Sermon Central
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Noah's Faith
Contributed by Jeremy Morford on May 19, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: After losing two of our saints in a single week, the congregation was seeking to know the answer to the question, "Why?" Noah teaches us that we can trust God -- His Personhood, His Prescriptions, and His Protection.
Noah’s Faith
Text: Hebrews 11:7, Gen. 6
Intro:
This has been a rough week for the church. We have had to say good-bye both Andrea and Bro. Bush. It is always heard to lose a loved one, but to lose two within just a few days can be devastating. It is times like this that we look to God and wonder if He really does know what it going on down here? Does He care that we are hurting? Couldn’t He have let us recover the loss of one loved one before taking another? Probably, we could just boil our questions down to one word – “Why?”
I’ve heard that word spoken several times this week. I’ve heard it spoken by not only by grieving family and friends, but I’ve heard it in the fathoms of my own heart. As your pastor, I want to be able to give you the answer and so I have pounded on heaven’s door pleading for an answer. The answer I received was the story of Noah.
I. Trust in the Personhood of God
Genesis chapter 6 tells of that world where everyone was doing wicked. Hate and violence were everywhere. People had rejected God, His teachings, His love. God had decided that He was going to destroy all of mankind. Satan had so corrupted the entirety of the human race that He did not feel like it was worth redeeming.
Things must have been really bad. It is hard to destroy something you have made. When you have put time and effort into something, you wish to preserve it. But a strange thing happened, as God was taking a final inventory of the immorality of man, God noticed Noah. No, God had not forgotten Noah – not even for a moment. What the author of Genesis wanted us to see was that though the world had gotten to the point that it should be destroyed, God could not do it because there was yet a righteous man left.
It is hard for us to understand God. In fact, we can’t. He is so far higher and greater than us that He exceeds the scope of our imaginations. We cannot understand the One who inhabits eternity. We cannot understand the One who comprehends and knows all things. If our parents did not live to please the Lord, sometimes we grow up with a warped sense of who God is. We may fear that God will abandon us, hurt us, or just doesn’t care. God knows this and so He tries to show Who He is throughout Scripture using images we would understand.
Genesis – Creator & promised Redeemer
Exodus – the Passover Lamb
Leviticus – High Priest
Numbers – water in the desert
Deuteronomy – He becomes the curse for us
Joshua – Commander of the army of the Lord
Judges – delivers us from injustice
Ruth – our Kinsman-Redeemer
1 Samuel – all in one, He is the Prophet/Priest/King
2 Samuel – King of grace & love
1 Kings – a Ruler greater than Solomon
2 Kings – the powerful prophet
1 Chronicles – Son of David that is coming to rule
2 Chronicles – the King who reigns eternally
Ezra – Priest proclaiming freedom
Nehemiah – the One who restores what is broken down
Esther – Protector of his people
Job – Mediator between God and man
Psalms – our song in the morning and in the night
Proverbs – our wisdom
Ecclesiastes – our meaning for life
Song of Solomon – Author of faithful love
Isaiah – Suffering Servant
Jeremiah – the weeping Messiah
Lamentations – He assumes God’s wrath for us
Ezekiel – Son of Man
Daniel – the stranger in the fire with us
Hosea – faithful husband even when we run away
Joel – He is sending His Spirit to His people
Amos – delivers justice to the oppressed
Obadiah – Judge of those who do evil
Jonah – the greatest missionary
Micah – He casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness
Nahum – proclaims future world peace we cannot even imagine
Habakkuk – crushes injustice
Zephaniah – the Warrior who saves
Haggai – restores our worship
Zechariah – prophesies a Messiah pierced for us
Malachi – sun of righteousness who brings healing
Matthew – the Messiah who is King
Mark – the Messiah who is a Servant
Luke – the Messiah who is a Deliverer
John – the Messiah who is a God in the flesh
Acts – the Spirit who dwells in His people
Romans – the righteousness of God
1 Corinthians – the power and love of God
2 Corinthians – He is the down payment of what’s to come
Galatians – He is our very life
Ephesians – the unity of our church
