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you. I want you to turn to Matthew
24, and I want to talk to you about the days of Noah. Matthew
chapter number 24, and we're going to be reading verse number
36 through verse number 44 for the message, but before we get
to that, let me make a few statements about the nature of this chapter.
The time of the Second Coming is the matter that is dealt with
in this chapter from the beginning until the end, and that's a subject
that has generated great interest in the church for approximately
two thousand years now, we've been talking about that. And
even Jesus' disciples were interested in knowing the time when the
Lord would return. In fact, if you study Matthew
chapter number 24, you have to start in verse number 1 really
to get the entirety of the context, but you'll find that the entirety
of the chapter is written to answer three questions that the
disciples asked the Master. They are all spelled out in verse
number three, so before we get to our text, let me give you
a backdrop of what this chapter is all about. The Bible says
in verse number three, "...and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us..." And here
are the three questions. "...When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Would you take a
moment to underscore those three questions, at least with a mental
note, because what we preach today is going to lead us back
to these three questions time after time in the message. The
disciples asked him, when shall these things be? What shall be
the sign of thy coming? and of the end of the world. And as you'll realize quickly
in the reading of this chapter, all of these questions have to
do with times and events. The questions are when and what. When and what. When and what. And when Jesus sets in motion
the answer to these questions, He always precedes His answers
with a when and a what. When and what? When and what? Let me just give you an example
of that. Notice with me, he says when
and then and what throughout the chapter. He says in verse
number 9, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. He says
in verse number 10, Then shall many be offended, and shall betray
one another, and shall hate one another." He says in verse number
14, "...this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end
come..." Are you getting the theme here? Verse number 15,
"...when ye see therefore..." When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing
in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand, verse 16,
then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Verse
21, then shall be great tribulation. Verse 23, then if any man shall
say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe him not. Are
you getting the theme? Verse number 30, "...and then
shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven." Verse
number 33, "...so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that the end is near, even at the door." Verse number 40,
"...then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken,
and the other left," and on and on and on. We could go developing
around these uses of these words, when and then. Now, having said
all of that, and please stay with me, usually my messages
are like building a foundation for the World Trade Center, and
then I build a little hut right in the middle of it. But notice
with me in this passage that Jesus tells us you can know something
about the what, but you can't know the when. As a matter of
fact, that's a very important factor in this chapter is that
we must all come to the understanding that though the disciples asked
Him when, none of us can know the when. Jesus said over and
over and over again, no man knows the day, no man knows the hour,
Not even the Son of Man, the parallel passage in Mark says
to us, not even the Son of Man, pardon me, in Luke says, not
even the Son of Man knows the day and not even the Son of Man
knows the hour. The angels on a supernatural
level, they don't know the when. The Lord Jesus on a divine level,
He doesn't know the when. And we on a human level, we do
not know the when. But He doesn't just tell us about
the when, He tells us about the what. As a matter of fact, he
says, as you prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, you
may not know the when, but you can at least focus on circumstances
that will develop as the coming of the Son of Man nears that
will point you to the fact that He is near His return. And in an amazing economy of
words, Jesus doesn't point them forward to know the what, He
points them backward to know the what. And you're going to
find that to be a pretty consistent hermeneutic in the preaching
of Jesus. That when they ask what's going
to happen way over yonder in prophecy, He points them back
to history. He doesn't say, listen, prophecy
is the proof of history. He says history is the proof
of prophecy. That is, that what God has done
in the past will unfold in the future in a prophetic sense. History is going to repeat itself. Are y'all getting anything out
of this this morning? And so knowing the what is very
simple. And in verse number 37, he begins
to introduce to us the what of this passage. Let's back it up
to verse number 36. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. And
immediately punctuating that truth is verse 37. But as the
days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be. For in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noe 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. Then Two shall be in the field,
the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other
left. Jesus says in verse number 42, don't look for the wind,
but watch for the circumstances. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if
the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched and would have suffered his house
to be broken up. Therefore, verse 44, be ye also
ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man
cometh. Now that's not the end of the
context, and we could read all the way through the end of the
chapter, and I'm certain that every preacher in this building
has a message in this passage in your Bible this morning, but
I want to talk to you for a little while about the days of Noah.
The days of Noah. It's not uncommon to find pictures
of the Lord's coming in the Scriptures. In fact, just about every author
that took up the task of instructing us concerning the coming of the
Lord used some sort of word picture to help us better grasp that
reality. It's very much like what the
Apostle Paul did in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse number 3
when he said that the coming of the Lord would be like a woman
who is in travail. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians
5, 3, 4, "...when they shall say, Peace and safety..." Now
haven't we heard this before? When they shall say, Peace and
safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." That's
a very interesting analogy, Brother Stacey. Because in a pregnancy
there are three trimesters. that are likened to the three
questions that were asked by the disciples in Matthew chapter
24. Just as they asked three questions, so the Apostle Paul
said there are three trimesters in a pregnancy. And you know
how it is. I've got three children in our
home. All of them are teenagers. You
pray for me. I'm trying to do it without getting drunk, go
all the way through this being sober, but You know how that
is, but I remember when my wife told me, she said, I think I
might be expecting. There were signs of that. Our
first child, there were signs of that. And we've come to believe
very soon thereafter that she was expecting. You know how that
is. It starts out with a little bit
of morning sickness and there are some signs that something
is going on and then of course there's testing and then you
confirm that there's going to be a baby delivered in the first
trimester. It's just kind of exciting and
everybody's talking about it and then by the second trimester
it's obvious that something has happened. She swallowed a watermelon
seed somewhere along the line and then by that, y'all know
what I'm talking about? Then by that third trimester,
I mean, she's walking around like a front end loader, bumping
into everything, her belly's way out in front of her, and
you know what she's saying all the time? I'm ready for this
to be over! So shall it be in the days of
the coming of the Son of Man. Some of y'all have turned me
off already. In verse number 36, Jesus said that, "...no man
knows the day, and no man knows the hour, but of that day and
hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only." In other words, we cannot, are y'all getting
this? We cannot know the when, but the what? The what is a very
different circumstance. And Jesus gave us circumstances
to watch for just before the coming of the Son of Man. In
fact, instead of turning us to the Revelation, He turns us back
to the Genesis. Instead of turning us to prophecy,
he turns us to history in verse number 37. As it was in the days
of Noah, so shall it also be in the coming of the Son of Man. He used the days of Noah to illustrate
the days that we will live in before the coming of the Son
of Man. So what was it like in the days
of Noah? What was the attitude of the
days of Noah? What were the circumstances of
the days of Noah? What were the philosophies of
the days of Noah? What was the spirit of the days
of Noah? What were the morals of the days
of Noah that prevailed while Noah was a preacher of righteousness? while Noah for 120 years built
an ark. What was it like back in those
days? Well, if we can take, Brother
Fraser, a snapshot of the days of Noah and lay it down on top
of prophecy, we'll find out that we are very near the coming of
the Son of Man. Amen, amen, and amen. And that leaves us to ask, what
was it like when Noah was building that ark? Wasn't it to save his
family? Wasn't it to save the world? Wasn't the building of the ark
to save his house? Well, I've come to the conclusion
that the main purpose of the ark was not to be a ship. It
was to be a sermon. As a matter of fact, it was only
a ship for a few days. It was a sermon for 120 years. Y'all getting anything out of
this? You think your pastor preaches long sermons. Noah had one sermon
that was 120 years long, and everything he added to that sermon
was a point, and a sub-point, and a main point, and an introduction,
and a conclusion, and the world listened to Noah preach for 120
years that judgment is coming. When Noah placed a board into
that ark, he put a sub-point to his message. When Noah put
a plank into the flooring of that ark, it was another message
that the people were going to be judged. When Noah pitched
that ark, oh man, I'm gonna tell you, heaven's blowing in my heart.
When Noah pitched that ark within and without, he knew very well
that the word pitch would be the same word that we would use
for atonement. that would keep the people sealed
inside of that ark. And when Noah put that door,
amen, when Noah put that door into that ark as an entrance
where there was no exit, there was only one way in and no way
out. Brother Sammy used to tell us
when we were in Bible college, he said, I don't know how they
got out of the ark. Brother Sammy said they took the top off and
they went out the top. I don't know. Sounds like pretty
good theology to me. Only one way in and everybody
who went in the ark went in the exact same door and everything
that Noah did when he was building that ark, it was a sermon. Listen
to me, it wasn't a ship. It was a sermon. And everybody
that wanted to get on that ark got on that ark. And it's the
same way in this generation. Everybody who wanted to get inside
of that ark to save themselves from the flood that was impending,
it was big enough to hold everybody who wanted to be saved. Amen.
And just in general, the wickedness of Noah's day was complete. It was total. He lived in a generation
of devastating wickedness. In fact, preceding the building
of the ark, we read the words of Genesis 6, verse 1 through
verse number 5. And I'm not going to take too much time in preaching
this, but it came to pass when men began to multiply on the
face of the earth that daughters were born unto him. I didn't
come to raise a debate. I didn't come to raise a discussion.
I'm not here to give you a hermeneutic this morning, but what happened
in verse number two is in your Bible. The sons of God saw the
daughters of men and they were fair. Did y'all notice how quiet
it got in here when I started reading this verse? They took
them wives of all they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he is flesh, and
yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. And there was
giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they
bare children to them, and the same became mighty men, which
were of old men of renown. And God saw, listen to this carefully,
this is the days of Noah, and God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Did you hear all those superlatives?
Every imagination completely only evil continually. I've been studying my Bible for
30 years and I have yet to find one positive thing that the Bible
says about man's imaginations. The first mention of man's imagination
is Genesis chapter number 6, and the Bible tells us it was
because of man's imaginations that God destroyed the entire
human race with the exception of eight souls. And every mention
of the imagination is... Look it up on your phone right
now if you want to. Every mention, the nine mentions of man's imagination
in the Bible, it always directs us back to what is evil. It always
directs us back to what is unholy. It directs us back to what is
vile. It directs us back to what is wicked. And the last mention
of imagination, he said they have to be cast down. He said
they have to be brought into subjection of the rule of Christ. He said these imaginations and
the thoughts of man's heart were only evil continually as it was
in the days of Noah. So shall it also be in the days
of the coming of the Son of Man. I didn't come here to make any
friends. I certainly don't want to make any enemies. But these cell
phones haven't made us better. And Wi-Fi access hasn't made
us more holy. It's made us more wicked. The
television hasn't made us better people. It's made us worse people.
And social networking, it hasn't made us better people. You know
as well as I do, what could have been a good has been turned into
an evil by the imaginations of man. The imagination of man can
take that which is holy and make it unholy. The imagination of
man can take what is clean and make it unclean. Amen! The imagination of man can take
that which is neutral and push it all the way to the left and
make it evil. Are you listening to me? Do you
think that we're near the coming of the Son of Man? We're living
in the days of Noah once again. And I want you to imagine that. Imagine a world that was wholly
possessed with demons. That interacted with the daughters
of men. Unholy alliances and unholy unions. Neighbor, this sexuality, and
you're gonna have to shut off a lot of your Bible not to talk
about it. This nature of sexuality that we see being propagated
in the world in which we live, that is demonically inspired. Man, I'm trying my best to watch
my clock, preacher. But the other day, I did a study
on the words, every word in the Bible that starts with the word
trans. Every word in the Bible that
starts with the word trans, like transform, and transfigure, and
translate. Those are words in your King
James Bible along with about 19 other words that start with
the word trans. And I found out that when God
translates or transforms or transfigures something, it goes from what
is unholy to that which is holy. But when the devil transforms
something, it goes from that which is good to backward to
that which is bad. And the Bible said that Satan
himself hath transformed himself into an angel of light. All this
trans-generation, all this trans-sexuality, every bit of that is demonic
in its nature. It was like that in the days
of Noah. It was like that in the days of Lot. And it's gonna
be like that When the Lord comes back, we are watching the days
of Noah return. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I want to give you three
things, and I'm going to say it briefly. Number one, the days
of Noah were indifferent days. Notice with me in verse number
38. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were,
what does your Bible say, eating? drinking, marrying, and giving
in marriage. So the whole time, that 120 years
that Noah was building that ark, according to 2 Peter chapter
number two and verse number five, Noah was preaching the entire
time. And his message was the ark. His message was for the
saving of the house. But the people were just as unconcerned
about the preaching of Noah as they are unconcerned about the
preaching of the prophets of this generation. Are you listening
to me today? They thought that what Noah was
saying was absurd. They thought that what Noah was
saying was foolish. They thought there was no wisdom,
no learning behind Noah whatsoever. You know why? Because he said,
judgment is coming in the form of a rain and they had never
seen it rain before. So they said, well because we've
never seen rain before that means judgment is not coming. They
saw Noah build an ark in the middle of nothing. There's not
a body of water within a hundred miles of where he is. And they
thought, how absurd for a man to build an ark in the middle
of nothing. And then he said, come into the
ark. And they didn't want to go into
the ark. And Noah did that for 120 years. They said, because
there's no rain, we don't believe it's ever gonna rain. Because
there's no judgment, we don't believe there's ever gonna be
a judgment. That's like saying, because I've never had cancer,
that means I'm never gonna die. Because I've never had a heart
attack, I'm never gonna die. Are y'all listening to me? That's
the imaginations of man's heart. And make no mistake about it,
what led them to those imaginations was their preoccupations. They were preoccupied with eating. drinking, marrying. There was a preoccupation with
eating, preoccupation with drinking, preoccupation with marrying and
giving in marriage. And I know the world is not going
to believe the message that we have because it did not believe
the message that Noah had in the days just before the coming
of the Son of Man. And when Jesus came the first
time in Bethlehem, they didn't believe in it. Amen. And when
He comes the second time in His glory, they're not going to believe
in it. We know there's two divisions to the Second Coming. Rapture
preceding the Tribulation, Revelation after the Tribulation. I don't
have to go back and explain all of that eschatology today. You
know that. You know we believe that. The
preacher wouldn't have me preaching here if we didn't believe that.
He's gonna come in rapture and he's gonna come in revelation.
Brother Sammy said he's coming back the first time like Superman
and then he's coming back with us like the lone ranger on white
horses, amen. I believe that with all of my
heart. But we live in a world that is apathetic. We live in
a world, amen, are y'all listening to me? We live in a world that
is indifferent. The days of the Noah were indifferent
days. Then number two, let me show
you secondly. The days of Noah were insubordinate days. Notice
with me in verse 38b down to verse number 39. Watch this. I underline this in my Bible.
Until the day... Until the day... Watch this.
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. Imagine that. Imagine that. There was a day when Noah entered
in the ark, and the Bible tells us that God shut the door behind
Noah. And the day of grace that had
lasted through the life of Noah has now come to an end. The day
of grace that lasted through the days of Enoch. The day of
grace that lasted through the lifetime of Methuselah, the man
that lived longer than any man has ever lived. The day of grace
that started in the days of Adam and lasted all the way through
the 930 years of Adam's life. That day of grace has now come
to an end. And Noah became the last witness. And you can be sure that one
day, are you listening to me this morning? One day the last
witness is going to be given. The last sermon is going to be
preached. The last invitation is going
to be issued. And when that last sermon and
that last message and that last invitation closes, God will shut
the door on a generation. We're not fatalist, are we? I
keep hearing these Baptist preachers, and I'm not here to jump on you
fellas, but I keep hearing these Baptist preachers saying stuff
like, well, when that last one gets saved, God is gonna come
back and get the church. That's fatalism. That's fatalism. As if God has selected out a
million or two million or three million people, and when the
one millionth gets saved, he comes. That's fatalism. That's
Calvinism. God has never worked according
to numbers. God works according to times.
And I'm telling y'all, y'all listening to me? I'm not trying
to upset you, but I'm telling you, when the day of grace runs
its course, God will shut the door. Whether your loved ones
got saved or not, whether your boy or girl got saved or not,
whether the last person out in the community gets saved or not,
when God shuts the door, the door is shut, no matter who made
a decision to follow him. You say, who had a chance to
get on the ark? Everybody who wanted to get on that ark could've
got on that ark. You know how many got on the ark? Eight. Y'all listening? Eight. And as
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days
of the coming of the Son of Man. I gotta close the message. Let
me give you this one last thought. The days of Noah were not only
in different days, and the days of Noah were not only in subordinate
days, that is, they lived right up until the day that Noah closed
that door. Right up until the day that God
closed the door in their sinful ways. And by the way, that's
why He didn't tell us when He's coming. Because the nature of
man, Preacher Dietz, am I right? The nature of man is if I knew
the day and I knew the hour, I'd live what I wanted to be
all the way to the point of the rapture of the church and then
I'd repent. Number three, the days of Noah were not only indifferent
days and insubordinate days, but the days of Noah were incredulous
days. The Bible says in verse number
19, and knew not. What? What? You mean to tell me they
didn't know? How could they not know? Well, verse 39 says, "...and
knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be." Let me make something
very clear, big, bold, and plain. They knew not, but it wasn't
because they were not told. They still had the residual testimony
of Noah's message. They still had the residual testimony
of a man named Enoch who walked with God. And they still had,
y'all listen to me now, numbers don't lie, they still had the
residual testimony of a man named Adam. Noah was not far removed from
Adam. Y'all preachers, am I telling
the truth now? Let's just crunch some numbers, okay? You want
to know about the days of Noah? Let's just crunch some numbers.
They still had the residual testimony of Adam who lived 930 years.
We've never seen a man like Adam. Ever since the days of Adam,
man has been corrupted and he has declined and declined and
declined until what we are right now. Let me just tell you something
for real. You're declining too. And if you don't think that you're
dissolving, get out your yearbook from high school and take a look
at the picture of what you used to be and what you are now. It's
the nature of man to return to the dust of the earth. He said
Adam was going to do that. Job told us we were going to
do that. We know that that is going to happen. But Adam lived
930 years. Y'all just listen to some math
and I'm going to close the message here in a minute. Adam died when
Enoch was 160 years old. Did you know that? Enoch was
Noah's great-grandfather. Y'all with me? In fact, if we
do the numbers right, since he lived... in fact, Adam, since
he lived 930 years, almost lived long enough to get to know Noah. Adam was alive when Noah's father
was born. And it's possible that Adam knew
Noah's dad. Then we learn that Enoch, who
the Bible said was the seventh from Adam, died when Methuselah,
who Enoch's son was, was two hundred years old. And they had
the testimony of those three men. Are you listening to me?
They had the testimony of Adam, y'all listening now, who walked
with God. And Enoch, who walked with God. And Noah, who walked with God. The Bible says that Adam walked
with God in the cool of the day, Genesis chapter 3 and verse number
8. The Bible tells us in Genesis 5, 24, Enoch walked with God
and it was not for God took him. The Bible said in Genesis 6 and
verse number 9, Noah walked with God. They had the residual testimony
of three dedicated men. It's not that they did not hear,
it's because they did not listen. And we are living in a generation
where men and women, by and large, are not listening. I'm just about,
and some of y'all are going to turn me off when I say this,
but I'm just about to the place of putting up a sign in our foyer,
leave your cell phone in your car. There are so many distractions
from truth. We didn't used to answer text
messages and Facebook messages when we were in church. We didn't
used to do that. And look at how better off we were in church
back when we didn't have cell phones in the church. I knew
it was going to get quiet when I said that. But ours is a day
when men and women are hardened to sin. They're not listening
to the voice of righteousness. Is it any wonder that Matthew
24, 12 said, "...because iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold." It's just like it was in the days of Noah. In
1 Timothy 4, verse 1 through 2, the Spirit speaketh expressly,
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron? Is it any wonder that Paul said
in 2 Timothy 3.13, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived?" Neighbor, every preacher has
to come to a conclusion, and I'm concluding the message with
this thought as it was in the days of Noah. So shall it also
be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man." And whether
you believe that that's the rapture or the revelation, that's only
separated by seven years. Y'all listening? Amen. That's
only separated by seven years and we are watching things unfold
right before our very eyes that'll bring all of us to the same conclusion
that we are living in Noah days. You say, preacher, why is the
Lord waiting to return? If it is going to be as it was
in the days of Noah and we are there, then why is he waiting
to return? Well, let me tell you three things
and I'll conclude the message. Number one, he is permitting
evil to run its course. Don't call me a Calvinist. I'm
not even the 13th cousin of a Calvinist. But I'm going to tell you something,
friend. God has a cup. And that cup is slowly, level
by level by level, being filled with the wrath of God. And it's
a top-heavy cup. If you study the book of Daniel,
the cup is top-heavy. And when that cup fills up all
the way to the top, it's going to tip over and everything that's
been inside of that cup is going to pour out on this earth in
seven years of tribulation. That's right. That's going to
precede the days of Noah. It's going to tip over and pour
out, and it's going to dilute this generation in tribulation
and suffering. You say, why is God waiting?
Same thing you said in Genesis 15, verse number 16, for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And I don't know what
it's going to take to get us to the top of the cup, but we
are quickly getting to the top of the fullness of God's wrath. And I'll say secondly, not only
is the Lord not returned because He's permitting evil to run its
course, but secondly, He's not bound by time. Oh my. Man, there's so much preaching
in this. I'm telling you, there's so much more to say. Let me just
say this to you, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. It hadn't been that
long since the days of Noah in the economy of God. And He's
not bound by time. We're bound by a clock. We're
bound by calendars. We're bound by cell phone reception.
But God is not bound by any of those kind of things. Amen. He's
not bound. He's going to come back when
He has determined to come back. when the day of grace closes.
And then thirdly, you know as well as I do, the reason he hasn't
returned is because he is not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. He has not returned because he's
giving you another chance to get on to the ark. He's giving
you another chance to repent of your sins.
The Days of Noah
Series Jubilee 2024
| Sermon ID | 10124424205286 |
| Duration | 34:24 |
| Date | |
| Category | Camp Meeting |
| Bible Text | Matthew 24 |
| Language | English |
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