The Days of Noah

It would be wrong. As a matter of fact, it would be blasphemous. For me to set a date and to tell you when Jesus Christ is coming, number one, I could not do it because I don't know and you don't know and no one knows. But the Bible does teach us that we can know what the days will be like when Jesus comes again, Jesus said they were like, they will be like, the days of Noah. Now I'm going to be selecting some verses from these chapters to show you what the days of Noah were like and then we're going to apply the days of Noah to our day and we're going to understand why this age is right for Jesus Christ to come again. We're going to begin reading in verse 36, Matthew chapter 24. I'm told that a man asked another man on the street, "Do you know what the two biggest problems in the world are today?" The man said, "I don't know and I don't care." He said, "You have them both." The two great problems in the world today are what, ignorance and indifference. Now there's some things that we should not be ignorant of and do not be indifferent to and that is the second coming of Jesus Christ, the end of this age as we know it. And I want to speak to you on that subject today and we're going to call the message the days of Noah. Now history is coming to a climax. It would be wrong as a matter of fact it would be blasphemous for me to set a date and to tell you when Jesus Christ is coming, number one I could not do it because I don't know and you don't know and no one knows, but the Bible does teach us that we can know what the days will be like when Jesus comes again. Jesus said they will be like the days of Noah. Read with me Matthew 24 and begin in verse 36, "Jesus speaking of that time," well let's back up to verse 35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, but of that day," speaking of the climax of all things, "but of that day and hour, so as no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my father only, but," now notice in contrary distinction to the fact that we do not know the day and the hour, "but as the

days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the son of man be," as it was, so shall it be, that's what verse 37 says. Now notice Jesus' explanation in verse 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 and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the son of man be." Now eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage speaks of indifference, and they knew not that speaks of ignorance. Indeed these are the two major problems, ignorance, and indifference that will mark the last days just before Jesus comes. Now if we want to know what the days of Noah were like, we have to go back to some chapters in the Word of God, specifically chapters, Genesis chapters 4, 5, and 6. So for the rest of the message, would you open your Bibles to the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapters 4, 5, and 6? And I'm going to be selecting some verses from these chapters to show you what the days of Noah were like, and then we're going to apply the days of Noah to our day, and we're going to understand why this age is right for Jesus Christ to come again. I have picked out of these chapters seven signs, seven marks of the days of Noah, and I would like for you to jot them down on a piece of paper, and I'll give you the Scripture for them, but what are the days of Noah, and how do they compare to the days then which we live today? First of these seven signs is this, the days of Noah were days of secular philosophy. were days of the wickedness of man was great in the earth." Now watch this next phrase, "And every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. Now look at the word imaginations. The word imaginations, Dr. John Phillips has told us, "Come from a Hebrew root that means to fashion as a potter." Actually they were trying to mold society by philosophy. And here's what Dr. Phillips says, "Men fashioned wicked philosophies espoused filthy causes, made fashionable vile sins and endeavored to pour society into their mold." Now new

age philosophies today are rampant. What were the days of no light? Number one, they were days of secular philosophy that cuts across the board in America and in the world today. The second mark of Noah's day, not only secular philosophy but scientific progress. Now you may not have thought that the days of Noah were days of scientific progress, but the days of Noah had reached a zenith in knowledge and achievement. If you will read the early chapters of the book of Genesis, you will find that in those days there were men, great men, not for them they were called in the Hebrew, men of renown. They had prodigious in lengths. And many of you may think that back in those days they were plowing with sticks and that they did not understand. But no, this was a day of great scientific achievement. Maybe in many ways greater than our day and in our age. For example they had great cities. Look in Genesis chapter 4 verse 17 and Cain knew his wife and she conceived and buried Enoch and he builded a city. Now not just a village, but here is a metroplex, a metropolitan center, teeming with life. There was an industrial revolution. Look if you will in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 22. And Zilla, she also bear tubal cane and instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. And industrial revolution, they were into metallurgy. They are making now tools and machineries and so you have urban centers. You have an industrial revolution. A man who had been driven from paradise because of his sin is now trying to create an artificial paradise of wit and wisdom and fire. He is building his own technological paradise. If you think that these were days without scientific progress, think for a moment again. Think of how God instructed Noah to build the ark. Think of that ark. That ark was an engineering miracle. It was 450 feet long. That's longer by far than a football field. 150 feet wide, 45 feet, three-story vessel. Those who are oceanographers and sailors tell us that it was built to about the same proportion and size of many modern ocean-going liners. That boat had to be built and it had to be built with specifications, engineering strong enough to withstand the greatest storm history has ever recorded. And that ship went through all of that, that fearful storm. It was a day of technological advance. Now what is our day like? Well think of our day. My father's day began with a horse and buggy. It ended up with the splitting of the atom. In our lifetime we've seen men walk on the moon. We've so pushed back the frontiers of science that we've lost all ability to be surprised. We're now tinkering with genetic engineering.

That holds all sorts of awesome and frightening potentiality. and manipulate men's gene pool. The days of Noah were days of secular philosophy. They were days of scientific progress. The days of Noah are here again. Now here's the third mark of the day of Noah. They were days of social plagues. They had not reached utopia. They had not taken this scientific knowledge and turned it into good. Notice in Genesis chapter six, beginning in verse 11, "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, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them upon the earth." The days of Noah were days of great violence. And our day is a day of great violence today. In my lifetime, I have seen wars after wars, after wars, some of you have lived through two world wars, World War I and World War II. People are filled today with violence and a spirit of revenge like never before, but it was true or like, not in recent times, but it was true in the days of Noah. Look, if you will, in Genesis chapter four and verse 23. And Lamech said unto his wives,

Eida and Zilla, "Here my voice ye wives of Lamech, harken unto my speech. For I have slain a man to my wounding." That is, I got in the fight, I killed him, he wounded me. And a young man to my hurt, if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech 70 and sevenfold. Here was a man who was eaten up with a spirit of revenge. And he's picked out and put in the Bible as typical of many who are so filled with the spirit of violence and revenge. What were the days of Noah like? They were days of social plagues. God says the world has become corrupt. And then number four, the days of Noah were days of sexual perversion. Notice Genesis chapter six and verse five. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Now watch this, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Well, this verse doesn't mention what that evil was. How sick that imagination was. But Jesus gives us further insight. You might want to put in your margin or even turn with me now to Luke chapter 17. Because I want you to see in Luke chapter 17, Jesus again is speaking of the days of Noah. But it does something very interesting. He links the days of Noah with the days of Lot. And he shows us in the days of Noah, there had been a sexual revolution.

And there were days of great sexual perversion. Luke 17, verses 26 and following. Jesus said, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." Likewise, now underscore this. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And Jesus now links the days of Noah with the days of Lot. You know, if you know the Bible, that Lot was an inhabitant of the city of Sodom. The city of Sodom is the city that we get the name Sodomy from, which speaks of sexual perversion, the perversion of the Sodomites. How does God feel about this sin? Well, if you can read black print on white paper, lie with mankind as he lieeth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. Now that was the Old Testament economy under theocracy. The death penalty is not allowed for this sin today, but it gives God's heart and God's mind about the matter. God says it is an abomination. Yes,

we know that the innocent people suffer. When God judges the world, He's going to do it with a lot more specificity. God does not really have to judge this sin. God just leaves people to themselves. When people begin to say this is all right, not only is it all right, it is to be approved. Here's what God does. Romans 1 verse 24, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves." God just gave them up. Romans 1 verse 26, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women do change the natural use to that which is against nature." And then Romans 1 verse 28, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." That is a mind that cannot think straight. So what does God do when people begin to justify this kind of violence? God just says, "All right, I give you up. I give you over." The judgment is built into these sins. Pastor Rogers, are people born this way? God would never cripple somebody and then blame them for limping. Well you say, "But where these urges come from?" They come out of the heart, which is wicked and sinful. The same urges that urge people toward incest. The same urges that urge people toward adultery. The same urges that urge people toward violence. The same urges that urge people toward drunkenness. The same urges that urge people toward kleptomania. Yes, people say, "I feel this way." Of course they do. You say, "I was born this way." Yes, we're born sinners. We're born sinners. We need to be born again. That's what it's all about. My heart goes out to parents who have precious children who've gotten off in this lifestyle because Hollywood has so glamorized it in television now, has tried to normalize it. And if you say anything, do you know what they'll tell you about television? They say, "If you don't like it, turn it off." You know what that's like? That's saying, "If you don't like the crime on the streets, stay inside." That's saying, "If you don't like the pollution in the air, don't breathe. Friend, the streets belong to us, the air belongs to us, and the airwaves belong to us." Get the idea that they're there to pollute the airwaves. They have no more right to pollute the airwaves than they have to pollute the air that I breathe. But what has happened in Noah's day? God said, "Jesus said, as it was in the days of Lot is going to be in those days when I come again, and this sin had been made fashionable." Now, let me give you the next mark of Noah's day. They were days of selfish prosperity.

Some think that surely God must be pleased with America because of the prosperity that we have in this nation, but not every place is prosperous, America is prosperous, but not every place is prosperous. America is an island of prosperity and perversion, ensconced in an ocean of need. It was exactly the same in the days of Lot and in the days of Noah. Put this scripture down. Ezekiel chapter 16, beginning in verse 49. Ezekiel says to Israel, "Behold, this was the iniquity of my sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy, and they were haughty and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw good." Now, notice how it describes he says not only pride, but fullness of bread. They had more than they needed and abundance of idleness. They had a short work week, hardly needed to work at all in Sodom. But the Bible teaches that at the very zen, at the very height of their prosperity is when the fire and the brimstone came and God left Sodom with its smoking ruins. May I tell you something front, friend? God wants me to tell you not to let a soaring economy lull you to sleep and think that everything is all right. It is not. It is not. As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be. Now let me give you the sixth mark of Noah's day as it was in the days of Noah. Those were days of solemn preaching. God never sends judgment without first sending warning. In Genesis chapter 6 and verse 13, and God said unto Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth." God sent a preemptive warning. Before God sends judgment, God always sends warning. Noah not only built the ark, he preached, put in your margin, 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5. The Bible says, "And God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person," now listen to this next phrase, "a preacher of righteousness." Noah was a preacher. He preached with the wrath of God in the foreground and the ring of hammers in the background. Our generation has been worn. There has been so much faithful preaching, and the last days are days that are going to be marked by solemn preaching. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and God sent me here to warn you that the days of Noah are upon us. Now the last of these signs, of these seven signs, there were days of sudden panic, sudden panic. Just when everything seemed to be going fine, Jesus said eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. That is, the round of life went on.

But Genesis chapter 6 verse 17, "And God and behold, I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh upon the earth." Now folks, I don't know how that day began. Maybe that day was bright and fair. Maybe the clouds began together. I don't know what happened, but I know that it came suddenly. It came cataclysmically. Perhaps the wind picked up and began to moan like a funeral dirge across the earth. And then God had said to Noah, "Noa, come, come down thy family into the ark, and God brought no end to the ark, and God shut the door, and God shut no end, and God shut others out, and God shut the water out. Suddenly the earth rocks. The heavens open, and the slew skates of heaven began to pour great floods of water, and water belches out of this earth, and the water begins to rise. Those who have been laughing at Noah, and those who have been mocking Noah, now begin to wonder, "What is this?" There's some indication that up until this time it had not rained, but that the earth was moisturized by a vaper, a canopy of vapor that came. There those in the valleys begin to run to the high places. Those in the high places are seeking even higher places. After a while, when the water gets up to dangerous proportions, they come and begin to beat upon the door of that ark, and say, "Noa, let us in." But it was too late. God had shut the door, and God shut the water out, and God shut these people out who laughed and mocked and scoffed, and God shut his people in. When Noah drove that last nail into the ark, he may have had nothing left, but when he came out of the earth, he had inherited the earth. He went in a minority, he came out a majority. I'm telling you, folks, it pays to serve Jesus. And if you're not saved, you need to get saved. I mean, save, not just be a church member. Jesus is the ark of safety. And if you'll put your faith in Him, He'll save you. Jesus may come this afternoon as it was in the days of Noah. So shall it be, eating, drinking, marrying, giving and marriage. And then the day came. (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]