Is Today Just Like the Days of Noah? — Russell Kelfer

Well, we've been moving along as we went back to begin our look at the heart of man and the character of God as revealed through the Old Testament saints. We started at the beginning, Adam and Eve, and they were the guys, you remember, who had it all and weren't satisfied.

Maybe you can relate. And then we went on and looked at Cain, who only had to come to God on his terms, but wouldn't. And lest we get a little discouraged, God has allowed us to move on to the next of our living legends, and hopefully we will be encouraged.

Noah’s Obedience in a Spiritual Desert

His name is Noah. Think about it. Now, it's a little bit strange. Adam lived in paradise and chose to disobey. Noah, on the other hand, lived in a spiritual desert and chose to obey. Adam had no peer pressure.

Noah had more, perhaps, than any other man who ever lived. Noah, beloved, lived in one horrible world. He lived in the house that sin built. We're going to read this morning, beginning in Genesis chapter 6, the background and foundation for a look these next three weeks at the life of Noah.

We'll begin reading in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. Now, how many of you like to underline? Does it make you feel spiritual if you can underline? It does me, yeah, particularly if other people are watching.

So I'm going to give you some key words to underline. And God saw, that's your first word, saw. Underline the word saw. We'll look at that in a minute. That the wickedness of man was great in the earth.

And that every, there's another good word to underline, every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. That means without stopping. Next word. And it repented the Lord that he made man on the earth.

We'll look at that next Lord's Day. And it grieved him in his heart. Underline that word grieved. That will be a source of our look at the end of this study. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, man and beast, creeping things, fowl of the air.

He repenteth me that I made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now these are the generations of Noah. Then we get to the next section. And God, we begin to see what God saw when he looked at Noah.

We'll look at this more next week. Noah was a just man. He was righteous in his heart. He was perfect in his generation. Not sinless, but blameless in his conduct. And he walked with God. He fellowshiped.

He had a relationship with God. That is the reason he was righteous in his heart and blameless in his conduct. Now it goes on. Noah had a family. He begat three sons. You're familiar with the begat family.

Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Now here's the circumstances they lived in. The earth was corrupt before God, filled with violence. There's your next word to underline. It is a key word in the entire study. Violence.

Filled with violence. God looked on the earth and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with, there's our word, violence.

Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Noah, make an ark. What a picture. Now I want you to try this morning to take the eyes of your mind and visualize living in Noah's generation. It shouldn't be hard.

It shouldn't be hard at all. It says the earth was corrupt and it was filled with violence. Nobody left their doors unlocked. Women weren't safe on the streets alone. Theft, murder, and rape was on the front page of every newspaper.

It was every man for himself. Nobody was safe. Sound familiar? Now why was mankind so corrupt? Verse 5, it says, because men and women designed by God to be holy and to have a relationship with a holy God were filled with wickedness.

Now why were they filled with wickedness? Verse 5, because every imagination of the thoughts of every heart was only evil continually. So man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart, and every heart was wicked, corrupt.

Now remember, they were not wicked because of what they did. They did what they did because they were wicked. They had a heart problem. They needed surgery. And I think it's fair only to remember that society was not the problem.

Society is not the problem today, beloved. Society is only made up of individuals with heart problems. Well, I want us to take a look at several things this morning. Somebody that was doing the videoing upstairs said, I've never seen that many lists in one lesson.

This is just a list lesson. Well, OK, it is. But the first list I want to give you is some reasons why we need to look at Noah's generation. First of all, remember the premise behind this study is that every time we look at a biography, we try to see the character of God as it relates to that person and the character qualities of man as they are revealed through that person's life.

Those were the two goals. So, number one, it better explains the character of God to look at Noah. You know, when God says he's a God of mercy, it's one thing. When you see his mercy exhibited to Noah, you really understand it.

When God says he's a God of patience, it's one thing. When you see the patience he showed in Noah's generation, you understand the patience of God. And when God said he's a God of righteousness that must bring forth judgment, studying Noah helps to understand.

Secondly, the character qualities Noah possessed. Let's look at just two of them. Courage and faith. It's one thing to say someone is a courageous man. But, beloved, when you realize the peer pressure this man faced, that's courage.

It's one thing to talk about having faith, but when you see this man's faith in the light of the faithlessness that surrounded him, you better understand. And then thirdly, and most importantly, I think, we need to study the life of Noah so that we can understand the age in which we live.

Jesus’ Prophecy About the Days of Noah and Lot

I think most of us understand that Luke chapter 17, verses 26 through 30, is a passage in which Jesus takes the canvas of Scripture and he etches on it a portrait of life on planet Earth just before the return of Christ.

And understanding that ought to make us excited, not sad. Christians today walk around with this gloomy look on their face because society is in such a decrepit condition. Sure it is. God said it would be.

But he also said, get excited. What that tells you is that you're living in those days. Jesus is coming soon. Well, let's listen to the passage now. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.

They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the very day Noah entered the ark. The flood came, destroyed them. Likewise, as it was in the day of Lot. So what the Scripture is saying is if you take a picture of Noah's generation and a picture of Lot's generation and you put them together and you let the Spirit of God illuminate the two of them on the other side of the projector, you'll see a picture of life in our generation.

That's what it says. Likewise, also, as it was in the day of Lot. The people ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But the same day Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, destroyed them all.

Even thus shall it be when the day that the Son of Man is revealed. So here's a picture for us of the last days. I want us to look at some things that we can see from these two pictures. Let's see. This must be list number 44 or something.

But number one, number one, Jesus puts a stamp of divine authenticity on Noah and the flood. If somebody comes to you and says, oh, these Old Testament stories, they're just allegories, they're not really true.

Beloved, if the flood didn't happen just the way the Bible says it did, Jesus was either a liar or a fool. In either case, he couldn't have been God. Jesus specifically refers to Noah and to the flood as absolute fact and is essentially important spiritually.

That's number one. Number two, Jesus begins to reveal for us the decadence of the last days and why judgment must ultimately come. Thirdly, Jesus begins to give those of us who may be living in the last days a better picture of what to expect.

Fourthly, Jesus gives those who live in the last days a better look at Noah and Lot. You can turn the mirror around. You look at Noah and Lot, you better understand the age in which we live. But you look at the age in which we live, you better understand Noah and Lot.

They're two sides to a mirror. So this morning we're going to try to put the two together and we're going to look for similarities between Noah's days, Lot's days and our days. You know, so often I think we talk about Jesus coming again and we look for the signs of his coming.

And we look for all of the physical and particularly the political signs. And it seems that most all of those have come to pass. What I think we fail to do sometimes is we fail to look at the behavioral clues in Scripture.

And that's what we're going to do this morning. First of all, this is what it's going to be like according to these two pictures at the end times. Number one, the world at large is going to basically scoff at or ignore the second coming of Christ.

They're going to say, where's the promise of his coming? Jesus is what? Coming back. You see, the men of Noah's day were not on a campaign to defy God, they just ignored him. It wasn't a... they had replaced him with some kind of humanistic philosophy.

And that's the same way it is today. Most people today live life as if the real Jehovah God doesn't exist. They deny there's a hell and thus reserve themselves a place therein. It's no longer that God is dead, it's just that God's not important.

Secondly, there will be a preoccupation with immorality and perversion. Second Timothy 3 states that men will be without natural affection. Romans 1, 24 and 28 says this, God will give them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart to decide of their bodies between themselves.

Women changing the natural use into that which is against nature. Likewise, men leaving the natural use of the women will burn in their lust for one another. Working that which is unseemly. Men will receive within themselves the reward for what they're doing.

Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do the things that are neither proper or decent. Now you read the morality or lack thereof in Lot's generation in Genesis 19 and it'll turn your stomach.

It's moral degradation at the lowest point in history. And God says as the coming of Christ nears, morality will fade into immorality, immorality into amorality. Pornography and perversion will become common and acceptable.

Sounds like Hollywood. The acceptance of homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle will one more time become a signal of judgment coming on the earth. As it was on the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.

The third thing we learn from both of these illustrations is that the home will have decayed into relic and relative insignificance. No respect for morality, for the permanence of marriage, for the holiness of the home.

No respect for parents. Divorce will destroy the foundation of the home. There'll be apostasy and heresy within the church. Second Peter 2 1. There shall be false teachers among you shall bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them.

Look at Lot's family. They were so attracted to the world of perversion and ungodliness that when God tried to deliver them, they couldn't even hear him. They didn't even recognize him. And Lot's wife, she'd become so enamored with this world that she couldn't take her eyes off of it long enough to be delivered.

Fifthly, violence and bloodshed become a way of life. This is the second major thing. The decay in morality is number one and the violence is another. Do you see any similarity? Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 through 13.

You can read that and see how safe Noah's community was. And then you read Genesis 19 and you find Lot's neighborhood was a lot worse. And then you read Romans chapter 1, 17 through 32 and you'll see what society is like today.

It's a society where no man is safe to walk the streets. No doubt Noah's family lived in Crimesville. The scripture says the world was submerged in violence. Does that word ring a bell? In Genesis 19 we get the further account of this sick society in which Lot lived.

No man or woman could walk the streets without fear of being molested. Violence and bloodshed were an acceptable way of life. The only answer they had was to buy bigger locks, put burglar alarms in their homes, buy mace to walk the street, hire more policemen, build bigger jails.

Without Jesus Christ, men would just be turned loose to murder, steal, and rape again. And as it was in the days of Noah, and as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.

Authority, Apostasy, and Business as Usual

Number six, men will hold contempt for authority. Jude verses 7 and 8 says this,. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in like manner gave themselves over to immorality and went after strange flesh, these are set forth as an example of suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Likewise, these filthy dreamers first defile the flesh, then despise authority, and then speak evil of and even revile the supernatural power. As of heaven, they make fun of God. So, Lot's land is our example.

Once again, multiple perversion characterized by homosexuality, followed by the absolute rejection of authority. Number seven, business as usual, will be the atmosphere and the attitude of the time. Matthew 28, Luke 17 tell us, as it was in the days of Noah, they ate, they drank, they got married.

They were totally oblivious right up to the very moment that Noah walked into the ark and God shut the door. That's what it says. And then in the same way in Lot's day, Kenneth Taylor paraphrases it this way, they went about their daily business, eating, drinking, buying, selling, farming, building, until the very morning Lot left Sodom.

And then fire and brimstone rained down from heaven to destroy them. Yes, it will be business as usual, Jesus said, right up to the hour of my return. You think the world is alarmed about the impending judgment?

You think the world is excited that Jesus is coming again? Not on your life. The signs that say to the Christian, be ready, are only saying to the average person in the world, live it up. But the problem is they're on a roller coaster of greed and pleasure and don't know that the track is broken and they'll go screaming with the delight as they round the last curve, only to be hurled off into an eternal canyon of despair forever.

It'll be business as usual right up to the very day of judgment. That's what the scripture teaches. Number eight, God will preserve a remnant of faithful believers. The number may be small relative to the number of people on the earth, but God always has a remnant.

When the judgment of the flood came, God had how many? One man and his family. But that's all he needs, one faithful man. When judgment came on Sodom, God had Lot for whatever that was worth. Carnal, yes, weak, but he'd been justified by faith and God delivered him.

And in the final hours of history, God will have his Noahs. God will have a remnant. We may be few in number in terms of the whole population of the world, but God is always delighted by amazing the many by empowering the few.

The Remnant’s Calling to Obedience

And then finally, number nine, and this is the key to this lesson, God will call that remnant to a task. Six things we read from the life of Noah and Lot that we know God expects us to do in this generation.

Number one, listen carefully to the word of God. Pay attention. No time to mess around. Listen to your instructions carefully. Can you imagine old Noah sitting there and God said, Now Noah, I want you to build this boat.

Okay, Lord, just a minute, I'm watching football. Noah, I want it to be 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Gotcha, Lord, 30 cubits wide and 50 cubits high. Noah, I want you to make it out of gopher wood.

Okay, Lord, balsa wood, that'll be okay. And the more God tells you, you realize you're only half listening. So the next morning, Noah gets out and gets his hammer and his saw and he says, What was I supposed to do?

Build something. See, judgment was coming. There was no time to play games. Noah had to listen carefully to every word God said. He had to write it down. He had to memorize it. And so do we. Second thing Noah had to do is preach the truth.

Jude says that Noah preached the truth to a hard-hearted world. Nobody listened, but his goal was to preach the truth. He said, I've been laboring in the vineyard all these years and I've had so few respond.

Beloved, you've had more than Noah. The third instruction was he was to prepare his household. Ham, Shem and Japheth were his three boys tagging along behind him, helping build a boat in the middle of his yard, miles from the nearest water in the middle of a drought.

Now, you don't think those boys got kidded. Boy, your dad's some sailor. Ham, there's a new psychiatrist in town. Why don't you ask him to help your dad build that boat? But the truth of the matter is Noah's responsibility was to so prepare his household.

So when the time came that the flood would come, he would say, come on, boys, bring your wives and get on board. And they did. The fourth thing he had to do was stay ready. He didn't know the hour. He didn't know the day that the flood would come, but he did know it was coming.

And he knew that the closer it came to completion, the more ready he had to be. And so do we. The fifth instruction was he had to do what he was told. He had to work. He had to labor. Now, I don't know about you, but God could have said, Noah, go sit over in a hammock, get your favorite drink, get your hot dog and go to sleep.

And I'll wake you up. You'll have the neatest boat you ever dreamed of. God could have. But he didn't. He doesn't. He does the supernatural and natural ways to bless the believer through obedience. The sixth instruction was to continue to walk with God.

Think about it. Any point that he lost his fellowship with God, he was finished. Never before had the Church of Jesus Christ had an opportunity greater than the one we face today. Like Noah, we alone know of the coming judgment.

We have an ark. His name is Jesus. And our calling is to bring men and women to the place of safety as the clouds gather for the storm. And they're going to scorn. They're going to laugh. They're going to be too busy.

Noah had no takers. We'll have a few. But the urgency of the hour means everything secondary must be set aside. We must be ready. We must get everyone possible to join us. As it was in the days of Noah, so must it be.

Those were Noah's instructions. Now back to the tenth thing that's similar between Noah's world, Lot's world, and ours. Number ten. God's going to give extra grace to the faithful. One godly man. You ever thought about it?

Noah was faithful. His whole family was delivered. Lot was justified by faith and his whole family was called. The jailer was saved and his household as well. But number eleven, and this is the key, judgment will come.

We don't like to talk about that in the 90s, do we? It's time we better talk about it. God's word is faithful. God's righteousness will remain intact. God is so patient. Oh, how patient he is. But, and when all who will come have come into the ark, beloved, God will still shut the door.

And when the last lot has been delivered from the Sodom of this generation, there will be judgment. It must come or God's a liar. And he can't be God. God won't change his mind. He can. Judgment must come.

And he has the right. It's his creation. The story is told, do you remember the story about the artist who created a work of art? And he loved it. But a stranger walked in and he looked at one of the paintings and he said, that's the worst looking thing I've ever seen.

He began to rip it up. And you say, wait a minute, what right do you have to do that? None. But suppose the artist steps back and looks at the canvas and says, you know, that's not what I envisioned at all.

He has the right, even the responsibility to do something about it. And then number 12, it's a reminder once again, I believe, and this is my interpretation for what it's worth, that the saints will be delivered from the wrath of God.

Not a drop of rain fell until Noah was behind closed doors. Not one drop. Fire fell upon Sodom, but beloved, until lot was outside the city. Not one spark. First, God snatched up his own and delivered them.

And then judgment came. And only then. And I believe the scripture teaches that God always lifts his beloved out before the fire falls. And I believe that the church is going to be snatched up very soon, raptured as it was in the days of Noah.

So shall it be a horrible world. Right. But we can't focus on that. We've got to go beyond that. And let's look at God. Let's see what he sees, how he feels about what he sees and how he responds to how he feels.

God’s Emotions and His Grief Over Sin

You know, I know this goes without saying, but I want to lead up to this by reminding you that God has a heart. He's subject to all the emotions that accompany personality. God's feelings or emotions are not our emotions lifted into the context of deity.

The feelings that accompany human personality are derivatives of the feelings of God, not the other way around. So if you want to see real love, you look at the love of God. Now, you can see a little bit of it through the love of believers, but it's being filtered through an imperfect vessel.

If you really want to see the emotions of God, you have to look at Jesus Christ, the only perfect man who never sins. So we learn is these seven things about the emotions of God in scripture. And I'd like us to look at those in closing and then then capture the thought behind the last of those emotions.

Number one, God is capable of and must express love. He has the emotion that accompanies love as well. It's one thing for Jesus to love, but we read as he was weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. Oh, how he loved him.

It was the emotion that accompanied his love that demonstrated. And in John 3, 16, we read of the response to that love. God so loved the world he gave. He did something about it. Secondly, God is capable of hate.

Theologians don't theologians don't talk about that anymore. But Proverbs 6, 16 says, here are seven things God hates. And all of them are reflections of Satan. God hates Satan. He hates everything Satan does.

He hates what Satan has done to you. He hates what Satan has done to me. God is capable of hate. God is capable of pity. Psalm 103, 13. The way a father pities his children, the Lord has pity on those that fear him.

God's capable of anger. First Kings 11, 9. The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel. God's capable of joy. Psalm 147, 11. The Lord finds joy in those that fear him.

And the angels share that joy. The scripture says they rejoice over one sinner that repents. The day you came to Jesus Christ. Now think about this. Believe it or not. The day you came to Christ, the eyes of God lit up.

The day you came to Christ, a smile went across the face of God. The day you came to Christ, he leaped for joy in his heart because another one had been born into his family. God isn't some cold, dispassionate soul who sits in heaven without feeling.

He is a God of emotion. He is rejoicing at every sinner that repents. God's a God of a right kind of jealousy. Exodus chapter 25. A protective kind of love. But lastly, and this is where we want to close with, God is a God who experiences grief.

That's where we are. God was a God of grief when Jesus was at the tomb of Lazarus. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I wanted to gather you in, but you said no.

God was a God of grief and compassion. And the widow woman, when they came out of the city with her dead child, and he felt compassion on her. Jesus gave her son back alive. He knew grief. And back to our passage, Genesis 6, 6.

It says he looked at the world, at Noah's world, and he what? He was grieved. His heart broken, too. So God's not sitting in heaven bored and unconcerned. He's not indifferent. He's not wringing in hands with glee that he's going to be able to send judgment.

He's not elated. Genesis 6, 6 tells us how he feels. And we need to know that he feels and how he feels. His heart beats with emotion. He's grieved. It means he's sitting in heaven weeping over the lost condition of his creation.

Just the way Jesus wept over Jerusalem. You believe that? God's crying today because of the conditions in this world. We're told in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

There's a sensitivity about the spirit of God that's wounded when we disobey. God's grief is an expression of his love. The love of a father who has this rebellious child and he's moved with grief as again and again the child disobeys and gives in to sin.

Some of your parents, you can understand. A father pleads. A father reaches out and longs for his wayward son. And patiently he waits as the father of the prodigal did. And all he longs for is to see in the distance the shadow of a boy coming home.

He runs to meet him at breakneck speed, kills the fatted calf and welcomes him home. That's the heart of God. In fact, the scripture even teaches that if there were 99 who were saved, he would leave them having made provisions for them and go after the one who says, I'm coming home.

The master shepherd waits for and looks for that one. And oh, how many parents have waited up night after night for a child to come home? What do they feel inside? A little bit of anger. But mostly it's grief.

A heart that's been melted by disappointment. God understands a mother's grief, a father's grief. In fact, he says in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2, I have nourished and brought up my own children, but they have rebelled against me.

So if you're a grieving parent, lay your head on the shoulder of a grieving heavenly father. He's been there. He knows. He's there today. Now, multiply that grief that you feel over one wayward child.

Millions times ten millions. And you get a teeny, teeny glimpse of a fraction of the grief God felt when he looked at Noah's generation, when he looked at Lot's generation, and when he looks at ours. That phrase God saw has a literal meaning.

He sent a team from his eyes to inspect. And his heart broke in two. Beloved, can you imagine how God feels today? Since Adam, Cain, Noah, and Lot, he's paid the ransom to set his children free. Cost him everything.

His only son, the only one who never broke his heart, died for all who ever had. And now, like Adam, we have it all. Paradise in our hearts. Paradise in eternity. No wonder he has expectations for us that exceed beyond his expectations for Noah's day and Lot's day.

But what does he see? He looks down. In this generation, what does he see? He sees scoffers, immorality, decadence, apostasy, violence, contempt, and business as usual. Beloved, don't overlook the heart of God.

It's broken. And if God is grieved to tears over the sinfulness of this world, and you and I are to have the mind of Christ, how can we go on as though it were business as usual? The church of Jesus Christ today ought to be on its knees before God.

Day and night. Not trying to compromise with the pursuits of this world, but setting apart the whole of our lives before a holy God. God had a plan for Noah. God has a plan for the church. He wants us to build the ark.

Building the Ark Through Faithful Witness

But only if, like Noah, we walk with God can we be the builders. What that means is that some of us need to be laying aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. We need to be seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness at whatever the cost.

We need to be men and women in our generation with only one goal in life, one purpose in life, and that's to walk with God. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is today. We live in Noah's world. It's corrupt.

It's degenerating. And the God-ordained principles that hold it together are being torn asunder. And we as Christians just can't live with a business-as-usual mentality. These are the last days. Jesus is coming soon.

And we've got an ark to build. And our task isn't to sit around in little groups and condemn society and complain. God said it was going to be like this. Why are we so surprised? We don't need radio talk shows to interface with to let them know so that we know that the world is going crazy.

God said it would. It's not a call to complain. It's a call to get excited. Let's don't be discouraged. This is the greatest time in history to be alive. You and I have been given the privilege of becoming the Noahs of our generation.

We have the plans for the ark. It's been etched in the scrolls of Scripture. We have the enabling power of His Holy Spirit to comfort us, to guide us, and to lead us. We have the examples of Lot and the examples of Noah's world to remind us.

All we need to do is be willing to fall down before God and make ourselves totally available the way Noah did. Beloved, I don't think there's any time to waste. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it is today.

God needed a Noah then. He desperately needs Noahs now. Dear God, by Your grace, may we become the Noahs You need. Because as it was in the days of Noah, so it is today. Men buying and selling casually going life's wicked way.

Men scoff at God in derision or pretend He isn't there. Never a time to worship, never a need for prayer. Immorality, violence, wickedness have become the norm of the hour. And within the church, so many stand devoid of personal power.

As it was in the days of Noah, at His return as well. Men will scorn the judgment and laugh at the thought of hell. But as in the days of Noah, the flood of judgment must fall. Praise God, the ark of Jesus has room enough for all.

So God is looking for Noahs. God is looking for men who, trusting His word, remain faithful until He comes again. As it was in the days of Noah, so even today it's true. God is looking for Noahs. And God is looking at you.

Final Exhortation to Be Found in Christ

Our Father and our God, what a great time to be alive. What an exciting generation to be a part of. The ark is about to see the door closed. And safe and secure inside will be those who are found in Christ.

Dear Lord, we have a job to do. Fill us with Your Spirit. Wipe the scales from our eyes that we might envision a lost world. And by Your grace, may we do whatever You instruct us to do. To all who will come, have come.

In Jesus' name, Amen.