Hebrews 11:7a
"By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,…"
What is it talking about? What did God tell Noah? "Hey, I’m going to destroy the earth with water. The whole shebang is going to be covered with water. It’s going to rain forty days and forty nights." Had it ever rained before? No. It had never rained a drop. They had never even had a thundercloud. So how did Noah know it would rain enough to cover the earth? By first hearing God speak to him, then taking in what was said for he believed it and then received it, then he had to trust it. What was first required? He had to first know God and His voice and the crisis was the warning which caused faith in what was spoken. God said it, and when God said, "Noah, I’m going to destroy the earth with water. Build an ark." What did Noah do? Built an ark! How long did it take him and his sons? Five years, though God gave this man one hundred twenty years.During which he was given a ministry of being an evangelist to preach the gospel of their repentance but they all laughed at him, what is rain?
Now you know he felt as foolish as a three-dollar bill out there where it had never rained. There never been a flood of any kind. No river had overflowed. And he starts building this huge box. Have you ever thought how foolish he must have felt? Have you ever realized how he was scorned and ridiculed? But what kept him going? God said it! And he believed it! And forget the scornful if God said it, it’s going to happen! Now it took a hundred and twenty years if I read my Bible right, 120 years before it happened. He or rather the people were given 120 years to have a change of heart but all they did was to make fun and point the finger and shake it at Noah and his sons. Can you hear those people saying, Noah you and your son are foolish, how can you take El seriously, what is rain? For don't forget that the ground was watered by a mist that came up through the dirt and that mist moistened the ground. But, Noah never gave up on his faith because God had said it. The crisis was in his standing fast on what he had been told in the face of over whelming opposition.
Hebrews 11:7b
"…prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world."
I hope you all realize that at Noah’s flood, the earth probably (I say probably, I can’t prove it, but I think it’s quite likely) could have had anywhere from four billion to up to where we are today, six billion people. Because if you want to just take your computer someday, you that are math nuts. Just start with two people and let them reproduce for nine hundred years like Adam and Eve did. Let all those kids reproduce for nine hundred years like they all did. And they had multiple births. You know that because there is ample evidence of twins in the Old Testament and man, you have no problem at all coming to four-five billion people after 1,600 years of human history. And don't forget that many men had more than one wife in those days.
So the earth was highly populated. And in the midst of all of that activity, as I’ve said earlier - they had tremendous technology. And the more their technology exploded the more wicked they became. Does that ring a bell? Today’s the same way. The faster our technology grows, the faster our moral fabric is rotting away from under us.
All right, this whole race of humanity, with exception of those eight people on the ark are going to disappear. They’re going to go. Now when I talk about this present day population totally disappearing from the scene by the end of the Tribulation, people probably think I’m nuts. I wouldn’t doubt it a bit, but just about all will be gone. They’re going to be gone because there’s only going to be a small remnant surviving (1/3rd of the earths population). Well, if they say, "Well how can it be that small?" Then I have to ask how small was eight compared to four billion people? Pretty small. So Noah had the faith:
Hebrews 11:7c
"…and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
All right, Noah by faith built the ark and then he became the "heir (again which faith always prompts) of (what?) righteousness." Righteousness. God didn’t look at Noah like a vile old sinner because of his faith, God now looked at Noah as a righteous man. Because he trusted God more than the world and the people around him, he knew God. Now if you want to use the term righteous as right standing with God, I’ve got no problem with that. That’s what righteous implies. We are now in a right standing with God. As sinners, we’re aliens, see? And we need reconciliation.
Hebrews 11:8
"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went."
No comments:
Post a Comment