Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

He Walked With God

Isn't it great to be able to have men, deacons, that are able to just stand before us and bring the counsel of God and the Word of God, able ministers? We're just thankful for all of the care that we have here in the body, praise God, and the ministry as the rest of us were down in Tennessee having a great time.

Our kids just did a tremendous job down there. First time in a long time we didn't win the championship, but we're still winners. Amen? You know the old saying: sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. The race isn't always to the swift, but I was so proud of our kids-the character that they showed, the ministry that they were able to exhibit, and some tremendous things. I was proud of all of our kids. Our young ladies had a very disappointing loss in the championship game in overtime, and then the guys wanting to do something that's very difficult to do-a three-peat. That's tough. The ability to three-peat depends upon a lot of things. Winning back-to-back national championships is unheard of, and then to go down and try to win three in a row, there are just so many things that can go wrong. The one thing that didn't go wrong: our young people showed the best character. We had the best unity in both teams down there that we've had; no strife, just family and a good time, and came away champions, praise God, because in the eternal realm there's a lot of fruit. A lot of character was built, and we're excited about it.

I hate loosing! Not that you don't get over it quickly. In four weeks it'll be a year since I lost, finished second, at the national [car racing] event in Rockingham. I lost by four-thousandths of a second, the championship. Not that I'm still remembering it, but none of it's eternal is it? The things that are eternal-I was so proud of our young people, the girls, who after having their loss came and were supporting the boys and cheering for them the whole way and not feeling bad for themselves. Then as I stepped into the huddle after the game, I heard [Pastor] Jeff saying this to the young people; he said, "Look man, this is a tough loss. I know how you feel, but now it's not about you. A lot of people came down here to support you and watch you. They're going to want pictures; smile, you give back to them." That's some good counsel. Amen? We're a blessed people, praise God, and we're just proud of all of you kids. As I said, our cheerleaders in their competition last week-just tremendous, tremendous job, so [we're] thankful for that.

I talked to-redeeming the time as I was driving from Chattanooga to Atlanta yesterday, talked about half of the way to [Pastor] Tony. That just cracks me up. I'm weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 75, talking to Tony in Eldoret on a cell phone! A lot of exciting things as we're planning the trip, the missions trip, to Africa, and we were going over a lot of that. We've had invitations to meetings again in Tanzania. Many of you that are going are going to get to see some of the new churches in Busia and in Buhuru. We may be able to get back to Taragwiti. The churches are strong in Eldoret [and] Kakamega. The Umoja church is very, very stable at this time and healthy, praise God! The Kwa Njenga church-a lot of things going on, so be prayerful and hold Karen up. Her mother just passed away Thursday, and that's hard when you're in Africa and your mom passes. They were able to lead her to the Lord just a couple of years ago, though; she was born again. She was battling with Alzheimer's this last year or so, but they had a great visit here just a few months ago, and Father is good-took her home, praise God! No more memory problems. Amen? Knowing as we're known, praise God! So just pray and hold their hands up.

I'm trying to remember if there's anything else. Oh, the team leaving tomorrow-be prayerful. We're going to lay hands on the folks that are headed to St. Kitts tomorrow on our missions outreach. [Pastor] Elston is really excited and the people there-what a great opportunity to go and lift their hands up. So those of you that are going there, we're going to be laying hands on you this evening and expecting some great things.

Let's turn to Hebrews, Chapter 11; pick up where we've been. We've been talking about trusting through obedience. We spent a number of sessions on trust and obey. We talked about obeying those that have the rule over you. We talked about habitual obedience. We learn submission to authority so that we can learn to submit to God and trust Him in every way-as we see designated authority in our parents, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord . . . " (Ephesians 6:1)-and we saw how the purpose of instruction and trust is then to be carried over in being able to trust our Heavenly Father. So as parents, we're consistent in our lives so that they can see the consistency of God. We're immutable; we don't change the rules, but we're compassionate and we're tender and merciful, as our Heavenly Father is. But the sword is not borne in vain, and there's chastisement to those, the Scripture says, that the Lord loves, and so that process of learning that there are consequences to sin and to rebellion.

We saw that all of us are going to obey one of two forces, as we studied Romans, Chapter 6-that to whom you yield your members, your life, as instruments to obey, his slave you are. So we saw that men are either slaves to God or they're slaves to Satan. No man is an entity to himself; no man is independent. Those people that say, "I'm my own man," you're not. You're either God's man or the devil's man. So we came to see that and the understanding, then, that our lives are to be offered up and yielded to one of the kingdoms-the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness.

Then we want to take a look here at a few men in Hebrews 11-the champions of faith who did it right, who God was able to speak toward and say, "These are people that pleased Me." Men like David, God said, "I'm going to raise up a man that's after my own heart, a man like David." Then we start studying their lives, and we think, "Man, David kind of blew it!" Aren't you glad you can blow it and still be called a man after God's own heart? You know, we look at our lives and we mess up so much and we think, God, if I were You, I'd be through with me! Aren't you glad you're not God! Amen? He sees the beginning to the end. God doesn't see what we are at the moment; He sees what we are in Jesus. Amen? He sees the end of this thing. He sees that if we continue in well doing and don't [grow] weary, don't faint, that there is that reward that's waiting for us, praise God! "For faithful is He Who called you, Who will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). So there's a rest, as we heard the utterance this morning, to the people of God.

We want to talk about the man whose name was "rest"-Noah. The name Noah means "rest." Now, it's pretty ironic, because here's a guy that worked his tail off for a hundred years-labored and yet he's called "rest." We don't want to have the wrong concept of what rest is. Rest doesn't mean you sit around and do nothing. Rest means you do it in the strength of God, not in your own strength. You do it for the glory of God and not for your own glory. You do it in the midst of opposition when everybody around you is mocking you and despising you, because God called you. That's where the rest is. The rest comes when you know you're in the will of God. And there's going to be laboring to cease from our own works. In the midst of this process there's always the tendency to take it back into our own control, isn't there? There's always that tendency to want to trust in our own ability or maybe to lean to the right hand or to the left, but the Scripture says we can't do that. In all of our ways we need to acknowledge God, and He will direct our path.

So we look at this man Noah, a very interesting man. Some firsts with Noah-Noah built the first altar; Noah was the first drunk that we're aware of. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Now, how do you reconcile those things? The glory of God is in earthen vessels-Amen?-that the glory and the majesty might be of Him and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). If God can use Noah, if God can use David, if God can use Peter-this old fisherman, presumptuous, full of himself-He can use you. Amen? "Well, you know, it's too late for me; I'm getting older." Noah was 500. Now, only a few of you are close to that. Now, for Noah, 500 was like midlife crisis; he lived to be 950 years old. So midway through his life, he comes on the scene, and an interesting gentleman.

We're going to look here at Hebrews 11, we're going to go into 1 Peter 3, we're going to look back at Genesis 7, and take a look at the life of Noah a little bit. Most of us who have been around church at all, we hear the Sunday school stories of Noah, and our kids come home with the little cutouts and some great things with Noah and the ark and the different stories. But there are some real spiritual principles in the life of Noah and in this recording of the great deluge that we need to get a hold of that are very pertinent to where we are today. Because the environment, when you go over to Genesis and we begin to see where Noah was living, he was living very much in the same environment we are today. In fact, the Scriptures compare two things with the day that you and I are living in: Sodom and Gomorrah, and the times of Noah. We're living in one of the most wicked times in the history of man. The Scripture says that we're coming into a time-and we can already see the fruit of it-when men call good evil and evil good. Isn't that where we are today? We see the warfare that we're engaged in, and if we're not careful, we can get caught up in the politics of it, which so many well-meaning Christians have done, but the thing we need to understand is our weapons are not carnal; they're not through elected officials. They are mighty through God-Amen?-to the pulling down of strongholds. We don't trust in the arm of the flesh. Many are going to pursue those ways, and we're not going to condemn them or say they're wrong for it, but it's all in vain, because the Scripture says very clearly-I don't care who's going to what electorate ballot-the Lord raises up kings and brings them down. Amen?

Now, you see, many of us-I've been criticized by people over the years, in these last number of years, because I've stopped voting. They say, "It's your duty to vote!" No, it's my right not to, and the reason I don't is because I fully believe that by my not voting, I'm believing God. You might believe you're believing God by voting, and I wouldn't say you're wrong. But I think the very fact that I didn't vote got that man into office that God wanted there. If I'd voted, the wrong guy might have got in. That's how I look at it. And I would rather, if I'm going to err, err on the side of the supernatural and walk in a way that allows me to trust in God's sovereign hand. Now, sovereignly, God has created and allowed a nation of liberty, a nation to where people can vote, and supposedly the majority rule-or maybe not. Like in many of the issues today, and you all know that I'm not in any way involved in the political aspects, but I know that one of the big battles that's going on in the political front right now is the issue over marriage. I want to just give you a little quote of the system and how it thinks. The proponents of the same-sex marriage, those that are opposing the established biblical order, the judges who are taking over the nation in what I would perceive as a judicial tyranny, and the legislators, and here's a quote, "This is far too important for the people to determine." Their elitist thinking-you see, they think that you're stupid, and some of us are for electing them, but this is the mentality; this is where people are. All I'm saying to you is this, beloved: this great nation that we live in is a straw man. Don't put your trust in them. It's the best place going, undoubtedly, but the Kingdom of God is better! And some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we trust in the Lord our God. So whether you vote or don't vote, do it as unto the Lord, but what I'm telling you is you better put your trust in God-Amen?-and not in the arm of man.

So we look to the sovereignty of God, and we look to the wickedness of this generation that we're living in. "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the time of the coming of the Son of man," the Scripture says (Luke 17:26). That great and terrible day of the Lord is what the Scripture calls this hour that we're in. The Day of the Lord is the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He comes and stands upon the earth. And we know the great tribulation that's going to come; it's called the time of Jacob's trouble. The good news is we're not going to be here-Amen?-"because He that now restrains will let [will cease], and then shall that wicked man be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8), but we're going to be caught up, praise God. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we're going to be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52). "We'll meet Him in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Can you say, "praise God" for that?

But what do we do until then? Do we hide out in caves? Well, we might have to, because as you read Hebrews 11, the champions of faith found themselves, at times, hiding out in caves, living covered with animal skins. You say, "Ah, sable would be nice." No, that's not what it's saying. So we realize that if we're going to become men and women of faith, we're going to move into the unseen realm, the unknown realm. Like Abraham, the father of faith, we're going to go not knowing where we're going, but we know the call of God says, "I'll order your steps, and every place you put your foot, I'll give it to you." So we're believing for the wisdom of God and the sovereignty of God to manifest in our lives.

Hebrews 11 says it this way, "By faith [Noah's great grandfather] Enoch [verse 5] was translated that he should not see death; and [he] was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, [Wouldn't you like this to be your testimony?] that he pleased God." " . . . he pleased God." Is that what we live for? If we all had that ambition-"I just want to do one thing to please God." How many years have you heard me say it, those of you that have been here for years and years and years, many of you? We've been here a long time together; we used to be young. And here we still are, pressing on toward that mark, the prize, the high calling of God. More resolved today than we were then; more excited today than we were then-anticipating a move of God greater than any that we've ever known!

I don't know if you all are aware of it or not; God is doing something in our midst right now. You know, it's not something that's real obvious; it's not something that's dramatic, but over these last weeks God has been moving in our midst. There's something happening; there's a rustling in the mulberries. It's been more of a tedious work that's been being done, a digging deep into that rock, as Jesus said, and laying foundations. Many of us have been making foundational decisions to change things in our life, to stabilize our lives and to reestablish the course. Nothing with great demonstration, but resolve. And I sense that in our midst, that many have made some fresh resolve so that when the wind and the waves come and beat upon this that we're building, not only will it not fall, it won't be shaken. Amen?

There are winds that are blowing out there, of the spirit of antichrist. Listen to the political system; listen to the kingdoms of darkness. Understand what the economists are saying. This new decision just made by Congress-you say, "Man! You know a lot of what's going on, if you don't listen to politics." Every once in a while I listen to the radio, and I get it all at one time. We understand what's taking place in the economy today. You look and you see the rise of the king of the East, China. You see our deficit in trade. We're in trouble, folks! There's one reason, and one reason alone, we as a nation are not totally bankrupt. You want to know what it is? If we go down, everybody goes down. So everybody else pretends like we're still who we used to be. We all just give each other credit, and there's a day of reckoning coming. The man of sin is coming, the Antichrist, who will resolve these problems, and he'll be raised up as god. I don't want to get off course, but we're seeing the wickedness of this day that we're in.

So the Scripture says that Enoch had this testimony: "that he pleased God." I want to make one thing clear here-the emphasis that we've had on the godly seed, generational faith, passing on to that next generation the ability to dig their own wells. Historically, the church has always experienced the second law of thermodynamics; there's always been deterioration, and we're going contrary to that law of nature (that things die, that things get weaker, that things become disorderly), and we demand in that next generation, order and discipline and strength and purity, and believe God for it. Amen? And as man continually expresses his depravity, we believe God for a godly seed to be raised up in the midst of it that'll stand as the standard of God against the flood of the enemy. It's only going to be done supernaturally; it's only going to be done by faith. It's contrary to the history of the church. Look today at where the holiness movements of Wesley have gone, to the ordaining of homosexuals. Look today where the holiness movement of Azusa Street has gone, to the compromise of the great charismatic movements, in bed with the great whore and using worldly means, ashamed anymore of the power of the gospel, ashamed of the doctrine of divine healing, ashamed of speaking in tongues. But God has a people that have not bowed their knees, praise God, and we're a little part of that.

Isn't it good to be a part of what God is doing? He's doing it all over the world, and He's doing it under every label. He's raising up again that standard, the church, that the gates of hell will not prevail against, but it's not automatic. You want to know what it takes? It takes one generation teaching the next generation. It takes an Enoch to teach a Noah. Amen? Heritage! Passing on the presence of God! Sitting our grandchildren on our knees and telling them about the moves of God that we have known and what God is going to do in their lives. Amen? Not allowing them to become distracted by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of things, that enter in and choke the Word of God out, but to lift up their eyes and look to the hills from whence comes their help, to look into the heavenlies and lay up treasure where thieves cannot break in and steal, where moths and rust cannot corrupt.

It's like I told the boys there after that loss; I said, "Guys, this is tough, man. You played your hearts out. We're proud of you, but remember one thing: sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. This is over, man. We live for eternity. This isn't eternal! This has nothing to do with the important parts of our life of preparing for the coming of Jesus."

So Enoch walked with God and had this testimony: "that he pleased God." And in one of the great passages in all of the Bible, the next verse sandwiched between these two statements, "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." What's that saying to us? First of all, you've got to believe in the God of the Bible. Those that come to God must believe that He is. That He is what? That He is what His Word says He is. You see, the world and professed Christianity have created another god that is not Yahweh, is not Jehovah. It's a god made in their own image, it's a get-rich-quick god, it's a live-any-way-you-want god, it's a granddaddy god that pats you on the head and winks at sin, but that's not the God of the Bible. You must believe that He is Who He says He is-"I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14), the Almighty, the uncaused Cause of all things, for by Him all things were created, by Him and for Him, and by Him they all consist, they're all held together, the Scripture says.

" . . . and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." The faith movement would say He's a rewarder that gives you anything you want. You just name it, claim it; God will give it to you. That's not what the rewards of God are all about. The rewards of God come this way: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the necessities of life will be added unto you. Amen? The rewards of God are Christlikeness. The rewards of God are the visitation of His Shekinah glory in our tabernacle. The rewards of God are to be able to take the name of Jesus upon our lips and know that our Father hears us when we pray, because if we ask anything in His name, Father will give it to you. It's relational; it's not a formula. And there's a diligent pursuit-"of them that diligently seek Him." Not casually, not in times of crisis-and this is what I want to emphasize this morning in the life of Noah-but diligence in the mundane; day after day, just doing your job and understanding that even the secular is sacred if we're doing it in the name of Jesus, for we're to do all things, the Scripture says, unto the Lord. Amen?

You see, many of us have thought that faith was just walking on water, calling fire out of heaven or raising the dead. Faith is living a consistent life. Faith is going to work every day and being a testimony, where people watch you and say, "There's something different about you." The joy of the Lord, the peace of God, the commitment to your family, the commitment to the Kingdom of God-you're different! We're epistles that are read of men. Amen? We're the light of the world; we're the salt of the earth, praise God! That's faith. When nothing spectacular is happening, we just give thanks in everything, the Scripture says. Have we learned that? To give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Believing-oh, beloved, this diligence; what you're going to see in the life of Noah-believing that all things are working together for good, Romans 8:28, to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. Can I ask you a question? Do you get distracted?

You know, I told you that I truly believe that some of you have made monumental decisions; you've made decisions that are foundational. The real faith is going to be to stay on that course when the feelings are gone, when the resolve is like two weeks, two months-and for young people that's a long time-in the past and nothing seems to really be changing. God doesn't just seem to be just opening heaven and pouring out everything on me, and I don't seem to have the excitement about it anymore. Now I'm kind of looking at other people that are doing what I used to do, and it looks like they're having fun, and now I've made this commitment. And two weeks and two months and two years and twenty years-and Noah kept sawing away. [Pastor imitates the sound of someone sawing.] "Noah"-I love that Bill Cosby record. "What's that?" [Pastor makes sawing noise again.] "Noah!" "Who's that?" "It's the Lord, Noah." "Right!" Do you feel like that sometimes? God's talking to you. "I want you to build an ark." "What's an ark?" You know, we don't have to say that; we don't get to say that, "What's an ark?" When God says "I want you to build a godly family," you know exactly what He's talking about, because you're surrounded by them. Amen? That's what it says, that Noah condemned the world by his obedience. You don't have any excuse, because you see people doing it, and that proves it can be done. Amen? And God is no respecter of persons. Faith is choosing to do it God's way. Faith is choosing to follow those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God!

Some of us have had great grandfathers that pleased God, for generations. Now, some of us are just starting the process off. What a blessing. That was always one thing that so blessed me, that Janet's grandmother was one of the first generation Pentecostals in this country, and then her mother and herself. And you can see, as Paul spoke to Timothy-"your mother and your grandmother, and I believe it's in you, too" (2 Timothy 1:5). We have reason to believe that it's generational. Amen? We have reason to believe that what our grandparents believed and our parents believed is going to be in us and going to be in our children, praise God! The world can't have them. Amen? "Greater is He that's in us than He that's in the world" (1 John 4:4). But it's not automatic; it's going to be diligence. It's going to be you, every day, through the drudgery of cutting down another tree!

Did you know that Noah didn't have these things being delivered by the truckload? "Come on back. Go ahead and dump it over here." They were going out and cutting this wood, man! They're building an ark! Now, you've got to understand something. This thing was two football fields long-not quite, five hundred and change, fifty feet-ninety feet wide, as wide as the gym. It was as wide as the gym and went the whole length of this property and went three stories high. Hand saw and a mallet. You want to know why Noah was a man that walked with God and was a preacher of righteousness? He didn't have time to do anything else. Amen? Our greatest curse is all the time we have that's not used for God, and yet what's the one thing you whine about? "Don't have enough time." And one of the things that eats into that precious time that you want for yourself the most, are the things we have you doing. Over the years, "Oh, we have too many meetings." We don't have enough! You're going, "Oh no! Pastor, are you going to initiate something else?" No, not right now, but we will if we need to. Amen? It's killing us, because it takes us off course of building this kingdom that's being made without hands.

And so every day Noah and his boys go out cutting wood, building an ark. In that region there was the tar and different pits that are very similar to the La Brea Tar Pits and different things. They would take the pitch, it was called pitch, and they would take it-probably this gopher wood. It's a derivative of the cedar families down there and very water resistant and didn't give itself to decay, and then the pitch that would seal this. And he's laboring, building this ark. Now, the thing that's very interesting that we don't always stop to think about is it had never rained, and God says it's going to rain. (You know, the weathermen back then probably would get it right-"And no rain today." They would have deserved their paycheck. These guys shouldn't get paid. They've got Doppler radar, and I want to tell you something. The almanac, looking at the woolly worms, is better. "Oh, the woolly worm is looking thick today; it's going to be a cold winter." The old farmers go out there, right? Rub their dog's nose and point it in the air and go, "Ok, it's"-whatever. These guys have got Doppler.)

Well, Noah is doing is what God told him to do. You know that everybody around him is looking and saying, "You're an idiot! You're telling me that the reason you're living this way is that you're serving an invisible God, that nobody can see, Who is coming again? Nothing in history says that has ever happened before. There's no forensic evidence, and you're just telling me that you're giving your whole life to something that can't forensically be proven?" That's what Noah was facing. Now, we're not facing that, because we have proof. Amen? God raised Jesus from the dead! There's evidence! It's one of the most verifiable acts in the history of mankind. Now, man refuses to believe it, and he'll give credibility to the secular that has the same evidence but not to the supernatural, the spiritual-same evidence, more evidence. So we're mocked just like our father Noah was mocked. People look at us and laugh, and they say we're wasting our lives. "Where is that God that made these promises?" And I'm here to tell you it's sooner than when we first believed, praise God! Cut another tree. Just stay about the mundane; stay your course. In due season you will reap if you don't faint. Amen? That's what Noah is all about-in due season. Believing that what God had promised-Abraham [was] fully persuaded (Romans 4 tells us) that what God had promised, He was able to perform. Do you believe that?

What promise are you standing on this morning? Have you gone to the Word and received the promises of God, or are you just kind of "Whatever God wants to do"? No, man! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. What's God said about your situation? Some of you have faced the heartbreaking experience just recently of your teenagers rebelling and leaving the Kingdom of God. What are you doing? Stand up and profess, "The Word of God will not return void!" Amen? "When they're old they will not depart from it!" Say what God says about it, praise God! Rise up every morning, like the prodigal's father, and look for them to return. "Today's the day, praise God! I'm looking for them to come home today, praise God!" Just keep your heart fixed on the promises of God, because He's not willing that any would perish. But at the same time, we've got a task. We're building a generational ark. We're building something that preserves the children of God. We're building an instrument that insulates us from the wrath and the judgment of God. It's called the Kingdom of God; it's called the church; it's called the Body of Christ. Very frankly, it's just a lot of work, and it's tedious, and it's not always glamorous. "By faith [verse 7] Noah, being warned of God of things not seen . . . " Now, many of us have evidence. We have generations that have gone before us, the great cloud of witnesses, the Scripture says. But he was warned of God.

God has warned us. I've spoken things to us as a people to prepare for. Anybody that's been around here a long time knows that much of the things that we had spoken in years past at times, you've seen it. All that we've spoken is what's recorded in the Scriptures, the signs. You see, the Scripture says, and we read it when we just finished our study on the children of light, these things will not take us unawares. If we're children of light, this stuff is not going to come upon us and we go, "Whoa! Where'd that come from?" Can you see it coming? Do you understand where we are at this moment in time? The love of many is waxing cold; many are falling away, departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils! It doesn't mean they're sacrificing, having human sacrifices, and Ouija boards. The doctrines of devils are the spirit of antichrist. It's the great whore; it's by good words and fair speeches that they're deceiving the simple. The worship of the creature (man) more than the Creator. The majority of effort that churches are putting out today is in trying to preserve America instead of the Kingdom of God, trying to have 12-step programs to serve and worship man instead of God. The problem is sin. We don't hear about sin anymore. The exaltation of individualism instead of members in particular placed into the body as it pleases Him. You're not special; you're a part!

That's not what man wants to hear today; it's the worship of the creature instead of the Creator. The emphasis is on man, the emphasis is on time and space and the temporal, and those of us that are looking for a building not made with hands, those of us that are looking for dwelling places-"I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place, I'll surely come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). Those of us that believe that, people look at us and scorn us and say, "Oh, that's pie in the sky, and you just have an escapism mentality. You just want to get out of here so that life is easier." Yes! They think it's a sign of weakness; it's a sign of strength, because we're hoping against hope.

We-look-have been warned of God of things not seen, and we are moved with fear, and we're preparing this ark. I want to end with this for this morning. Here's what it's all about, the preparation of this ark, the mundane, " . . . to the saving of his house . . . " What are you doing to save your house? What are you building to save your house-your wife, your children? Men, you're the priest of that household. What are you doing, what are you building, that'll honor God in the next generation? What are we building that'll cause our sons and daughters to stand and remain separate, so that the sons of God don't get intermingled with the daughters of men? A purity, a separation, a holy nation, a peculiar people called to bring praises to God! So here we are, building an ark (the Body of Christ) to the saving of our house. " . . . by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Condemned the world. Now, we know that literally all humanity was wiped out in the deluge.

Turn over to Peter for just a moment. In 1 Peter, Chapter 3, verse 20, "Which sometime were disobedient [the spirits that were in prison], when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." Saved by water, a figure of baptism. Eight souls. Now, the eight that were saved, one is going to be cursed. We've got to finish this race. The things that God is working in us have to then be practiced in that next generation. The fact that God preserved you because of the diligence of your father doesn't mean that you're going to be without trial and testing. And the problem with Ham, and the reason he was cursed, was because he lost respect for his father. He dishonored his father. He said, "Here we've been held for all of these years and required to work our tails off and build this ark and we were told about how great God is and how God is going to preserve a people for Himself and look! He's sinning himself!" Instead of covering his dad's sins he wanted to expose them so that he could justify his own, and God cursed him. Do you look at the frailties of your leaders? Do you look at the frailties of your fathers, the frailties of your husbands, or do you look at the fact that God has raised up in your midst an earthen vessel, filled with the glory of God, that's building an ark for you, praise God?-because of their faithfulness and their pursuit, because of the standards that are being held, because of the course that's been set. Be careful that you don't bring the curse on yourself by despising those that God has placed as examples to you. There's only one that's perfect. Amen?

So here we are. The world condemned because of the faithfulness of Noah. Eight souls saved. I'll end with this for this morning. I think one thing else that we want to point out through all of this, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. There is no question that he spent the majority of his time about God's business. You say, "But didn't he preach to everybody?" They came to him. He wasn't running all over the world. He was building an ark, and when they came to mock him, he preached to them. You want to know where his treasure was? His family. What are you doing to win your family? What are you doing to stabilize your family? God will bring souls for you to witness to; God will bring people into your lives for you to minister to. But the eight souls that were saved through the figure of baptism, because of faithful Noah, warned of God, moved with fear. I think in this generation the one thing we've lost is the fear of God, the respect, the honor, the awe of the Holy One. The creature has become so exalted in his own eyes that we truly believe God is there for our good instead of us here for God's glory, and when we can change that perspective, He's going to be able to use us.

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning, and as we study the life of this man Noah, the preacher of righteousness, You said he walked with You. Father, that's what we want as our testimony: we walked with God, we pleased God.

As I was looking at my headstone, how would I summarize my life? As I was looking at that a few years ago when we were having to deal with that, these two phrases kept coming to my heart: "he walked with God" [and] "he pleased God." Those two phrases kept coming, and I couldn't bring myself to make the evaluation of myself that I pleased God, but I know that I've walked with Him. I've walked with Him in the garden; I've been on the mountain, and I've seen His glory. I've been undone in the depths of hell as I've cried out, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" I've had to pray so many times the fifty-first Psalm, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit with in me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me." And yet He's always been there, because He said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you. If you cast your care upon Me, I'll care for you." I've walked with God, and I want the testimony to be "Well done, good and faithful servant." There's a price to pay. There's a rest to be entered into, and it's ceasing from our own labors, it's trusting in His finished work, it's cutting down one more tree, and not fainting. Father, give us that spirit, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. Take just a moment, as Gary plays for us, and we ask ourselves that question: do we fear God? Do we fear God? Do we fear God! "Oh, He'll understand. I've robbed Him of my time, I've robbed Him of His glory through my carnal living, I've robbed Him of the honor in giving Him my firstfruits, I've robbed Him from the next generation in having alternate treasures, but He'll understand." We need to come back to the fear of God. It is an awesome terror to fall into the hands of the living God! Oh, He is loving, He is kind, He is merciful, He is longsuffering, but He is holy and He is just. And He will not be mocked! So the standard has been set; we can't set an inferior standard, and we press toward that mark. We encourage one another. We comfort with the same comfort. We lift up hands that are hanging down.

Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Take me in . . . " Thank You, Jesus.

An ark has been built. I know one thing. When I stand before God, He will not hold against me the fact that I've not built an ark. We've built the vessel of escape. We've bid all to come, for my family, for all that I've contacted, but hear this. All family members of every family represented here, don't misunderstand this one thing. That door will not always be open, because God's finger closed it. Dad can't open it. The finger of God is just about ready to close the door. That same finger that wrote the Ten Commandments on Sinai, written by the finger of God, Moses said, that same finger of law was not negated by the grace in the work of Jesus. He did not come to destroy [the law]; He fulfilled. He gave the capacity to trust in Him and see the debt fully paid by His work, and it will evidence itself in a transformed life, a renewed mind, fruit of the spirit. But the finger of God is upon the door, and we're that generation.

Moved with fear-Noah moved with fear. God will not always strive with man. We live in a generation where there are no consequences. God has prepared an ark for the saving of your soul. Aren't you thankful this morning? Your family that's entered in, aren't you thankful this morning? God has given us so much to rejoice in! Those that are onboard are safe, praise God! He saved them by water, a figure of baptism. What about the rest? That's God's work. We've built an ark, praise God. We've done what we could do. God's sovereign hand will determine the rest. We know this: He's not willing that any perish, and the Judge of all the earth does right. Amen?

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "Stay onboard." Praise God! Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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