Well, when Thanksgiving came along, and then Christmas, we got away from our series in Genesis. We got to looking at the message that I had prepared for the next installment, and it fits right in with New Year. And so we're going to pick up today in Genesis chapter number 6, as we look at the matter of staying faithful to the Lord. Stay faithful. Genesis chapter number 6, so let's begin reading verse number 1. Genesis 6 and verse number 1. And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. for that He also is flesh. Yet His days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were 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, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 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. And he repented to the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And Noah beget three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 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. 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. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories thou shalt make it. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth, shall die. Noah lived in some of the most wicked times that there have ever been on the face of the earth. In fact, the world had become so wicked that the Lord God, we see here and read here, had determined to destroy all of mankind. with the exception of Noah and his family from off the face of the earth. Now as we look at our world today, it seems like the earth is once again headed in that same direction. And many folks are being tempted to cast aside their faith I want you to understand that the devil wants us to question the things that we see in our day and time. Well, where is God in all of this? Well, I'm going to show you where God is in all of these things. Even in the midst of all the wickedness and ungodliness, the Bible tells us four important things about Noah. First of all, we find there in verse number eight, we read that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now how did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord? It's the same way that Abel did before he was killed by his brother Cain. It's the same way his great-great-grandfather Enoch, who walked with God so much that the Lord just translated him one day, just took him off the earth, that he didn't die. And listen, it's the same way that every believer has found grace, and it's the same way and only way that anyone can find grace, and it's by faith. It's by grace through faith, amen? Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith it's impossible to please God. So if you're gonna please God, you're gonna have to believe God. Second thing we see here is not only did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord, but there in verse 9, it says that Noah was a just man, meaning that he was lawful and righteous man. Now we know that Noah, like all of us, was born a sinner. Why then does the Bible call him a just man? Well, it's because he was justified by faith. and made righteous by his faith in the Lord. That's the only way that an ungodly sinner can be justified and made righteous. And so we see thirdly, it says in verse 9 also that Noah was perfect in his generations. Now that means that he did not marry outside of the godly line of Seth as others had done and were doing according to verse number two. Also, he didn't allow his children to marry outside of that godly line of Seth. You remember we dealt with chapter number five and we saw that godly line coming down from Seth all the way to Noah's day. Now, the fourth thing that the Bible says about Noah is found also in verse number nine. It says that Noah walked with God. In other words, Noah's faith was a lot like his great-great-grandfather Enoch's faith. It was a living, active faith. That's the kind of faith that God wants from us, a living and active faith. Noah was sold out to the Lord and he was sincere about his faith in the Lord. He didn't profess one thing and live another. His life showed that he knew God and his life showed that he belonged to God. Can I tell you that that ought to be the same thing in our lives today? Those that were around him could see and know that he had been with God. Now, the Lord chose Noah to carry the message of judgment to come to his generation. There in verse number three, the Lord warned that his spirit would only strive with man for a time, then judgment would come. Those days was 120. That's how long it took Noah to build the ark that the Lord specified for him to build. Now, again, I want you to understand man had become very wicked. Verse 5 tells us every imagination of the thoughts of mankind's heart was only evil continually. Think about that. Verse 11 says that the earth was corrupt before God and was filled with violence. Now that ought to hit home as we think of all the corruptness and wickedness and violence in our day. I believe that Noah's generation was probably a lot like ours. In fact, just before the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, he told his disciples, listen to these words, from Matthew 24 and verses 37 through 39. Jesus said, but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered 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. I could preach until I blew in the face about the Lord is coming back again. And the majority of folks in this world, they are oblivious to it. In fact, they ignore the fact of the things that we see that show that Christ is coming soon. In 2 Timothy chapter number three, Paul warned Timothy of perilous times that would come in the last days. And as we read Paul's list, describing the conditions of those perilous times, could I tell you that it reads like today's news? It also brings to mind the conditions of Noah's day. So what should the righteous do as things keep going from bad to worse, and they will, and even continue to go from being worse to being unimaginably worse all around us. Now, my generation, I don't think we ever thought that it would get as bad as what it is right now. I mean, things have gotten unimaginably worse in our day and time. Listen, if we listen to our flesh, We just quit the faith and go hide in a hole somewhere or be like others that switch sides and join in with the wickedness. But we know that's not what God would have us to do. I believe that Noah provides us with a great example of what to do, especially as we embark on a new year. Do you realize this could be the year that the Lord Jesus Christ comes again? Noah didn't give up with what he saw. Noah rather stayed faithful. Now I want us to take a look at a few things here about that. First of all, I want us to see that Noah stayed faithful to the Lord in spite of the depravity. Depravity was evident all around him. Consider the prevailing conduct of Noah's day. God said that the wickedness of man was great. There in verse number five. Listen, people were doing things that were ungodly. That is, they were doing things that went against the very nature and character of God. God said that the earth was corrupt before Him. Verse 11 and 12 says the word, we see that word corrupt there, it means ruined. It says that the earth was corrupt because people had corrupted His way. Whose way? God's way. People have corrupted God's way on the earth. Can I tell you that God's way is being corrupted again in our day and time? What are some of the things that have been corrupted? Well, we know that marriage had been corrupted. The sons of God, I'm talking about Seth's generation, and Mary, the daughters of men, those were the descendants of Cain, and no doubt immorality flourished And that's what happens when you get away from God's way. It causes a downward spiral. I'm not going to take time to turn to Romans 1, but I encourage you to turn to Romans 1 and look at verses 21 through 32 when you get home, and you'll see a downward spiral of mankind into the depths of the darkness of sin. Faith had been corrupted also, not just marriage, but faith had been corrupted. A redeemer had been promised back in Genesis 3.15. And the principle of the blood sacrifice had been given by God as God sacrificed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve. And also we know that it had passed on to their children as we see Abel offer a blood sacrifice in Genesis 4.4. So the principle of the blood sacrifice had been given. Preachers had preached. We have record in the New Testament in Jude verse 14 and 15 that Enoch preached. We have also a record in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 5 that talks about that Noah preached. Now, we know that the preacher's priest, the Holy Spirit had been scorned. Verse number three tells us that. My spirit shall not always strive with man. It's not that God's spirit wasn't striving with man and pointing him to the wickedness in his life. It's that mankind was not listening. It's that mankind was oblivious to the fact of the reality of his lost and dying soul. God said that the wickedest man was great. God said that the earth was corrupt before him. Thirdly, God said that the earth was filled with violence here in verse 11. Listen, when people are wicked, they will do wicked things, including becoming violent in their behavior. I hope that you are, as you walk about, that you're a little more cautious about what's going on around you. I know my wife and I certainly are because of the wicked times in which we live. When people are wicked, they will do wicked things, including becoming violent in their behavior. Where wickedness increases, violence also increases. As our nation, by and large, has turned away from God, turned away from the Bible, and turned away from prayer, and instead embraced the follies of humanism, atheism, and evolution, what has happened? We have seen that immorality and ungodliness have increased. Dealing with violence has become a normal part of our society. It's not normal, but it's becoming a normal part of what we have to deal with. Children are taught in schools that they have evolved from a primordial soup and that they are nothing more than animals like other animals, just more highly evolved than other animals. Why are we surprised then when we see them act like animals? And that's what we see. There is a flood of violence which can be attributed to a flood of lawlessness and wickedness in our land. So the prevailing conduct of Noah's day was wickedness, corruptness, and violence. I want you to consider the predominant character of Noah's day. Evil thoughts and imaginations. Evil thoughts and imaginations. Listen, wrong conduct, wrong actions, comes from wrong thinking. I call it stinking thinking. It comes from wrong thinking. Wrong thinking comes from having wrong character. God said that they had wicked imaginations there in verse number 5. Imagination has to do with the thinking and planning in the heart. Imagination has to do with the thoughts that precede the deeds. Christ himself said in Matthew 15 verse 18 and 19, he said, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart. And they defile the man, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. It comes, it starts in the heart. It starts in the thoughts. People also do what they do because of what they are. They were wicked in Noah's day, and therefore they thought wicked thoughts and did wicked things. Can I tell you there's a growing number of wicked people who are wicked because they think wicked thoughts and they go about doing wicked things. God saw the wickedness of man was great. Wicked men don't seem to think that they're doing wickedly, but could I tell you that God does? God does. Mankind tries to justify his wickedness. We know Isaiah chapter number five verse 20 talks about the prophet Isaiah pointed that woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Those are the times that we are living in right now. These folks' actions. In other words, their conduct proved their wickedness. It proved their character. A person's character will express itself in his or her conduct. That is, it will manifest itself in the way the person walks in life. God said, In verse 5, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Listen, when people become slaves to their sinful desires, then they must become more wicked to find satisfaction. They want satisfaction, but satisfaction never really comes. So in order for them to feel better, they've got to become more wicked than they really are, than they were before. The more that a person thinks and dwells on wickedness, the more wicked they will become, and that is why we need to guard our hearts and minds. Listen, your eye gate and your ear gate are the two gates to your heart that you need to diligently guard in these last days. So the prevailing conduct of Noah's day was wickedness, corruptness, violence, the predominant character of Noah's day, evil thoughts and imaginations. Now I want us to consider the peculiar consecration of Noah's day. Noah and his family weren't anything like that. They just weren't. Noah didn't quit on God. He just continued doing what God told him to do. I mean, when you look around you and everything's going to pot, and everybody's doing wickedly, and you are in the midst of great temptation, which no doubt he was, the easy thing to do is just throw up your hands and say, well, I guess I'll just join them. Noah didn't quit on God. He just continued doing what God told him to do. Noah didn't allow himself to be moved to do wrong by the depravity of those around him in his day. Could I tell you you need to guard against becoming like those around us that are wicked? Noah kept right on doing what God told him to do. There's a great need for believers today to do and to live as God has told us to live and to do. From what Noah knew of God, he knew God was angry with the wickedness, and he knew that judgment was surely going to come. Listen, spiritually mature people see things differently. than worldly minded people do. You just do. If you're spiritual minded, if you'll get in this book and you'll allow God's holy word to form your thinking and to be foremost in your thinking, you will see things differently than those who are living in it. We who know the Lord must consecrate ourselves to the Lord. Even more so as we look upon this sinful world that displeases God and is spiraling toward judgment. I preach judgment. It's coming. I preach judgment. Some judgment is already upon us. When you take a look at this great land that we live in, you are fooling yourself if you think that we're not already as a nation under the judgment of God. It's very evident all across these United States, including in the area in which we live. Though the world calls us to join in with it, we must continue to seek to follow the Lord. Noah stayed faithful to the Lord in spite of the depravity. Secondly, Noah stayed faithful to the Lord in spite of the deceit. You know, Noah was flesh. You know, the flesh is deceitful. Jeremiah 17, 9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. That's the verse 10 there. There are a lot of sinful people who feel like they are justified in their sinfulness. And sometimes folks will act out on their sinfulness in front of me. Happened just this past week. Well, excuse my French. Anybody ever told you that? They cuss right in front of you and say, excuse my French preacher. They're deceived. A lot of people who feel like they're justified living the way that they're living in their sinfulness. Most people want to be told that they're doing right when they are in fact doing wrong according to God's Word. And you try to share from God's Word. How that's what they're doing is wrong and what is right. And they'll go, don't judge me. The Bible says judge not, ye be not judged. Don't judge me, preacher. Don't judge me. The sinner wants to be told that he's not to blame for a sin. I mean, you can call it a disease or an indiscretion or a cry for help, or you can call it something else, but don't you dare call it sin. That's the thinking today. I say, blame it on my environment, my neighborhood, my family, the television, the internet, my friends, my church, the preacher, or anyone else, or anything else. Even blame God for it. If God hadn't have done this, I wouldn't be this way. Yeah, people even blame God. I'm not responsible. I'm the victim here. We live in a time of people with a victim mentality. The flesh must seek self-justification in sin. But self-justification flies in the face of the Word of God. Now God's the one that's going to be justified in the end. The flesh wants to feel that it is right to do wrong. Talk to most anyone that's guilty of sin and they will probably try to give you a reason why they did it or are doing it. Reasons that come up with, may sound sometimes how to make sin appear to be right, but you just can't be right doing wrong. Right is right and wrong is wrong, always has been, always will be, and God's the one that determines what's right and what's wrong. Amen. The flesh is deceitful. The faults are deceitful. We don't know, but I'm sure that some probably got around where Noah was at building the ark and said, hey Noah, God told me to tell you to quit building that there ark. Don't you think there were some who, false prophets, I'm sure there were people who thought that old Noah was crazy. Has he lost his mind? He's talking about water falling down out of the sky and causing a flood. Understand at that time, there was no rain. The earth was enveloped in a canopy of water. No rain needed. You can just imagine how the sinful nature moved both men and women to say some vile things to this faithful servant and his sons, his family, as they labored to obey God. That's for 120 years. I've been on this earth 68 years. That's a little over half what it took for Noah to build the ark. That's a long time, 120 years. You just imagine how the sinful nature moved men to curse at him and to judge his motives and what he was doing. Listen, those who do not believe the word of God have their ways of trying to prove that those who are doing right are doing wrong. They have their ways. The flesh is deceitful. The faults are deceitful. The fake are deceitful. Don't think for one minute that there weren't any religious people in Noah's day. There were. There were religious people. Satan always tries to counteract what God does by using counterfeits. The devil is in the religious business in a big way, if you don't believe it, read 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13 through 15, where it talks about, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their words. The devil has his churches, his preachers that purport to promote truth, when in reality they oppose truth because they don't line up with the word of God. Listen, this is the standard. This book is the standard. You judge things according to the word of God, not according to your feelings, not according to the way you were raised, not according to anything but the word of God. First John four, verse number one tells us, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. How do you try things? You test them and you try them with the word of God. We're to judge what we hear and see by the word of God. And thirdly, here we see Noah, not only stayed faithful to the Lord in spite of the depravity and in spite of the deceit, but Noah stayed faithful in spite of the defiance. Noah proclaimed God's warning that was not heard. His warning was to deaf ears. We know that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. In 2 Peter 2, verse 5, Noah proclaimed God's warning that was not heard. He was talking about the judgment that was going to come. They just turned a deaf ear to it. The flood came some 120 years after Noah started building the ark and preached. But his only converts were his wife, his sons, and his son's wives. Noah warned people of God's judgment while he was building the ark. Every piece that he put together was another... Judgment's coming. It was another phrase of judgment's coming. I'm almost sure they're saying judgment's coming. Thank God for people who are willing to obey the Lord, even when it makes them look like they have lost all their marbles. We also must preach and teach the Word of God while we're being obedient to the Lord, warning people of the judgment that is coming. I tell you, the judgment is coming. I believe it's coming sooner than a lot of folks think. Noah performed God's will that was not heeded either. The building of the ark, listen to what Hebrews 11 and verse number 7 says. Hebrews 11, 7 says, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as of yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the witch, by that building of the ark, by the witch he condemned the world. He said, hey, judgment's coming. God's fixing to have your number. You need to get right with God. He condemned the world and became the heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Noah's generation would not listen. They were depraved. They were deceived. They were defiant. They were in your face with their wickedness. Does that sound familiar? Do we not live in an in-your-face wickedness that's going on around us? They were going to live their own way in spite of the coming judgment of God. I've heard people say, well, I'll just take my chances, preacher. Well, that's what you're doing. You're taking a chance, and it's not a good chance. It's a guaranteed loss is what it is, and guaranteed you're going to lose. Why should we be surprised when, by and large, the generation we live in will not listen? Noah stayed faithful to the Lord. He just kept on believing God. That's faith. He just kept on serving God. That's obedience. Trust and obey, for there's no other way. There's still no other way than trust and obey. He just kept building the ark, kept preaching righteousness. So the question is, in these depraved, deceitful, and defiant times that we live in. What will we do as believers? Are we going to stay faithful and keep living for God? Or are we going to just join in with the world and its wickedness? Are we going to be influenced by this world or by God's word? Knoweth and grace in the eyes of the Lord by faith. God's mercy is great and His grace is marvelous. I'm so glad for that. If you've never experienced the grace of God that brings salvation, I invite you to come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Savior today. Believers, when the Lord comes back, will He find you faithful and obedient to Him? Sad to say some slipped in their faithfulness this past year. Some have slipped in their obedience to Him. If you are less faithful than you once were, who moved? It wasn't God. It wasn't God that moved. In light of Christ's coming, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58 stands out. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. As we approach this new year, just a few days away, we need to do some inventory. End of the year is a good time to do inventory. When I was in the accounting industry, that's when people did their inventory. And they tried to see what things were damaged, what things were lost, what they needed to shore up. We need to do that in our own personal walk, in our own personal lives. Look back at this year and be real with God. Be real with God. Lord, I should have done this, but I didn't. Forgive me and help me to do it this year. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the example of Noah. And we know that these end times that we live in, the times just prior to Christ's coming, are going to be as the days of Noah. People were just going about their business. Going about their business like, It's okay. Nothing's going to happen until the flood came. Lord, around us, we're going to see many folks that are doing the same. As we preach, Jesus is coming. They're going to ignore us. They're not going to heed the warning, but we still have to be faithful. You held Noah responsible for being faithful, not for The fact that his message was not received. He was faithful in delivering the message. He was faithful in living the message. And Lord, You've put him in the hall of faith for that very thing. Help us to be men and women of faith. Help us to get back to where we know we need to be. Help us to be what we ought to be in this coming year as we await your coming. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand.