IN THE WORD DAILY
with Brother Rick
Genesis 7: 1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and
all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation.
During the days of Noah, we
see that judgment has come upon the earth and every living creature. If we
study the Bible as a whole, we will find that there are two sins that bring the
swift judgment of God. One is idolatry, and the other is sexual perversions;
mainly sodomy, adultery and fornication. We see in the text, “that the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them
wives of all which they chose”, Genesis 6: 2. Verse 5 says, “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.” Why do the heathen
rage? Why do we seek out wickedness? Why do we thrive on bad news? Why does the
media push for the evil stories and push the good in our society to the back
page, it’s because we love the bad. We get off on the evil that men do. Today
at 5pm, if you turn on your TV and look at the evening news, you will find 10
evil stories to one good story. People prefer the bad over the good. Not much
has changed since Noah's day.
The “sons of God” mentioned
in the previous verse are angels who were part of the third of heavenly host
cast out of heaven with Lucifer. 2 Peter 2: 4- 6 says, “For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 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; and turning the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample
unto those that after should live ungodly;” We also see these “sons of
God” (angels) in Job 1: 6, the verse says, “Now there was a day when the
“sons of God” came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also
among them.” These “sons of God” are not men, they are angels.
God saw that men preferred
evil over good and they do that now. Men preferred sodomy over their natural
God given affection and men do that now. Men preferred drunkenness over
sobriety and men do that now. Men preferred the opinions of heretics over the
Word of God, and they do that now. Men preferred pleasures over holiness, and
they do that now. Men preferred NASCAR, football, golf and fishing over worship
on the Lord's Day, and they certainly do that now. In other words, men did what
they wanted to do then, and men do what they want to do now.
Our text shows the
longsuffering of our God. He is watching us, and he is offering us a way out.
No one is trapped in their sin. No one is completely without hope. 2 Peter 3: 9
says, “The Lord in not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.” God told Noah to build an ark
and escape the judgment to come. It was up to Noah to build the ark, get his
family on board, and climb aboard himself. God didn't force him onto the ark.
God didn't threaten him to get aboard the ark. God gave Noah a free will, just
like he gave Adam, and just like he gave you and me. Look around, friend, can't
you see the similarities of men's hearts today compared to men's hearts in
Noah's day. Judgment is coming. But, the difference is that God will not flood
the earth again, Genesis 9: 11. And God is not calling for us to build an ark.
The ark is already available. Unless you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will
perish with the wicked. I'm not talking about church membership, church
attendance, good works or Bible degrees. I'm talking about trusting Jesus for
your salvation. I'm talking about repenting of your sins, bowing before a holy
God, and begging him for forgiveness. Only Jesus can save you now. There will
be no more arks built with the hands of man. Jesus is your ark now, Won't you
come on board? Noah found grace in the eyes of God, and you have too. God is
giving us one last chance, don't pass it up for a few minutes of pleasure. The
end is near, choose Jesus now. The ark is loading and getting ready to sail.
I've punched my ticket, how about you?
Have A Blessed Day!!!
