Monday, November 23, 2009

The Days Of Noah (Part 5)

Continued from Wednesday . . .

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that it would be like the days of Noah when He returns. Today we continue on this series with the fourth lesson, of five important lessons, on what we learn from the days of Noah as we approach the day of Christ's return and judgment.

LESSON 4 - WE THINK OF NOAH AS A BOAT BUILDER BUT GOD CALLED HIM A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5)

We must be preachers of righteousness to the evil world around us. It is sad to say that many modern preachers have made the Gospel about happiness instead of righteousness. But our greatest need is righteousness because of our unrighteousness and we must see our unrighteousness in order to hunger and thirst after the righteousness found only in Christ. That is why we must proclaim God’s Holiness and His law before we talk about Christ and the cross.

Did you ever wake up in the morning and wonder “where did all the stars go?” Did they all just disappear? No – but we only ever see them shining in their glory against the background of a dark night sky. And the cross of Jesus Christ shines in its glory against the dark background of our sin against Him – and it was only when God helped me to see the awful darkness of my sin against Him that I could start to see the depth of His love for me in sending Jesus Christ. We must be preachers of righteousness.

Noah preached righteousness for 120 years to a wicked and perverse world and no one repented. Was there a problem with Noah’s preaching? Poor Noah, maybe no one got into the boat because he didn’t have the Prayer of Jabez or wasn't teaching the Purpose Driven Life. Poor Noah must have been living his worst life then. No No No, Noah was a great preacher because he was faithful in the message he was called to preach. We must measure the success and health of our churches and as individuals by our faithfulness to the Gospel God told us to preach. It is God Who converts people. God was glorified in Noah’s day by judging the world that refused to respond to Noah’s preaching. God will be glorified, if we proclaim the Gospel, either in saving wicked sinners like us, or in judging our society for not repenting. But we have no choice – we must preach and be faithful in our preaching.

To be concluded on Wednesday: Lesson 5 - God Provides a Way to Save Wicked People.

Go On To Part 6
Go Back To Part 4
Go Back To Part 1

1 comment:

Cameron Buettel said...

We must preach sin, righteousness, and judgment to this evil generation before proclaiming the grace of God that can be found in the Atoning work of Jesus Christ and the certainty of it due to His resurrection.