October 30, 2013 Living as a Minority Noah was not one of the majority as he preached to an indifferent society of the coming judgment of God and the opportunity to turn from their wickedness and be saved from the judgment. The ark that Noah was called to build was an invitation for people to come and escape the flood that was about to come an destroy the inhabitants of the earth. Yet, Noah preached every day for 120 years and he did not have one single solitary convert outside of his own family. Yes, these people heard the message of the gospel or the good news that for them could have meant salvation. But the Bible says they were wicked and indifferent. Matthew 24:37-39 speaks of the indifference that was prevalent in that day. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Now, some want to look at the passage and say look how bad they were in all they were doing: eating, drinking, so on and so on. There is nothing wrong with what they were doing, but the problem was in the midst of pending judgment they were indifferent to the judgment that was soon coming to destroy them. The intent of the passage was to show that they were just going on with life as usual. They were not seeking to get right with God or turn from their wickedness. They’re not doing anything different from what they were doing before they heard of the coming judgment. The gospel or good news for their day was being preached and violence was everywhere, the judgment was coming and the ark was before them as a picture or symbol of salvation. They could come in the ark and be saved. But they acted as if neither Noah or the ark was there. Here was their window of opportunity to escape the judgment and they went on as if nothing was going on. It was of no concern to them. They paid Noah no mind whatsoever, passing right by him and this huge ark he was building to save them. They were totally indifferent to the Gospel or good news that he was daily sharing. There is in society today what we could call a subculture that’s like that. They think any preaching about a judgment to come is crazy. They’d love to package us up in one big bundle and say we are just a bunch of crazy people because say we believe the Lord is coming back. Then what a surprise it will be to them as in the words of Tim Lahay, they are, “Left Behind.” The rapture will come and then the tribulation and after that there will be a judgment time in the future just like in Noah’s day. Noah’s day was a picture of what is going to happen someday maybe in the very near future. Noah’s faith was expressed in a very, very difficult time. I want to drive home this point because I don’t want us to ever think that it can get so bad that we can’t be a Christian or live the Christian life. We must remember that with God on our side NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE. If Noah could stand alone against the whole world, and be righteous, godly, and live by faith, surely we can. Listen, we have the comfort that we can get from one another, then our small groups, our churches and our fellowships. Yes, surely we ought to be able to stand up for God in our wicked and perverse culture. Amen! There should not be any of us who would wimp out on God because we feel like we are in the minority. If ever there was a minority Noah stands for us as an illustration of a minority.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:23:25 +0000
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