However, he was a person of godly character.

It is persons of character \\ that God uses to make a difference in an evil world.

This explains why God is so faithfully working in your life to \\ bring about mature, whole, godly character.

He is seeking to make you a person of integrity so that you can be his \\ channel through which He works in the evil world in which you and I live.

\\ \\ III.

LIVED IN COMMUNION WITH GOD.

\\ The other statement made by Moses concerning Noah is very helpful, “and he walked with God.”

A similar statement \\ was made concerning his grandfather Enoch.

Enoch, too, had walked with God and had become a witness to his \\ generation.

However, the structure in the Hebrew text is a little different at this point.

God is in the Hebrew \\ statement put in the first preposition in the sentence.

An emphasis is placed upon walking in dependence upon \\ God.

An emphasis is placed upon the God with whom Noah walked being the only true and living God.   \\ \\ This explains the first two statements in Moses’ summary.

The secret of Noah being so different from the corrupt \\ society about him is found in his communion with God day by day.

When God choose him to be the object of His \\ grace, He chose him to walk with Him in communion.

A life of fellowship with God and dependence upon God is a \\ critical element in being able to make a difference in the world in which you live.

\\ \\ Any time you neglect your life of communion with God, and begin to walk in dependence upon self rather than in \\ dependence upon God, you are putting in jeopardy your potential for making a difference in the world.

You are \\ increasing the likelihood that instead of making a difference you will simply become another citizen in a corrupt and \\ evil world.

There is a price to be paid in discipline and dedication if you are to walk with God.   \\ \\ In a conversation with a member of another congregation in this city a few days ago, the person said to me, “I am \\ desperately looking for a new job!”

When I asked her why the urgency about a new job she explained to me that the \\ office in which she worked was filled with non-Christians.

She found herself spiritually stifled by this evil atmosphere \\ in which she had to work day by day.

I didn’t preach to her or even admonish her, but I listened with concern.

\\ Where did we get the idea that the only place you can walk with God is in some kind of protected environment?

\\ Where did we get the idea that it might be easier to live for God if you work in an office where no one ever curses, \\ ever tells dirty stories or ever cheats?

We need to remember the lesson we learned from the life of Noah.

Actually, \\ those adverse circumstances in which you live may become an encouragement to lean upon the Lord even more, \\ and it may be that God has placed you in that dark situation because He has in mind making a difference through \\ you.

The possibility of those with whom you work becoming children of God is greatly enhanced when God puts you \\ as a Christian in communion with Him into their world.

You can walk with God in the midst of a corrupt and dark age.

\\ \\ \\ IV.         TAKE A RISK BY FAITH.

\\ When you study the circumstance of Noah’s life it is easy to understand why he is identified as a person of \\ exceptional faith in the New Testament.

Actually there are no references to his faith in the Genesis account of his \\ life.

There we simply learn that he “did everything just as God commanded him.”