Noah - Proof that Miracles Can Happen When
Your Life is Committed to God
Genesis Chapters 6 - 9
Introduction:
First of all, in this story we have to ask the question can we ignore God without consequence? And second, if we do obey God, how will he work a miracle in our life?
Noah, whose name means rest. Noah’s life brought a rest to the earth from the curse of sin which would have destroyed humanity. Just as Noah’s life brought a rest to the earth from sin, Christ brings rest to the soul of man.
Evil had grown rampant. It threatened to destroy everything that was good. Only one righteous man remained, Noah. God sent the flood to restore good upon the earth.
1) Noah Was Careful Who He Used For Role Models. Genesis 6:4; Gen. 5:22, 24.
Noah used his grandfathers, and great grandfathers as his role models. The linage of Adam’s son Seth was the linage from which Christ came. Enoch was Noah’s great, great grandfather. Enoch walked with God and was taken alive to be with God. He did not see death. Gen 5:24-32
"the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose......The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." Genesis 6:2, 4
The Nephilim were mixed up with at least five nations of people, including the people of Sodom and Gommorha, the Philistines (Goliath was a Nephilim), a branch of the Rephaim("the giants in the city of Bashan") who were associated with Egypt used for man power in building the great stone monuments.
The Nephilim were giants, probably nine or ten feet tall. They used their physical advantage to oppress the people around them. They were an amoral or nonmoral people. They were treated as "heros and men of renown by the sons of God." Maybe somewhat put on a pedestal in their society, like the professional athlete or Hollywood star, with no morals.
If we are to receive miracles from God, we must first learn to receive God’s vision for our lives. We must be connected to Him. We must be properly related to God. Listen to how Genesis 6:9 puts it: Noah was a righteousness man, blameless in his time, Noah walked with God. If a Christian wants to experience life as God intended, then he or she had better be seeking God’s vision for his or her life because it’s vision that gives us purpose, it’s vision that drives us and it’s vision that enables us to live above mediocrity.
When we talk about vision we are referring to spiritual vision, not physical vision. Spiritual vision is not referred to in terms as normal eyesight. We are not seeing with our physical eyes. But rather, we are seeing with our spirit man. We are seeing with a heart bent toward God. We are talking about that which is given to us by God through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We are talking about revelation and inspiration from God through the Spirit.
The type of vision I am talking about is the type of vison that produces miracles. It is the type of vision that helps you see people, circumstances, problems and solutions as God sees them. It is the type of vision that is the dominate factor that governs your life. It determines all the choices you are making. It’s what your mind naturally gravitates toward when it is not legitimately concentrating on something else. It’s what determines your friendships and your relationships that you are cultivating. It’s what your prayers are about. It’s what you dream about and are giving money toward.
Noah was careful about who he used for role models and it prepared him for God to work miracles in his life.
Application: Who do you use as your role model? What values do your role models espouse? What values do you embrace?
2) Noah Refused To Give Up. Genesis 6:22; 7:1
"Noah did everything just as God commanded him....The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation."
God had been longsuffering in His patience with man. Noah warned them for 120 years while he was building the ark.
For Noah, obedience meant a long-term commitment to a project. The project was building an ark and serving God. How does a man, for a period of 120 years, constantly preach God’s Word, Noah was able to faithfully fulfill God’s will because he had received God’s vision for his life.
Living in a world of corruption had its toll upon those who considered themselves religious. Little by little, day by day, their religious beliefs were compromised, their faithfulness to serve God became weaker and weaker, their love for God was replace by a love of the things of this world.
The problem was that the longer that man lived, the greater their moral corruption became. God finally put a limit on the life of men when he stated in Genesis 6:3, "… My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."
As you know, the average life span in our time is about 70 years. God has had to continually place limitations upon the life span of mankind because the heart of man is still set upon every evil imagination and the world only grows more immoral and corrupt with each passing day. After the flood we see the life span decreased dramatically. Abraham lived 175 years, Ishmael lived 137 years, Isaac lived 180 yrs, Jacob 147,
What the story of Noah and the Ark teaches us about God is, God’s holiness demands judgment. In Genesis 6:5-7, the scripture says:
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of his heart was only evil all the time...So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth..."
3) Noah Was Sustained Throughout This Entire Process By God.
Noah had three sons to help him, along with his wife and daughters-in-law. Most significantly, God Himself, will use His own power to make things happen. Remember who shut the door behind them when they all entered the ark? Genesis 7:16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.
He will sustain us throughout the entire process. Let’s take a quick look at the Flood’s time line. We see that Noah and his family were in the ark along with a host of animals for months. This situation must have gotten on everyone’s nerves after a while don’t you think? Noah must have been wondering, "God… have you forgotten us down here trapped in this floating zoo?" But then in Genesis 8:1 we read: But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
There was only one door into Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6:16) and there is only one door into salvation today.
That door is "Jesus Christ". He is the way; the truth and the life and no one can enter except through Him! There is no life that is "good enough",
All of us have to listen, hear and obey the message of the gospel. there is no sacrifice that we can make that can "pay the price", Jesus is the only way and His blood is the sacrifice that is good enough.
Let’s get excited about our faith! Let’s pursue God with all of our might! Let’s seek God’s miracles for our personal lives and for our church! Having a vision for God is everything in the life of a Christian!
C. S. Lewis had a simple answer when he heard the question: "What separates Christianity from all other religions?" C.S. Lewis said, "That’s easy. It’s grace."
Only God will be there through thick and thin, for today and tomorrow, in Timbuktu or worse. Noah walked on earth with God, rode the storm with God, and landed on devastation with God.
Conclusion: The Rainbow - God’s promise of Deliverance
This story reminds us that we cannot ignore God without suffering consequences, and that God Worked Miracles through Noah because he had a life-long commitment to Him. He never gave up and he never quit.
What was unique about Noah is that he was able to weave together "belief & behavior". He had a testimony with personal ethics.
Let us also remember that when Noah and his family left the ark things had drastically changed in all its outward appearance. The first thing Noah did was to build an altar and give thanks to God (Genesis 8:20). Now I think that is remarkable, because, if you remember, these were emergency conditions. There was nothing but mud and chaos and debris everywhere. What would you do if you were in those conditions? Would you try and build a fire, find some shelter, or food, ...but Noah built an altar to God.
There are many miracles which happened in this story. The miracle of the flood and deliverance.
There is the miracle of how God provided for Noah and his family through a difficult period.
But there is the miracle of the first ever rainbow. The brilliant and beautiful rainbow was for those who God brought through the flood not for those who were dead when it appeared. The promise that God’s grace of deliverance and that He would never destroy the earth again by flood. Every time we look at a rainbow we are to be reminded of God’s grace and protection.
There are many other miracles that happend in Noah’s life. Noah was a righteous man who followed God. This story reminds me that if we are willing to follow God he will work miracles in our lives also.
I believe there was a greater miracle that God performed through Noah. It is the same miracle He wants to work through you and I. God taught Noah, through difficulties, how to have intimacy with himself. I believe that is the same miracle God wants to perform through us. He wants us to experience the miracle of intimacy with himself, through Christ Jesus, His Son, our Lord and Savior.
We can celebrate out theme at New Hope through this story. Remember our theme is: Never Give Up! Never Quit! Embrace Jesus An Expect A Miracle!
