7 Lessons From Noah’s Ark

7 LESSONS FROM NOAH’S ARK

Luke 17:26-27; Heb. 11:7

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

1. "How was your game, dear?" Tracy asked her husband, Jack, after he had returned from playing golf. "Well, I was hitting pretty well, but my eyesight's gotten so bad I couldn't see where the ball went," Jack answered.

2. "That's not surprising," Tracy replied. "After all, you are 75 years old, Jack! Why don't you take my brother Scott along?"

3. "Because he's 85 and doesn't play golf anymore," Jack answered. "I know, but he's got perfect eyesight. He could watch the ball for you."

4. The next day Jack teed off with Scott looking on. Jack swung and the ball disappeared down the middle of the fairway. "Do you see it?" asked Jack. "Yep," Scott answered.

5. "Well, where is it?" Jack asked, peering off into the distance in search of the ball that was now out of his eyesight range. Scot looked puzzled; "I forgot."

B. TEXT

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:26-27.

“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 is in keeping with faith.” Heb. 11:7.

C. THESIS

1. Tonight we’re looking back on one of the most cataclysmic events of human history; the flood and Ark of Noah.

2. Although thousands of years ago, the flood/Ark have many important lessons for us tonight; we’re going to look at 7 of them.

3. The title of tonight’s message is “7 Lesson’s from Noah’s Ark.” The first lesson is…

I. DON’T MISS THE BOAT!

A. OUR CLOSE CALL

1. One time, Angela and I and our 4 kids were catching a train in New Orleans. We had driven two cars because we had so much luggage. This was in the days before MapQuest and smart phone apps.

2. New Orleans is a strange place to navigate and we arrived at the train station at the last minute. The train was about to depart and I remember us RUNNING into the station, grabbing our boarding passes, and RUNNING down the length of the train to get on before the wheels started turning.

3. We would have missed our weeklong trip in one or two more minutes. It was scary close! If we had arrived and stood there watching the train pull out, we would have been devastated and probably gone back home to berate ourselves.

B. EARLY ARRIVAL REQUIRED

1. How much more terrible was it for those who missed getting on Noah's Ark? There were no last-minute arrivals allowed. God had Noah, his family, and the animals get on the Ark SEVEN DAYS EARLY, and then He "shut them in."

2. There were no rain clouds visible when he told them to get in. They got in by faith, when it looked foolish. They sat in the Ark for seven days, with no rain outside (Gen. 7:10). That must have been a faith-trying time!

3. Only eight people made it; millions drowned. God's method of salvation was thought foolish then; His method today isn't often accepted or popular, but it's still the only way to heaven.

4. If you're going to get into the Ark of safety, you need to get in now before the storm arrives!

II. PLAN AHEAD. IT WASN’T RAINING WHEN NOAH BUILT THE ARK!

A. BELIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE

1. A very interesting feature of this account was that the flood depended on rainfall. AND UP TO THAT MOMENT THERE HAD NEVER BEEN RAIN!

2. Now if I told you the world would be destroyed by a tidal wave of chocolate pudding, you would think I was crazy, because chocolate pudding doesn’t exist in the quantities necessary to cause a tidal wave (although we wish it did!).

3. For Noah it wasn’t just the uncertainty of building the Ark and all the animals coming to him, but even the means of the destruction had never occurred before!

4. Now we’ve never seen a rapture. The science community would tell you that such an event is impossible. They would have told Noah the same thing. But Noah didn’t care if it was impossible, he still believed God and began to make preparations.

5. A lot of people want to see signs; they want to wait until they see the sun darkened, the moon “dipped in blood,” and the stars exploding out of their orbits before they get right with God.