Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 1/7/15

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 1/7/15

God did not fail Noah.

Gen 6:8  Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

The eye of faith and the eye of God can look past all the circumstances that can stack themselves against you and me.

Gen 6:1  And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Gen 6:3  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.

Because we know God’s spirit will not always strive with man, you and I know and feel the urgency to pray, supplicate, intercede, and to stand.  I don’t know how many were alive or had died before the ark was built.  This I know, God was faithful not only to Noah and his family, but GOD was faithful to all.

Any burden that we have from God, we can rest assured that God will be very faithful to souls.  There is a definite strain of truth that we feel as saved, sanctified individuals.  We shake and tremble when we see any one being negligent to their soul.  We know that God’s spirit will not always strive with man.

When my mother was about 50 years old and Maxine Tomkins was 40 years old, Maxine and Roy had gotten saved at the church in Plains way back in time.  My mother never let the spirit, “You have to be so careful,” get a hold of her.  She was fearless and when she became burdened for Maxine, she looked until she found her. 

She said, “I want to ask you a question.  I need to know if God is still speaking to you.”  Maxine said, “There is not one day goes by that I am not convicted.” 

I wish I would have asked her that in her last years.  There is a time for people to get right with God.  There is a definite time.  I am not trying to make you uncomfortable or say that I am in bondage to call up whomever.  I am here to say, “When God is dealing with a soul, it is a special time.”

Bill Valentine said, “If I ever get religion, I want the kind that Chuck Shepherd has.” God was dealing with him at that time.  There is a time when God deals with souls.

Gen 6:4  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.

50 or 60 years ago there were the town fathers and the powerful men that controlled everything.  There may be some around today that are pretty powerful men that try to sway things however they want them to go.  It was this way in the days of Noah.

Gen 6:5  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.

This is the way that it is today.  We need to keep a strong standard against it and never let it be acceptable in our thoughts and our convictions.

Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

We want to remember, when sin abounds, it grieves God’s heart.  We as the body of Christ want to pray one for another that we not allow sin to become common.  Our world will tell you, “Well, everyone is doing it.”  No, if it is wrong it is wrong.  We want to stay so attuned to God to know that and recognize that He is grieved when wrong is done.

Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

God was faithful to Noah.  In all the things that were going on, God was faithful to Noah.  The reason He was faithful to Noah:

Gen 6:9  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Noah found grace: The grace of God in the Old Testament was God’s graciousness to man living in a wicked world with the promise that the messiah would come and they knew it.  It was God’s graciousness, “This man knows, he is living the best he can, he is not taking pleasure in this sin business.  He has an identity that a messiah will come to save people from their sin.”

He lived justly according to his conscience.  It is a good thing to keep your conscience clear.  He dealt justly with his wife, sons, daughter-in-laws, and even toward those that were not believing while he was preaching.

God was right there honoring Noah’s desire to live perfectly before God. 

Noah walked with God.  This was before Jesus.  This was before the flood.  Actually he had this testimony 100 years before the flood.  He chose the good way.  God did not fail him.  The positive effects that he had on his wife, his three sons, and his daughter in laws, God did not fail him.

We may feel that we are in minority.  We are in minority when we walk with God.  We don’t know how many of the thousands of angels are there when we are praying.  We don’t know where the 7,000 people are that have never bowed the knee to Bail.  We are here. 

Noah walked with God.  He chose the good way.  Whether we are young or older, always choose the good way.  Sometimes it will be termed the ‘lonely way’.  As much as the saints love us, there will be times that we feel alone. 

My mother told me after my father was killed that she felt so alone.  She told me God spoke and said, “It is going to be lonely.”  It is not that we are not loved by our family or the church.  When God chooses a path for us to walk there are times when we will feel lonely.

God was with Noah even when he preached alone and built alone.  He chose the great effort toward eternity.

We shake our head to see all the effort that goes into trying to find a moment of pleasure.  It is everywhere.  The effort and expense that people will pay to try to get away from it all.  There is only one thing that will satisfy the soul.  God didn’t fail Noah and He will not fail you and me if we will choose the good way.