So, we have to have knowledge of Who God IS, before we can believe. We must have knowledge of Who God Is before we can agree with Him and therefore walk with Him. Amos 3:3 and Hosea 4:6.
John 1:1-5 (AMP) 1 IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. 2 He was present originally with God. 3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. 4 In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it].
Jesus is the Word.
Psalm 103:1-5 (KJV) 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Word is like a toolbox, it has many tools in it that can make our lives easier. It is NOT just insurance that we will go to heaven when we die. The first thing that we have to know and understand is that Jesus became our sin, our sins were all placed on Him at Calvary, and as soon as we accept Him as our substitute sacrifice, then we are covered by His righteousness, and our life eternal begins. It is a free gift, He came for everyone, while we were yet all sinners, there is no way that we can earn our righteousness. God through Jesus forgives all my iniquities, He heals all my diseases, He redeems my life from destruction, He crowns me with lovingkindness and tender mercies, He satisfies my mouth with good things, He renews my youth like the eagle’s. Which is why I’m celebrating my 21st anniversary of being 29 years old!
Tonight/this morning we’re going to discuss Noah and the flood. We are going to discuss the enormous childlike faith that he had to have had. The fact that he was walking with and listening to God, the action of obedience to what God told him, and the blessing given to him for his obedience.
Genesis 6:1-5 (KJV) 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5-22 (NLT2) 5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the LORD. 9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.
(Amos 3:3 How can two walk together accept they be agreed.)
(And we can apply Deuteronomy 28:1-14 to Noah)
10 Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. 12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
(God’s knowledge/instructions to Noah.)
Noah was a doer of what God told him, out of love and faith in the Father, there was no law as of yet, but God’s principles still applied. Can you just imagine the mind games that Noah was put through, by the world around him. And, “God told Noah,” it doesn’t say He told Shem, Ham, and Japheth. . .
14 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper. 17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.” 22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
This was not just a little instruction like, go across town and talk to this person, lay hands on that person, pray for that person. . . This was a major undertaking of work! Cut down Cypress trees, hew them into boards, seal the boat with tar both inside and out. The very specific measurements added up to 101,250 square feet of deck space (considering the 3 decks). Here in town, the old Haliburton administration building on Bois D’Arc is about the same size as what the Ark would have been.
John 14:10-14 (NLT2) 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
James 1:22-25 (NLT2) 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
James 1:6-8 (NLT2) 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
So Noah without “seeing” God, received the Word, believed the Word, followed the Word, and was blessed. In the OT though, we do know that God would at least at times, either manifest Himself in the form of a “burning bush” type experience or would send a messenger/angel to speak to people. There are so many things in the account of Noah and the flood that point to an absolute childlike faith in action. One being that Gen 2:5 says it had never rained from the sky before, but now God tells him there is going to be a great flood, and he needs to build a boat. And here are your instructions. . . According to ages given within the scriptures approximately 100 years were spent building the ark.
In the New Testament we are reading accounts from people who walked literally with Jesus, or in Paul’s case at the same time as Jesus. There was a lot of belief that was a result of the actual five senses, which is why Jesus said to “doubting Thomas” in John 20:29 “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” Today, God usually speaks to us through His Word, even if our nose is not literally inside the Word, when we hear from God it will line up with His Word.
John 15:7 (KJV) 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (There are many, many more that say the same thing.)
My mom came to see me one day in the Spring of 2014, and she was very emotional, she said the Lord has told me that He will meet me in Galilee, and that I am to sell my business. I remember her trying to read to me from her journal that she was writing in, so that I could hear it too. I didn’t, but I said to her, then do it. I fully believed that she had heard from God, but my logical thinking flesh was putting the sell of her business, before her trip to Israel, and so thinking that it might be a while before “we” actually went, I said, I’ve always wanted to go to Israel I’ll go with you. Silly me, within about a week’s time, we were booked to go to Israel just a few short months away.
All through that summer, all the American news media talked about was the “war” going on between the Palestinians and Israel. We were booked with a large group and since the group didn’t cancel we allowed how we were still going. Her business had not sold yet by the time that we went.
Jimmy and I were both still heavily involved at the Tilley Group offices and I had went to great lengths to try to make sure that my phone would work there because he was definitely off the grid in Alaska on a hunting trip that overlapped the time that mom and I were going to be Israel.
So mom and I, the second night into the trip, our tour group was taken to a restaurant that is on a pier out over the sea of Galilee, while we were sitting there, I received a phone call that the people were going to buy mom’s property that her business was on. I’m not sure that the phone service part of my phone worked again on the whole trip. LOL In saying that though, mom had to hear God, believe that she heard God, confess that she heard God, and then act on what she heard Him say.
When my mom passed away a year and a half ago, I became the keeper of her journals, and as I looked through them I was amazed at how meticulous she was about keeping the dates not only on each day’s study, but then when she would finish a journal, in the front of it she would put a summarized date, this book covers Jan 2012-Oct 2013 or something similar. As I thumbed through the pages 95% at least of what is written in her journals is simply her hand copied verses that she was reading and meditating on that day. She was abiding in Him.
This whole account of Noah and the flood is a super-natural phenomenon, just like the account of creation in chapter 1. If we can’t believe the super-natural phenomenon’s in the OT just like they are accounted unto us, then how are we going to have the faith to go and do when God tells us something to go and do, and how do we really believe all of the “I am statements” and that “By His stripes we were healed.”
I am a son of God.
I am saved by grace.
I am born of incorruptible seed.
I am redeemed by the blood.
I am forgiven all my sins.
I am a new creature in Christ.
I am redeemed from the curse of the law.
I am beloved of God.
I am seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
I am part of a royal priesthood.
I am a member of a chosen generation.
I am an ambassador for Christ, the light of the world.
I am a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.
I am a joint heir with Jesus.
I am accepted in the Beloved.
I am complete in Him.
I am crucified with Christ.
I am alive with Christ.
I am free from condemnation.
I am reconciled to God.
I am justified by faith.
I am qualified to share in Jesus’ inheritance.
I am a fellow citizen with the saints and the household of God.
I am a significant, contributing member of the body of Christ.
I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I am the salt of the earth.
I am the bride of Christ.
I am sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
I believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe that God created the universe, the earth, and all that is within it in six, 24-hour days. I believe that Adam lost man’s dominion over the earth to Satan through a lie and disobedience to God. I believe that there was a massive flood that covered the whole earth, and that only Noah and his family, along with the animals were brought through it alive on a massive ship. I believe that God created oil and left deposits of oil for man’s benefit. I believe that God is our healer. I believe that Jesus came to earth as a babe and was born of a virgin. I believe that through His sacrifice on the cross that all men who come to a saving knowledge of Him, and are baptized in His Holy Spirit, and by the power of Jesus’ Name are given dominion over the earth and all that is in it again. I believe that by His stripes I was healed, therefore I am healed, and any symptoms that I may be experiencing are a lie from the devil, because in Jesus’ Name I am healed of all my diseases and all my iniquities.
Verses of not seeing God
Deuteronomy 4:12 (NLT2) 12 And the LORD spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only a voice.
Deuteronomy 4:15 (NLT2) 15 “But be very careful! You did not see the LORD’s form on the day he spoke to you from the heart of the fire at Mount Sinai.
Exodus 33:20 (NLT2) 20 But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Exodus 33:23 (NLT2) 23 Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”
Job 35:14 (NLT2) 14 You say you can’t see him, but he will bring justice if you will only wait.
John 1:18 (NLT2) 18 No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
1 John 4:12 (NLT2) 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
John 5:37 (KJV) 37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
1 Timothy 6:16 (KJV) 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
John 6:46 (KJV) 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
1 John 3:6 (KJV) 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Also, 1 John 4:20, Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 64:4, Exodus 3:6, and Acts 7:32
John 20:29 (NLT2) 29 Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
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