Noah

I was thinking about Noah this morning, so I thought I would talk about what was going on in his day plus other things which in many ways reminds me of what is going on today.  Read Genesis 6:1-6, “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

Things must have been very, very sinful and violence must have permeated the land in every way for the Lord to be willing to wipe out everyone and everything on the face of the earth except Noah and his family.  They were the exceptions because Noah was the only one that the Lord perceived to be righteous in his day.  It is very hard to imagine that there was only one person that this could be said about in Noah’s day.  It seems like there has been wickedness all down through the ages.  

Not long after the flood we read about Abraham and Lot in Genesis 18:26-31, “So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Then Abraham answered and said, ‘Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?’ So He said, ‘If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.’ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, ‘Suppose there should be forty found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not do it for the sake of forty.’ Then he said, ‘Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there.’ And he said, ‘Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.’”

In this case God could not find even ten righteous men, the evil was so great in these cities and the abominations so terrible.   

And chapter 19:1-5, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, ‘Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ And they said, ‘No, but we will spend the night in the open square.’ But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.’”

Now read verses 12-13, “Then the men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.’”

From Genesis to the present, things are getting to look a lot like it did back then and it all comes down to the sin nature that we were all born with.  We may act out in different ways but behind all our sinful actions is the fact that we were all born in sin and like David said, he was born in sin and shaped in iniquity, and so are we.  But we can thank God that He didn’t chose to leave us in our sinful state, but He had a plan before the beginning of time to free us from the bonds of sin that has enslaved us and has kept us captive.

Read what it says in Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

          

Now read verses 4-7, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”   

Now you see the condition that we were all in and what God does for the person that truly repents of their sins and makes a conscious decision to turn from their sins and turn to God.  This is not a person that says they are sorry and then goes out and lives the same lifestyle that they did before.  No if there is no change then nothing happened in your life, in your thinking and your actions.  God’s Word says this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

There is nothing we can do to be saved outside of our true repentance and that will only come through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and God drawing you to Jesus, read John 6:41-44, “The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  This is what God’s word says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”   

When someone demonstrates godly sorrow it brings forth true repentance and results in salvation, but worldly sorrow only brings forth death.  The choice is yours if you don’t know the Lord.  My prayer is that you will make the right one.  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!