Sermon: Lessons of Noah’s Ark Ten Biblical lessons that apply to us today Presented by Joseph Greene Milwaukee, Wisconsin – January 1, 2011

I used to subscribe to several email newsletters and a few years ago I received one and in it was a list entitled Noah’s Ten Lessons. You might have seen that a few years ago. I read it and at first was kind of amused by it. Then I read it again and I found some points that were worth pondering and I wanted to share with you today the top ten lessons from Noah’s ark. I hope as we go through them that the points as they’re stated will help you remember the truly important lessons from that event and how they apply to us today. We can start by turning over to Genesis to do a little review here. The story of Noah’s ark is one that we have likely known since we were children. I remember my first exposure to the story was actually in a doctor’s waiting room. I don’t know if any of you remember the Children’s Illustrated Bibles they used to have. They took some liberties, obviously. I still can envision in my mind what Adam and Eve looked like because they showed me in that book. Obviously, they don’t know but what I found is that as they told the story of Adam and Eve it helps you get into it as a youngster with the pictures of the serpent coming down and being around the apple. It made it very real to me. It was the same with Noah’s ark.

I can still remember the picture of the ark perched there on a little mound with all the animals reaching far into the horizon, kind of orderly, coming in two by two. As a child, it made the story real to me. In Genesis 6 is where we are going to start talking about the story of Noah. I want to spend a little time reviewing it before we get into these ten points. In Genesis 6 verses 1-5 God talks about seeing the wickedness in man and in verse 6 He states something and I can’t imagine what He was feeling when He stated what he did. In verse 6 – and the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. We heard a great sermonette this morning wondering what Christ would have been like in today’s world but can you put yourself in God’s position at this point? Wondering what He was feeling at this point when He said He was sorry He had made man. That had to be a terrible feeling for Him. Verse 7 – He vowed to destroy man from the face of the earth. Then in verse 8, just to review a few things here – Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Verse 9 – This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Verse 10 – And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Verse 11 – And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. That kind of sounds like today. Beginning in verse 12 – So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Verse 13 – And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth.

Verse 14 – Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. Verse 15 – And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Verse 16 – You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” He told him exactly what to do. Do as I say, again. Verse 17 – And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. Verse 18 – But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark-- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. Verse 19 – And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Verse 20 – Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. Verse 21 – And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Verse 22 – Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. We’re going to come back and talk about a few of those scriptures as we go through here. Understand though verse 22 – Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. He picked him anyway because he was a just man and now God has laid out this enormous task before him. Instead of saying, God what are you talking about? That’s a lot. Instead, he did it. He did according to what God commanded him.

In chapter 7, again as an overview, in verse 2 Noah is told to bring in seven pair of the clean animals and one pair of the unclean animals. Verse 3, seven pair of each bird; verse 4 and 5 He tells him it’s going to rain for forty days and forty nights and He will destroy all living things. Verse 6, Noah was six hundred years old when the flood happened. We’ll talk about that some more. Verses 7 through 10, Noah does what God says. He takes his family onto the ark, he follows God’s directions. Verses 11 and 12, we can see the flood starts and just as God had said, it rains forty days and forty nights. In verse 20 He describes the overwhelming depth of the water. He says, the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and the mountains were covered. Think about that. The mountains were covered. That’s something we can hardly fathom today. Verses 21-23, it tells us that everything not on the ark dies. Then in verse 24, And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. If we look at chapter 8 verses 2 and 3, it talks about that time when the waters begin to recede and in verse 5, finally now the tops of the mountains are exposed. Going on in verses 7-12, we see the process start of first sending out a raven and then a series of doves to bring back some evidence of dry land. Finally in verses 13 and 14, the earth dried and the ark was opened and we know the rest well. From there the survivors, man and animal, were told that they were to scatter and they were to be fruitful and they were to multiply and we know that that’s what happened.

While we could go through each verse and pick out countless lessons that we could learn from the story, again I want to go over the story with you in a little bit different way. I want to give you ten lessons from Noah. Let’s start with number 1 lesson from Noah. And it’s simply plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. Plan ahead. Let’s go back to Proverbs 6 which would be a great place to start as we build our case to support this first lesson. Proverbs 6 starting in verse 6. We know that planning ahead is sound advice for all of us and we shouldn’t wait until the last minute. In Proverbs 6 verse 6 we’re told we should look to the ant for inspiration as an example of how we should prepare for the future. Proverbs 6, starting in verse 6 – Go to the ant you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, Verse 7 – Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Verse 8 – Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. Verse 9 – How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? Verse 10 – A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep – Verse 11 – So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man. We today need to be prepared both physically and spiritually for when the trials come for sure as rain they’re going to come. We can’t wait until it’s here and then say, Now what do I do? Every day that we live we’re getting closer and closer to the end times. We can speculate as to how soon that’s going to be but we don’t know. Only God does. But now today is our time to prepare for the end of times, to do our best to live a life pleasing to God, to grow closer to Him right now, because as the lesson says, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. He planned for it and we need to do the same.

Turn to Luke 17 if you would please. Luke 17 reminds me of today. Luke 17 verses 26 and 27. If we understand what it was like in the days of Noah and that God had just had it. Verse 26 – “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: Verse 27 – They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. What was it like in Noah’s time? Back in Genesis 6, which we read but kind of skipped over it. Genesis 6 verse 11, it says The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. Doesn’t that sound familiar? That was Noah’s time. Verse 12 – God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Verse 13 – And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. I ask myself at times, was He more disgusted with the way it was then than possibly the way it is now? I don’t know. I can’t answer that obviously. Most of the times when I read the scriptures comparing society’s condition prior to the return of Christ I think of the condition of the world itself. We need to consider what it was like during Noah’s time. He knew that He was going to protect Noah even though He was going to destroy the world. That’s kind of what He’s planning for us.

Genesis 6:14 – Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And He told him, I want it to be this long, this tall, this wide, I want you to put a window here, put pitch here and Noah did exactly what God told him to do. Verse 22, again – Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. The question I want to ask everyone today is, Are we building our own spiritual ark today for the storms that are coming? God told us basically the same thing He told Noah. There is a storm coming and it’s going to be bad. He’s given us detailed instructions on what we’re supposed to do, how we’re supposed to live, how we are to treat others, how we should obey Him. Are we doing as Noah did in verse 22, everything that God commanded him. Are we doing that today? Or are we saying, Well God, gopherwood – that’s too hard to cut. I think I’ll use pine instead. Do we change it? Maybe I’ll just cover it outside with pitch. That should hold the water out, not on the inside too. If God’s spiritual instructions to us were like the plans for building the ark, would our spiritual ark float when we were done building it? Would we follow God’s plans? Are we following God’s plans for each of us? Or are we taking shortcuts? So point number one again, plan ahead because it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.

Point number two: Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old someone might ask you to do something really big. What I’m saying is, you’re never too old to be of service to God. We know that we have to make efforts to remain physically and spiritually healthy so that we’re ready when God calls on us. And even when we account for the length of time that people lived before the flood, we have to understand that Noah was well into middle age. Something I never realized, look back to Genesis 6 again, a point I never really processed before, in verse 3 – My spirit shall not strive with man forever; he is indeed flesh and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Basically saying that from this day on, God was allowing people a hundred and twenty years to change their ways. Though it doesn’t explicitly say it, there are many commentaries that say that this is the point at which Noah started building the ark. Genesis 7 verse 6 – Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. So if we do a little simple math that makes Noah about 480 years old when he started building the ark. And if we jump back again just to put things into context, you’re never too old to serve God. Genesis 5 verse 32. How old was Noah when he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth? Five hundred years old. At that time, most people had their children in their mid to late one hundreds. They were yet spring chickens at that time. He was five hundred years old when he begat Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Then again Genesis 6:18 when God talked to Noah, he may have thought he was never going to have children but God had other plans. He told him in Genesis 6:18 – I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark-- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives and you. This was when he was 480 and he must have been thinking, I don’t have sons. He had something to look forward to. To add to this point number two, I guess I need to say that you are also never too young to do God’s work either. Noah’s sons weren’t born until he had been working on the ark about twenty years. As his sons grew I’m sure they helped him as soon as they were able. I should say also that you can be born into a work as well as be called into a work. So you are never too old or too young to do God’s work. Point number three: Don’t listen to critics. Do what has to be done. God has given each of us a very special calling and we need to make sure that we don’t allow others to divert us from our own individual calling. As this applies to Noah, think back to that time, that hundred and twenty years he spent building the ark and I just know he endured his share of ridicule during that time. (You crazy old man, build a boat, do something productive will you?) I’m sure people were making fun of him but he didn’t swerve from his calling. Every one of us in here has probably been ridiculed at some point for your beliefs and for doing the right thing. Even lately, all these people who say, Why don’t you keep Christmas? And you explain it to them and they say well okay. But lots of people don’t accept it and there’s a little bit of ridicule there. Noah endured that and he continued to do everything that God had told him.

The former, famous Minnesota governor said this about religion. Jesse Ventura, anyone remember Jesse “The Body” Ventura? He said this: “Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak minded people who need strength in numbers.” This was on national TV and Bill Maher, who I don’t think a whole lot of, agreed with Ventura at the time. They said people have organized religion and are just leaning on that as a crutch. But that’s not what God tells us as He says don’t listen to the critics, this is the way to live, do what you have to do. Turn to 1 Corinthians please. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 – God has called us and we understand what has to be done. 1 Corinthians 1:22 – For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom; Verse 23 – but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, Verse 24 – but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 25 – Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Verse 26 – For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

Verse 27 – But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; Verse 28 – and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, Verse 29 – that no flesh should glory in His presence. Verse 30 – But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— Verse 31 – that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD." Christ has called and selected, has hand picked you and me for whatever reason he knows. It talks about how he picks the weak and the base things. We need to remember that God has picked us and has given us specific instructions. So as point three says, Don’t listen to the critics. Do what has to be done. Do we know what that is? We do.

It’s not a secret, it’s not hidden. God has told us, This is what you need to do. What’s the fourth point in the lessons from Noah? It’s simply, build on high ground. Each of us will face many floods and we need to make sure we stay out of those floodplains. I think back to where I’m from in Illinois. Every year it seemed the Mississippi River would flood. We’d have these big floods and you’d read stories about people who were enduring the flooding the second, third, fourth, fifteenth time having their homes flooded. At that point in time, when I was down there, I’d think why don’t they just move? Why keep doing this, you know it’s going to happen again. I understand that it wouldn’t be as easy to do as it seems. But you’d think they’d learn the first time and they wouldn’t live there but they kept coming back. We need to stay out of those floodplains, stay out of those areas and make sure we build our foundation – our spiritual foundation – on high ground. Christ told us that if we do that we should be able to withstand any storm if we follow him and do the things he told us to do. Matthew 7 verse 24 talks about this, about building on a rock, building on high ground and how that will help us. Matthew 7:24 – “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them (that’s the key part there, who hears and does them), I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: Verse 25 – "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Verse 26 – "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (like that guy who builds in the floodplains where he’s just looking for trouble): Verse 27 – "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." Again, nothing new. We’ve been told this all of our adult lives as we’ve been in God’s church. But are we doing it? Are we building our foundation on high ground, on a rock? So that no matter what happens we can look at all the turmoil going on in God’s church now and we can’t let that affect us. We’re told we need to work out our own salvation. We understand that. That’s who we are. So let’s make sure that if we haven’t built yet on high ground let’s move to high ground now. Point number five in the top ten lessons from Noah: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were onboard but so were the snails. Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were onboard but so were the snails. We all run the same race. Some might run faster than others, but the most important thing is to finish the race. This is an endurance race, a marathon. Turn over to chapter 12 of Hebrews please. Again, nothing new, something we know, good reminders.

Hebrews 12:1 (as we consider that speed isn’t always an advantage) – Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. This is an endurance race. We can’t start fast with lots of zeal and then fizzle, saying I’m too tired now. We can’t lose our energy. You see ours is a race that requires steady, constant forward movement. Even if we’re just standing still saying, I’m just resting now God, we’re not moving ahead, we’re losing ground and we have to understand that. Point number five, speed isn’t always an advantage. Point number six in the lessons of Noah: For safety’s sake, travel in pairs. Two heads are better than one. Turn back if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. We are going to see here in Ecclesiastes chapter 4 where Solomon talks about the importance of friendship and how one can strengthen another in time of need. He talks about the need for us to strive to build good solid friendships so we can help each other. Ecclesiastes 4 and let’s start in verse 8 – There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, "For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?" This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. Verse 9 – Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. Verse 10 – For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Verse 11 – Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?

Verse 12 – Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. We need each other, simply put, and we need to take advantage of the time we have together on the Sabbath and not just that time. We need to stay in contact with each other because we’re spread out. We need each other to support each other, to lift each other up, to exhort each other. We can’t overlook the value of staying close as a group. We’re all we have, really, in this world is each other and we need each other. Point number seven: Don’t forget that we’re all in the same boat. That’s something we should remember at all levels of our relationships whether it’s marriage, family, local congregations, the church as a whole – we can accomplish a whole lot more if we’re all rowing in the same direction, all working as a team. We know that Satan is working hard today on God’s church. It appears right now that we’re not all willing to be in the same boat. It’s very troubling and we as individuals need to make sure that we’re not fooled or sidetracked. We know what God expects of us as individuals. If everyone in the United Church of God adhered to this principle – we’re all in the same boat, we’re all trying to get to the same place – if we all remembered that and adhered to that principle things would be different, things would be a lot better than they are now because we need to understand that we are all in the same boat.

Point number eight in the 10 lessons from Noah: Remember that amateurs built the ark and professionals built the Titanic. I like that. I gave this up in Omro and Mr. Chance said, “Oh no, the head architect of the ark project was God and He was a professional.” OK, OK... anyway there are two things I want to point out from this statement. Number one is that we need to not be intimidated from not accomplishing what God has set before us because as the scripture tells us: If God is for us, who can be against us? And point number two, we need to not put faith in what the world says is infallible. Remember the verse we read earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:27, God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. As I take this back to the point where amateurs built the ark and professionals built the Titanic, I have a little information I will share with you. The Titanic was constructed in Belfast, Ireland, by the building firm Harland and Wolff and she was the technical marvel of the Eduardian period, built and finished within three years. That amateur Noah took a hundred and twenty. The Titanic had double bottom and sixteen compartments formed by fifteen watertight bulkheads running across the ship’s hull. An account of these safe features, a phrase was often repeated by Bruce Ismay, president of the White Star line, as the Titanic was just setting sail from South Hampton, “God Himself couldn’t sink this ship.” You wonder, was God sitting up there thinking, Oh yeah? I don’t know. But understand amateurs built the ark and professionals built the Titanic. Again, we need to not be intimidated from accomplishing the work that God has put before us even though He calls us the foolish and the weak things. We will prevail.

Point number nine: Remember that the woodpeckers inside the ship are often a bigger threat than the storm outside. It’s a fact that a little hole can sink a big ship if it’s not repaired. We need to look at ourselves every day and examine ourselves to be sure that our spiritual ship hasn’t sprung a leak. We need to strive to illuminate any weakness that could cause fatal error. If we look back at what God instructed Noah, He told him in Genesis 6:14 – Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. Let’s digress slightly because I find this very interesting. In Genesis 6:14 where He first uses the word “pitch”. That’s No. 3732 (Strong’s) and it refers to the word kaphar, literally “to cover” and in all places “to cover completely”. It also means “to make an atonement for” which is another way this word is used. To use figuratively, to appease, to atone, to purge, to reconcile. The second time the word pitch is used in Genesis 6:14, it’s No. 3724 (Strong’s) and it’s kopher, and it means “as a ransom, as a satisfaction, as a price for your life”. I think about that, about what the literal and figurative meanings are there. As I read this, I see just as the pitch made the ark watertight, these two different uses of this word are a picture of Christ. Christ as our atonement, as it’s talking about how the pitch is used inside the person or inside this vessel and on the outside Christ is our redemption. Those in the ark were saved because the pitch protected them from the death outside. So too those people in Christ are protected.

The last point I want to share with you may be the most important of all the top ten lessons from Noah: No matter how bleak it looks, if God is with you there’s always a rainbow on the other side. Sometimes I wonder if Noah worried during the flood. I’m sure the forty days of rain were nerve wracking and then it was another hundred and fifty days before the water even started to recede. And I ask myself, knowing he was more converted than I, did he ever even have a doubt? Was there ever a worry in his mind during this? We need to remember that no matter how fierce the storm is, no matter how long it rages, God will always deliver us. It may not be in this life, but He will deliver us. I’m sure Noah’s hope had to be tried during the flood, but like Noah, we need to keep our hope in God because no matter how bleak it looks, if God is with you there’s always a rainbow on the other side. Those are the ten lessons I wanted to share with you on Noah and the ark and I hope if you look back over them they are all worth remembering. Remember to prepare now for the storms ahead because they’re coming and we need to remember that no matter how fierce that storm becomes that if we build our house on high ground, if we build our spiritual ark to the specifications that God has given us, we will remain safe and God will deliver us.