Genesis 5:28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah was another person who lived for God. The name Noah means “rest.” As we read in chapter 6 the world was steeped in wickedness by that time. Lamech was obviously one who noticed the wickedness and was longing for something better.
In chapter 6 God gives us further details regarding Noah’s character. We must remember that Noah was born a lost sinner just like all other people. He lived in a time of great wickedness, however he chose not to identify with that culture. He chose to turn to God and trust in Him as his God. He walked with God as we noted yesterday regarding Enoch.
Again we notice that those who walk with God are different. I listened to a “testimony” of a deluded man who claimed to be saved. He claimed to have a ministry to the people in the oil patch. His testimony showed that he had no good testimony. He supposedly was saved when he was around 19. The day after he was “saved” he told a friend who was happy about it and said they should go do some drugs. So he went and got high with this man. He also claimed that until just a few years ago he would go into their garage and get drunk on a regular basis. He was a married man and his wife was greatly upset with his life. He did this while he claimed he was saved. When asked how he finally changed, he claims it was because he started to meditate on God’s Word. His change was not due to being given a new nature, but rather by changing what he was thinking about. Since that time he claims he has been given direct messages from God and he has this exciting “ministry” to hundreds of people. His message is such a sham and yet according to him, it resonates with many people.
People like that fit in well with the New Evangelical philosophy. They have nothing to offer anyone but their own experience and their hype. However, lost people can relate to that type of a testimony. They can also justify their own sinfulness. If a “saved” person can get high after being saved and continue to get drunk for years after being saved, then they can also indulge in their sins and still be “saved”.
Noah was not like that. Noah stood out in his generation. He did not stand out because he wore weird clothing or coloured his hair or had tattoos and piercings. He stood out because he found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God’s grace was as necessary in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. Noah became a believer in God at some point after his birth. As a believer, he could choose to follow God’s way and be blessed of God. He received strength from God to walk with Him. He was not a super human. He was a normal human being who chose to listen to God and trust in Him. Noah pursued godliness because he had been changed by God. He understood that the wickedness that was all around him was wrong. He also understood that he could not help those wicked people to turn to God by being like them. He knew that God was not like that and he walked with God.
God could choose Noah to build an ark to the saving of his family because Noah was a God-fearing man. In II Peter 2:5, Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. Noah was unique because he walked with God. He was different than the majority of the people of his day, or of any generation for that matter.
God continues to show us that those who truly know Him are not like the world. They stand out and they can have a voice among the lost. They stand out because they have chosen to know the true God. That makes a person different. That motivates a person to glorify God. That gives the person a different nature. The saved person thinks differently. He has found a peace that the world does not know and cannot have. He wants others to know there is a way they too can have this peace.
Noah was not able to lead one other individual to faith in God during the 120 years it took to build that ark. Only his wife and his sons and their wives entered that ark with him. He was able to influence his sons for God’s glory. That is a great testimony to have.
However, not one other person turned to God. All the rest of humanity stayed outside that ark and they perished in the flood that God promised to send and did send.
The choice was abundantly clear. We notice in that account as well that God told Noah when to enter the ark. He was busy building that ark and when it was finished God brought the animals to Noah and God told Noah to get his family into that ark. Then we read that God shut the door.
Noah was not in charge. He needed to know God and he needed to obey God. He could obey God because he was His child. He did not become God’s child by building the ark. He became God’s child by trusting in Him as the true God before God ever called him to build that ark.
Nobody is saved by works. Works will follow salvation. This is natural because it is what God designed His child to be and do. When God changes the nature of a person, He equips that person to follow Him. The person needs to learn how to follow Him faithfully. He needs to learn what is good and acceptable to God.
True believers will not always obey God. They will sin. However, they cannot continue on in sin. God does not allow that. When God saves a person He changes them. This is the miracle of salvation. God is mighty. He is also holy. Since the creation of man, God has showed man the importance of knowing Him and following Him. He has never changed His way. He provides the way for man to know His peace. It is important to build your life on the truth.
Pastor Bartel
