Noah-God's Man for God's Plan, Part 2

Genesis chapter 6 is about Noah, God's man for God's plan. We began here last week talking about Noah and what made him God's kind of man and we want to pick up on that discussion with you this morning and ask and answer this question, what does it mean to be God's kind of man, God's kind of woman, God's kind of boy or girl in this kind of society that we might fulfill the plan of God in a way that he wants us to fulfill it in a way that glorifies and honors him because in the plan of God, in the mind of God there's always a man, there's always a woman, there's always an individual that God uses to accomplish his purposes.

He doesn't need us but he wants to use us and as we avail ourselves to him within his sovereign plan then we are part and parcel to what he wants to accomplish. Noah was that man way back in Genesis chapter 6. And we started by looking at Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11 verse number 7 and I want you to turn with me in your Bible there because it kind of gives us a synopsis of this man and gives us four characteristics that help us determine what it means to be God's kind of man.

And then we'll go back to Genesis chapter 6 and see what God's plan was back then and how Noah was used to accomplish the plan of God. Hebrews 11 verse number 7 reads as follows, by faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. We started last week by saying that the reason Noah was God's man was not because of who Noah was but because of who God is.

And that is God chose Noah to be his man and then Noah was then graced by God and Noah received the righteousness of God. Hebrews 11 tells us that he was an heir of God's righteousness according to faith. Noah believed what God said. Noah knew what was going to happen, believed it, trusted in it, and like Abraham it was counted to him as righteousness. So the first character quality of a man that God uses is that he must receive righteousness.

He must receive the free gift of God. He must be made right with God. He must be declared right with God. And only God can do that. Noah couldn't do that. You can't do that. Only God can do that. You see what Noah believed was in the promise seed. What Noah believed was what God said. And because he believed God it was counted to him as righteousness. That is he was declared right before God. And in order for God to use you, you've got to believe what God says in His Word.

And we're going to see this in a moment. But Noah never hesitated. He never flinched on what God said. He just believed it. There's no account of Noah debating God and arguing with God and questioning God about God's plan and God's design. God made a covenant with Noah. And that covenant was based on God, not Noah. It was an unconditional covenant that He gave to him. But Noah believed God. And Hebrews 11 says that he was made an heir of the righteousness of God according to faith. He believed God.

He didn't earn anything with God. He didn't do anything to get God's approval, God's stand. No. He simply put his faith and trust in the God of the universe and walked by faith and not by sight. So God's man receives righteousness. It's a free gift of God. But he receives that. He gets it from God. And that then sets him out on the right path to be all that God wants him to be. Which leads us to point number two in Hebrews chapter 11.

Not only does he receive righteousness but he reveals submissiveness. That's point number two. God's man reveals submissiveness. It says by faith Noah prepared an ark. By faith Noah prepared an ark. Now you know Noah lived in Mesopotamia which is that dry desert land between the Tigris and Euphrates River. This was a monumental step for this man because you see he had to completely submit himself to what God had said. So by faith he prepared an ark. And in a moment we'll go back to Genesis chapter 6 and see exactly what the command was that God gave to Noah.

But understand Noah had never seen a flood before. In order to have a flood you would have to have rain. Noah had never seen rain before. But by faith he prepared an ark. And so it reveals submissiveness. A submission to the plan of God. What does God ask you to do that might seem strange? That might seem a little far-fetched? That might seem otherworldly minded? That might seem absolutely monumental? I don't think that God has asked us to do anything greater than he asked Noah to do. I mean we have more revelation than Noah had.

We've got the Word of God and we can read the Word of God and we can go back and see what God did with Noah and Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and all those guys. And we can begin to understand the plan of God and his working things out. Well they didn't have that. I mean they just lived by faith. They trusted God. The man of God. The woman of God. The kind of person God uses not only receives righteousness but reveals submissiveness. Everybody saw his submissive spirit. They thought he was an idiot.

But he demonstrated a different kind of spirit than everybody else demonstrated. That's the kind of man Noah was. He never tried to to weasel out of his commitment. Which leads us to point number three.

Not only does the man of God receive righteousness, reveals submissiveness, but he reflects fearfulness. He reflects fearfulness. The Bible says, by faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence or in fear prepared an ark.

Maybe your Bible says he was moved with fear. Well that's why Noah did it. Noah was was was warned by God and God said, Noah if you don't do this man I'm gonna come down on you and I'm gonna throw you in the water with everybody else. And he was scared spitless so he had to do it. No, that's not true because God never said that. He was moved with fear. There was a holy terror in the life of Noah. He believed God. He knew what God could do. Probably most of us is that we don't have that kind of fearfulness in us.

We don't think that we ought to fear God. But the Bible says in Isaiah 66 verse number two, to this man would I look to him who is of a broken and contrite spirit and who trembles and shakes with fear at my word.

God says that's the kind of man I'm looking for. I'm looking for someone who shudders under the authority of my Holy Word. We don't fear condemnation my friend if you know Jesus Christ because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We don't fear being eternally separated from God but we do fear the hand of God. For those who don't fear God they haven't read 1st Corinthians 10, 1st Corinthians 11, Hebrews 12, Acts 5. Our God is a holy God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 10 verse number 12, what does the Lord your God require from you but to fear the Lord your God and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

That's what the Lord requires of you to fear him and if you fear him you'll serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. See that was Noah. Noah was a man of faith because he feared God. He honored God. He was completely devoted to God because he knew what God could do. Do you know what God can do? Do you know the God of the Bible as Noah knew the God of the Bible? You see we should know more about God than Noah ever knew about God. We've got a written revelation. We've got the history of Israel, the history of the church.

We should know exactly how God operates, exactly how God functions and live in fear all day long as the Bible says.

That's important. God's a man, receives righteousness, reveals submissiveness, reflects fearfulness and rebukes sinfulness. He rebukes sinfulness. It says by faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world. By which he condemned the world he rebuked sinfulness. He was not a friend of the world because James 4.4 says if you're a friend of the world you are an enemy of God. You're at odds against him.

But Noah was a man who rebuked sinfulness. Every time he chopped down a tree, every time he cut a piece of lumber, every time he drove a nail into the side of that ark, he lived his testimony. He rebuked another sinner. Peter says over in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 4 and 5 these words, For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, and cast them into hell, and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah a preacher of righteousness.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He rebuked sinfulness. He preached the right way. He preached the right way to God. And can you imagine his life? I mean he has these boys and they grow up. I mean Noah had to be a great motivator of the family to keep his family together. Fellas this is a good example for you to follow. Noah had to keep his boys on target for 120 years. You've only got two years for 18. But for 120 years Noah had to keep them together. And they'd be saying, Well Dad we've got to build a boat today.

Can't we go down the street and play a little bit? Nope, got to build the boat today fellas. God's going to judge the world. We've got to put some nails in this baby. We've got to chop down some more gopher trees. We've got to get the work done. But Dad I mean come on it's getting dark outside. That's okay we've got work to do. He had to motivate his boys. He had to motivate his wife. He had to motivate his boys' wives. Noah was a great leader. He got people to do things that they needed to do because God wanted them done.

How about you? That the kind of leader you are in your family? Motivating your family, motivating your kids, your daughters-in-law to do the things of God. Noah rebuked sinfulness. The Bible says in 2 Peter 4 to preach the word in season and out of season we prove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering.

We need to rebuke sinfulness. Just can't pray about a sinful world. You got to rebuke a sinful world. You got to pray about it too but you got to rebuke it. You got to stand against sin. You got to stand for God. And Noah would proclaim righteousness and he would portray righteousness every time he got up and went to work on the ark because it demonstrated his faith and belief in God. It was James Montgomery Boyce who said this about Noah. He said, this solitary righteous man of the pre-flood generation is remembered throughout the world when virtually all his unrighteous contemporaries are forgotten.

A dog now, but vindicated later. Forgotten now, but remembered later. That is what Noah was. It is what every true believer should be willing to be." Every believer, he says, should be willing to be forgotten now that he might be remembered later. But see that doesn't sit too well with us, does it? Because our reputation is at stake. We want people to know who we are. We want people to see us, to applaud us, to applaud our efforts. Noah was ridiculed, laughed at, mocked. His family was, but he kept on a straight and narrow.

He kept following God until judgment came. That's God's man. How do you measure up? You God's man? You God's woman? Have you received righteousness? Do you reveal submissiveness to all that God says without question?

Do you reflect fearfulness? Because you live in the fear of God all day long. Do you rebuke sinfulness? That's the man God uses. That's God's man. What's God's plan? Now you can turn back with me to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. Here's God's plan. I want you to see the command, the covenant, and then Noah's capitulation. All right? Genesis chapter 6 verse number 13, Then God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me. For the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I'm about to destroy them with the earth.

Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood. You shall make the ark with rooms that shall cover it inside and out with pitch. And this is how you shall make it, the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. You shall make a window for the ark and finish it to a cubit from the top, and set the door of the ark in the side of it. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

And behold, I, even I, am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall perish. We'll stop right there. God gives the command, Noah this is what I'm going to do. And behold, I, even I, it's almost can you believe this Noah? I have been so patient. I have been so kind. I have been so long-suffering. I have been so merciful for thousands of years. But I, even I, Noah stand amazed at this, am going to destroy everybody.

I'm going to kill them all, Noah. So, what you've got to do is build an ark. A staggering command. And the dimensions of this thing were phenomenal. And there's debate over how big a cubit is from the smallest 17.5 inches to 22 inches. There's a debate, but you know for lack of nothing else to do theologians like to debate over how long a cubit is. But the bottom line is this, that even if you use the lowest measurements 17.5 inches as a cubit the ark was 437 feet long. Now that's almost one and a half football fields.

That's pretty long. It says that it was 72, almost 73 feet wide and 44 feet high. That's the average of a four story building. The ark had three decks. It says that in verse number 16. And the total deck area was approximately 95,700 square feet. Now how big is that? This building that we are in is 22,000 square feet. Multiply that times four you have 88,000 square feet. You're still not as big as the square footage on the ark. It had a volume of 1,396,000 cubic feet. This is a large, large raft.

It's huge. And Noah was commanded to build this boat. Noah believed. Didn't know what rain was. Never seen rain. Never saw a flood. In the middle of a desert, very few trees. Took him a while to get all the lumber together to build the ark. As you recall back in Genesis chapter 2 there was a mist that came up from the ground. God had his own irrigation system and that mist then would water the earth. That's very important because when we get to Genesis chapter 7 it will explain to you exactly how the earth was flooded.

The earth was not flooded because it rained for 40 days. You come back next week I'll explain that to you. But the earth was flooded. Not because it rained for 40 days, but because of the water that was in the earth that gushed out of the earth. And we'll talk about that next week. But God had His own irrigation system. And God gave this command to Noah. Noah build this ark. And this huge thing he had to build. Noah had no questions for God. Noah just did what God said. Notice the covenant that's point number 2.

Verse number 18, "'But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you. They should be male and female. Of the birds after their kind and of the animals after their kind and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind. Two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive. And as for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible and gather it to yourself.

And it shall be for food for you and for them.'" Stop right there. God made a covenant with Noah. And that covenant was based on God, not Noah. We saw that in Genesis chapter 6, verse number 8 and verse number 9. But God made a covenant with Noah. And the surprising thing was, what would go through my mind is that, how are all these animals going to get here? Now remember it's not every animal on the earth, it's every animal after its kind. That's very important. Because in each kind there are diversifying varieties.

So there's a whole bunch of different species inside each kind, or different kind of varieties inside each kind. So not every animal on the earth was taken to the ark, only two of every kind, one male and one female. We'll talk more about that next week. But my question would be, how do you feed all these things? And how are all these animals going to live together now inside this ark? And what about the cleanup procedure? Massive odor. One little window up top, how is that going to handle all that?

Those would be my questions. How is that going to happen? But Noah didn't ask any questions. That astounds me. He just did what God said. He walked by faith and not by sight. The third thing I want you to see is Noah's capitulation.

Verse 22, thus Noah did according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. He did all that God commanded him. He just said, whatever you say Lord, that's what I'll do. Are you that kind of person? Are you the kind of person that likes to hem and haw around and kind of debate with God and kind of try to rationalize away your disobedience to God? Or do you just sit down and say, thus saith the Word of God, thus I do. All Noah had was the Word of God. Noah, this is what I want you to do. This is why I want you to do it.

And I have a covenant with you, Noah. I'll preserve you, your sons, your sons' wives, two of every kind of animal, the living creatures, the birds, I will preserve them. Because my plan is not going to be ended here, it's just going to begin again in a new way. But I got a plan. And Noah said, OK, God, whatever you say, that I will do. And over in chapter 7, verse number 5, listen to what it says again. And Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him. You know that is what you need to have written on your tombstone.

That's the best epitaph you could have. And Lance did all that God had commanded him. Can that be said of you? And Joe did, and Bill did, and Sally did, and Mike did, and so forth down the line, did all that God commanded him. Noah was a great man of faith, simply because he believed God's Word. How about you? Are you God's man for God's plan in this day and age, to accomplish what He wants to accomplish? I trust that you are. Let's pray together.