Voice of the Nazarene 9-27-26

Coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the Voice of the Nazarene, a week-by-week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Busyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene.

We join our pastor, Reverend Ray Lestau, and the Voice of the Nazarene.

I'm reading from Genesis chapter 5, or chapter 6, verse 5.

Genesis 5 · chapter mention

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.

It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, that had grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, I'll destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, old man, and beasts and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air.

For it repenteth me that I've made them.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

As I hold up this account of Noah's story, it's like looking in a mirror and seeing our own story.

It's my story.

And it's your story.

And there's four things out of the story of Noah, meant to be our story.

First of all, I want you to notice that he was a faithful man.

I was sitting in Wendy's and I had just taken the last table.

And I looked up and I saw leaving the counter with his tray a priest.

And he was looking around and there was no empty tables.

So I caught his attention and beckoned him to come over and join me, and he came over and sat down very relieved to have a place to sit.

And I said, Where are you from?

He said, I'm from the state of Washington.

I said, all the way down here to Columbus, Ohio.

He said, I'm attending a wedding.

I said, Where do you live out there in Washington?

He said, I live at a monastery.

I said, Is that what you call it?

Well, he said, What do you call it?

I said, I call it a home for unwed fathers.

And he chuckled like you're chuckling.

And then he went on to tell me that at that monastery they had about a thousand acres of orchards, apple orchards.

And they financed themselves raising and selling apples.

And he said the main focus of our monastery is full-time prayer.

When we get up in the morning, we we spend time in prayer and the afternoon prayer.

And many of us get up during the night and pray.

And you know, if I was a monk, living in a monastery, probably it'd be a lot easier for me to be faithful to God.

Being isolated from all the temptations and the distractions.

I could pretty well maybe keep my mind on faithfulness.

But Noah, in the day and the age in which he lived, he didn't have that luxury.

I mean, it was very devilly difficult.

It was a world of chaos and depravity.

The very thoughts and the imaginations of their minds was consistently and totally evil.

Fact of the matter, everywhere, everyone, everything was evil.

And it goes on in verse 11, and the earth also was corrupt before God.

And the earth was filled with violence.

And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

So there's no one who was sympathetic or interested or concerned for God.

Complete lawlessness.

And right in the middle of this terrible environment, you find Noah.

There he is.

And he's living right, and he he's obeying God and he's a just man.

But the Bible said in chapter 6, verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Now, how did Noah find grace and favor in the eyes of the Lord?

Well, you see it here in Genesis chapter 6, verse 9.

Genesis 6:9

Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Now, as a just man, it meant that he was acting rightly toward God and toward his fellow man.

And you say, well, what was his outward actions toward his fellow man and toward God?

Well, the Bible tells you, but you have to go into the New Testament.

Hebrews 11, verse 7.

Hebrews 11:7

By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, never seen anything like what was about to happen, moved with fear, prepared an ark.

That was a huge boat or a ship to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Now it was a large boat.

The Bible said there was 450 feet long.

That is a football field and a half of a football field.

You get the picture?

Everybody saw it.

This wasn't something hid.

I mean, everybody's talking about it.

It's 45 feet high.

That's four stories.

It's 75 feet wide.

It's massive.

It's huge.

They'd never seen anything like it.

And it said that he obeyed God even when nothing like this had ever happened before.

And do you know what happened?

Rain.

They'd never had rain on earth.

And uh God told Noah to build this massive boat, not a John boat.

And he said, You're gonna work on it for a long, long time.

And by the way, it had never rained before.

They didn't even understand the concept of rain.

But when it rained, let me tell you, it poured.

And Noah was obedient.

And also, over in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 5, there's another little window of insight.

2 Peter 2:5

It said that he was a preacher of righteousness.

And we know that he preached righteousness throughout his lifetime, but especially as he built this boat.

How long did it take?

Somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and twenty years, preaching to everyone that would listen.

Listen, building a boat, he's obeying God, preaching righteousness in an environment that had no use for God, and he's building this boat that seemed absolutely ridiculous, yet Noah had the courage to confront his culture.

And we're afraid to confront our culture.

And we have a freedom of religion, and we're allowed freedom of speech, and uh in his day nobody was sympathetic toward the gospel.

Noah was not righteous because he didn't sin, he was righteous because he walked with God, and his story is meant to be our story.

Noah's story is meant to be my story.

God's calling every one of us to faithfulness.

Not just Noah, but he's calling you, and we're to be faithful with everything that he's given us.

So he's asking us, in spite of the culture, in spite of the world around us, to be faithful.

Do you see that picture?

The next thing you'll notice about Noah, he was a family man.

The Bible says in Hebrews 11:7 that he built this boat to save his family from the flood.

Hebrews 11:7

First and foremost to save his family.

He's still preaching, he's wanting people to repent.

He's hoping God will withhold the flood and judgment.

But at the end of the day, after 120 years of preaching, how many were on the boat?

Eight.

And seven of them were his family.

And ladies and gentlemen, our first ministry is to our family.

Your children, your grandchildren.

Moms and dads, you better be thinking about their future.

Better save your family.

And it's difficult, I know, to make decisions that are counterculture.

Like telling the family, you know what we're going to do today?

We're going to get up and go to church.

Dad's made up his mind, his family's not going to hell.

We're going to heaven.

Well, Dad, I don't want to get out of here, it don't matter.

We've lived wrong and wrong long too long.

And now it's time to get right with God, and we're going to church.

We'll get a family together.

Now, can you imagine the conversation surrounding Noah?

I mean, when he went into town, they'd say there's those boat people.

That's the guy that's building that gigantic thing over there that is more than a football stadium size.

Now, there's my Bible.

I'm kind of getting away from it.

Okay, I'm going to be over here in LaSalle land.

But I get to wonder when I read stories like this, what would have been the conversation that surrounded this entire life of Noah?

What are you building?

I'm building a boat.

A boat.

What's a boat for?

Well, it's to float.

Why in the world do you want so there's no water around here?

There's no lakes.

Why do you want something that'll float?

Because God said judgment's coming.

And it's going to rain.

There's going to be a flood.

But it's pretty big.

He said, it's really big.

How long have you been building on it?

Quite a while.

Okay, well, whatever it takes, enjoy yourself, and away they go.

And then fast forward 30 years later, neighbors are saying, that fool's building that big thing over there.

It's massive.

Look at the size of it.

And they came over and said, Are you still building that boat?

He said, Still building the boat.

50 years past.

Still building the boat.

His wife said, Well, do whatever you need to do.

I'm going to take Ham in and I'm going to give him his homework and just keep building.

By the way, though, if you're really serious about it, make the bathroom bigger.

Mrs.

Noah.

Maybe get some gopher wood and build a deck on the thing.

75 years past, 100 years past.

And the world is mocking Noah.

He goes to Walmart if they had one.

You gotta use your imagination.

And they say, there's that boat, Captain.

He thinks he's building a boat.

I don't know what he's building a boat for.

And they wear you down.

And no doubt Noah had to make some decisions for his family that were difficult.

Decisions that would ostracize him from the rest of the world.

No doubt his kids were pretty normal and they wanted to invite their friends over.

And they'd go over and explore that great big boat.

The man's crazy.

They'd tell their parents when they went home.

And yet Noah had the courage to be obedient to God when it didn't make any sense.

His decisions not only affected his family, it protected his family.

Don't forget, the Titanic was built by engineers.

It sank.

But when God tells you to do something, Noah with his three boys built an ark for their future.

Now we can't always control how our kids turn out.

We think they're better than they are.

I've seen some wonderful parents raise kids that went wild.

I've seen kids that didn't have a chance in the world and they turned out well.

I believe that God was a great parent.

But Adam and Eve didn't do too good, did they?

But we have an obligation to raise our children according to the Bible in the way they should go.

And moms and dads need to train and need to teach their children the ways of God.

He was a family man.

But I want to point out something else.

As I look at his story, and it's meant to be my story and your story, he was a flawed man.

He had flaws and failures in his life.

Now it said to begin with, he was just man and perfect in his generation.

And Genesis chapter 6, verse 9, we have a little background on him.

Genesis 6:9

And you gotta understand something.

He didn't have a Bible in his time to read like you and I have.

And he drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.

But may I remind you, it was only a one time happening.

We shouldn't define anybody for one moment forever, that only happened for a moment, and put him in that classification the rest of their existence.

He wasn't a drunk, but he he overdosed that time on some wine.

Like the old drunk said, when the cop pulled him over, said, What's in that bottle?

He said, Water.

He smelled it and said, No, it's wine.

He said, Jesus must have done it again.

Water to wine.

But Noah, we see was a faithful man.

He was a family man, and yet he was a flawed man.

And his story may be your story or my story.

Maybe we failed and fumbled and stumbled in our life.

Maybe it didn't always measure up like it should have.

But you know that he got his name in the Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of fame, because he walked with God.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And later on in the very next chapter, he's a part of that great cloud of witnesses that are cheering for you and I as we run the race, and they're saying to us, lay aside every weight, every hindrance you've got in your life, any sin we struggled with ours, but God gave us the victory, and you can run the race and make it to heaven.

And I love reading these stories out of the Bible of human beings that struggle because I've struggled a few times in my life.

Mr.

Goody Two Shoes.

And just like King David, and he blew it once, he had an affair even.

But the Bible said he was a man after God's own heart.

What made the difference?

He had a repentant heart.

He didn't want to remain in his sin.

And when he wrote the 51st Psalm, verse 3, he said, I acknowledge my transgressions.

In other words, I'm not trying to cover it, I'm not trying to hide it.

I admit it.

He didn't want to remain in sin.

And it's just like J.C.

Rile.

He said it like this: the best of men are only men at best.

And even the best of men need the grace of God.

And I promise you this: those heroes of yours, if you get around them long enough, you'll see that they have feet of clay also.

The best of men.

Now Noah wasn't perfect, but he was pointed.

He pointed himself in that obedient walk with God.

And his story is going to be my story.

I don't have to be perfect before I start walking with God.

I can start serving God, and God sees me where I am, but he doesn't leave me where I was.

He moves me on down the trail.

But I close with this.

You're waiting for this thought, aren't you?

He's going to close, actually.

But this is my longest point.

No, it's not.

He was a family man.

We know that he was a faithful man.

We know that he was a flawed man, but he was a forgiven man.

Noah obeyed God, walked in fellowship with God, he trusted God.

And even when it didn't make any sense, he built this big old boat.

Even when the world was against him.

And he was faithful, but he still failed.

He saw some great things in his life, but he's still messed up.

And you know something?

If Noah's story had ended right there, we might have remembered him for a life of shame.

If the Bible had ended in Genesis chapter 9, drunk and naked, we would have said some preacher of righteousness, just a dirt bag.

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

And we've heard that said many times.

But I want you to know that when heaven writes a story, it doesn't focus on the failure, it points out the faith.

And when heaven writes your story, it won't point to some weakness that you had in your yesterdays, but it'll point out the faith that you have in Christ now because your failures are covered by the blood of Jesus.

And when eternity looks at you with the blood of Jesus over your life, it doesn't point out your failures.

It says that man has tremendous faith.

And here in the Great Hall of Fame, it records this by faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark.

In other words, he built a ship to the saving of his family, by which he condemned the world, became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

He was forgiven by faith.

And Noah's story is meant to be our story, your story.

That means that you too can receive forgiveness.

That's why Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 means so much.

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are you saved through faith, not of itself, but it is a gift of God.

Who wouldn't want a gift?

Would you like a gift?

A valuable gift?

I'm not turning down any gifts.

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

That's why Romans chapter 4, verse 5 said, But people are counted as righteous, not because of their works, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

Romans 4:5

And Noah's story is meant to be our story.

Now we read it and we gripe about every condition going on around us, and then suddenly we read this story and say, you know, life's not so bad.

Noah really had it rough.

But I come to the saddest part of the entire story.

And it's found in Genesis, over here in chapter 7, verse 13.

That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his son Shem and Ham and Jephthah and their wives.

With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal, along with birds of every kind.

Verse 16.

Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

One of the saddest little phrases in scripture that I've ever seen.

After 120 years, Noah had preached and he had preached and he had preached and preached and he built and he built and he built.

And they made fun and they ridiculed, but he obeyed God.

And every time that hammer hit a blow, it spoke of mercy.

There's still time.

There's still some time.

He's still building and hitting with the hammer and preaching, and he's saying there's still some time to get aboard the ark.

Every time that Noah would stand and preach righteousness, and the judgment was coming, he was saying, There's still time.

You need to repent, but there's still time.

And then you come to that day that God shut the door.

And when God, God closes a door, no man can open.

And the Bible said when that door closed, it began to rain.

It began to rain.

I thought about the noises.

My basement flooded a few weeks ago.

I've been around some areas where it's flooded.

There's sounds when floods come.

Flooding is an awful thing.

And the noise of the flood waters as houses begin to shift on their foundations.

Roofs begin to cave in as walls buckle out.

Basements begin to fill up.

Animals are swimming.

Some animals are climbing trees and getting as high as they can.

Men are wading their way through the water.

Can you imagine the scenario of this flood?

I mean, these people who had laughed for years, who had ridiculed, who had mocked, suddenly becoming the only place of safety is that boat that they had mocked and made fun of.

I wonder if they tried to make it to the boat.

I've read the account and wondered if they screamed or if they pleaded and banged on the side of that ark and said, let us in, but it was too late.

I think about life.

I think about churches all up and down the roads and through the little cities of America and how we just drive by them.

I think of pastors, and many times we just kind of talk about them.

I think about Bibles written in all types of translations, and we want to argue over that.

And if you know anything at all, the Bible's written in Greek, New Testament, Hebrew, and the Old Testament, a bit of Arabic.

It wasn't written in our language, it had to be translated.

And all these various translations, and there's enough truth in every one of them to get the sin out of your life, to get the curse words out of your mouth, to get your feet on the right path, to turn your life around, and to save your family.

Judgment is going to come on the earth.

And year after year after year, we've we've heard about it.

And when the time comes for God to shut the door, I don't know about you.

I want to be on the inside.

I don't want to be on the outside.

I want to be protected from the storm.

And what I'm saying right now, it's still time.

There's still some time to get right with God.

I can still hear the hammer strike.

The Bible says, as in the days of Noah's soul shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

When it starts looking like the whole world is done, and it does, all you hear is talk about socialism and everything else, and nobody wants to work, and everybody just kind of wants to live off the government, and other countries, churches are already closed, Bibles have been taken away.

We're at one of the last bastions of truth.

And people aren't happy about it.

And when people get tired of Christianity and tired of this Jesus thing, it sound familiar?

He said, look up, the hour's come.

Maybe, maybe God's telling some of us that it's time for us to get faithful.

Maybe God is saying it's time to get our family in and get them into a good church where a preacher cares about them.

Where we can fellowship with other people and encourage one another.

Maybe God is saying that it's time to deal with some of the faults and flaws in our own life and get them under the blood, those struggles, those habits, those weaknesses that we have had across the years.

Maybe God is saying it's time to find forgiveness.

I hope today's your day.

Noah's story is meant to be your story.

He was a forgiven man.

And maybe, maybe you've never received that forgiveness that God wants to give.

Maybe you're unsure of where you're at.

But God did one of the most marvelous things after that flood.

God hung a rainbow in the sky.

Somewhere out there with a great channel here, the sun shines.

Rain had come, but God hung a bow in the sky.

And said, I'll never destroy the world again by a flood.

A promise.

I don't know if you've studied the seven collars of the rainbow.

But the bottom collar, every time you look up at a rainbow, is that indigo purple, that violet or purple collar.

It was the collar that a king wore.

It represented the authority of a king over everything.

And when you look up toward God, you've got to acknowledge that He is God, that He's sovereign, that He'll have the last day and He'll have the last say.

He's God, you'll have to look up and acknowledge that.

But when God looks down, the top collar on the rainbow is red.

And God is looking to the red.

They shall be as white as snow.

God offers forgiveness.

What an opportunity.

Before the door closed, there was still time.

Every time they cut a tree down in the forest, still time.

Every time they carried a board of lumber to the work site, still some more time.

And a pastor standing in the outskirts of Beceris, Ohio, is saying to all of us, there's still a bit more time.

Time to get in.

Time to get right.

Time to get our sins forgiven.

Time to get out of our past and the mess we have lived in, and time to get our lives cleaned up.

Thanks for being a part of the Voice of the Nazarene.

Visit us every Sunday at 9 a.m.

with BNC's pastor Ray Lestalle.

For more information regarding BNC, visit UsyrusNazarine.org.