As he concludes his series on “Walking in the Favor of God,” Dr. Stanley uses both the story of Noah’s obedience to God and examples from his own life to help us discover how we can listen to, trust, and obey the Lord. When we make wise decisions that honor and bring glory to God, we’ll find His favor in our own lives. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
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somebody might ask well why would god
destroy
the world after he took such pains to
make it so beautiful to begin with
and in the book of genesis god’s
description of what he created was
awesome
but think about this 10 generations
after that
noah came along so 10 generations have
gone by since the creation
since adam and eve well what happened in
all of those 10 generations
well i look back for example and think
well i’ve lived through two
a little over two and i can see what’s
happened
in this country in two generations
if a generation is 40 years that’s what
we sort of consider
look what’s happened in this country
it isn’t unbelievable no one would have
imagined we’d be where we are
today from where we were
80 years ago
and then of course go back further than
that
and so let’s go back to sixteen hundred
and twenty that would be compared to
where
noah was for the creation thereabouts
all the way back to sixteen hundred
think about all the changes that have
been made
all the advancements we’ve made but also
all the things that have happened that
have not been good
so let’s say 10 generations have gone by
i can look back and see
what a difference in america today than
it was
as a kid growing up because i remember
on sunday you didn’t do anything you
didn’t play ball
you didn’t go swimming you reverenced
the
the lord’s day and people took care of
each other
they didn’t have everything we have
today
and there was more respect for one
another people were more
considerate of each other a lot of
things were different
so look at that and then look at today
that’s just 80 years but go back
400 years
and so we say well why would god destroy
such a beautiful earth and here’s the
reason
because the wickedness of man was great
on the earth
and that every intent of the thought of
his heart
was only evil continually will you watch
the television listen to the radio and
listen to people talk
does that sound a lot like this every
intent of the thoughts
and of his heart was only evil
continually the lord was
sorry that he had made man on the earth
and he was
grieved in his heart that his god was
brokenhearted
the lord said i will blot out man whom i
have created from the face of the land
from man to animals to creeping things
and to the birds of the sky
for i am sorry that i have made them
and so that’s very dismal very
discouraging god said i’ve created all
of this
now i’m sorry let me ask you a question
have you ever felt like when
you were praying or maybe something that
you were praying about and god said
i’m sorry you’ve done that i’m sorry
you’ve done that because god doesn’t
like to chastise anybody
and so in spite of all the evil going on
the next verse says
but noah found favor in the eyes of the
lord
and these are the records of the
generation of noah
noah was a righteous man
blameless in his time and walk with god
righteous blameless and walk with god
somebody says well
does blameless mean he never sinned no
that two hebrew
words for uh sin and one of
which indicates that a person sins
occasionally
the other one indicates that a person is
just a sinner just
this lives that kind of life and so the
scripture says
the earth was corrupt in the sight of
god
and the earth was filled with violence
god looked on the earth and behold was
corrupt of all the flesh it corrupted
their way
upon the earth then god said to noah the
end of all flesh has come
so one family one man and all the earth
so think about this for a moment
suppose you and your family were the
only family in atlanta
and god said to you i’m going to destroy
everybody
in this city and in the surrounding
counties everybody
you and your family are going to be the
only ones left
what would you think well you think
first of all of your friends
your family and you think well why would
god do such a thing
well the reason god did what he did is
because the scripture says
the wickedness of man was great on the
earth and that
every intent of the thought of his heart
was only
evil continually that is how bad he got
now let’s think about this for a moment
suppose
we in this country and around the world
suppose
we continue to move in the direction
we’re moving
away from god with the intent of our
heart
seeking pleasure at any cost mistreating
each other killing each other
all kinds of atrocities that go on let’s
suppose we keep doing that for
a couple of generations where will
we be we can’t even imagine it
but that was what was happening in the
days in which the bible says
that noah found favor in the eyes of the
lord
that is he looked at noah
and he saw a man who was absolutely
different
and god reached down and spoke to his
heart and gave him a command
which he of course followed so i ask you
this question
if god were looking for righteous people
today would you fall in that category
could you say that you are living a
godly life
a holy life a righteous life
or would you be caught up with a crowd
that noah was having to deal with
while he was a blameless man the days in
which he lived were
full of sin and wickedness to the point
that
god said i’m sorry i made them
and therefore here’s what i’m going to
do as a result of it
so when i think about
noah and think about how long he lived
and then god said can’t put up with any
more of it
but he found one man that man had three
characteristics that all of us
should have in our life and that is that
we do what
we listen to him we what
trust him and we obey him so think about
this
if i listen to him i’ll know what to do
if i
trust him that means i know it’s going
to work out right
and if i obey him i’m going to be
blessed if i don’t listen to him i am
not going to trust him and i’m not going
to obey him so what does that tell you
about people around us today they’re not
listening to god they’re listening to
all kind of stuff
but not to god now people say well i
don’t believe the bible
well if you look around you and read the
word of god you’ll start believing it
because god’s already pictured for us
what evil and wickedness and sin
is all about and the kind of effect that
it has
and so god said there’s one family
that i’m going to save and that’s noah
and his family so i want to think about
that for a moment
and the scripture says
that noah walked with god
and he listened to god and therefore god
saved civil civilization through one
family
and that is through the family of noah
not because he was perfect
but because he listened to god he
trusted god
and he obeyed god so i think about
what noah was confronted with living
in a civilization in a time
when everything around him was wicked
and violent disobedient
and reckless and god said to him
noah i’m going to destroy the whole
earth but you and your family i’m going
to save
don’t you think noah would have said
well now why me
and god said to him because i see in you
what i’m
looking for and i am going to save you
out of all of this
so let me just ask you this question
would you could you say
and could it be said of you that
according to the way you’re living your
life now whether it’s in your family or
the people you work with or play with
would they think of you and say one
thing i know about him about her
they listen to god so think about this
for a moment
who do you know that knows you
who would say of you he listens to god
she listens to god
who among your friends or people who
know you would serve you
they they listen to god because they
talk about prayer and
i think they’re listening to god who
would say about you
that we listen we trust we obey
that those three simple characteristics
that’s what people think about when they
know you
you have a family so people know you you
work with people so they know you
you have friends and so they know you
pretty good
when they think about you do they think
about you in terms of
godly qualities all the rest of the
world she dresses well
he drives well they live well he makes
this that and so forth although they
think of you
in terms of someone who listens to god
trusts god and obeys god
could they say that about you or do you
want people to say
how well you dress and how good you look
and how rich you are and where you live
and what you’re driving
and you just have you got class about
you
i’d rather be a holy person than a
classy person
because class doesn’t mean anything
spiritual
it fits the features of the world but
can they say of you
i know that that person listens to god
they trust god because i’ve watched how
they’ve reacted in situations and
circumstances
and i know that they obey god
can you give me any three other
characteristics that you can replace
one of these no why did god make it so
simple because
that’s the way he wants us to live a
deep
intimate relationship with him that
we’re listening
and not only listening but we’re
trusting him
not only trusting but we’re obeying him
what would your children say about you
as parents
what would your
people do you work with would they do
they do they see any of that in you
when jesus talked about our testimony
and that witness think about this
does not the unbelieving world have a
right
and whether they understand it and
that’s not the issue
don’t they have a right to expect from
us who talk about being a christian
followers of jesus
that we are the kind of person who
listens to god
do you live the kind of life that they
would say of you i tell you one thing
about that person
don’t know everything about them but i
can tell you i believe
he or she listens to god and they
certainly trust god
they’re walking with him they’re obeying
god
isn’t it interesting that sometimes the
people who are supposedly
our closest friends when they are living
in sin
they don’t like our company
and they don’t know why because i’ll
tell you why when those three
characteristics are characteristic of
you
watch this people who are living in sin
and disobedience to god
are not going to be all that happy being
around you
or working with you or being called your
friend why because
you’re walking on two levels one’s
walking in darkness one’s walking in
light
and the problem noah had was he was
walking in light
obeying the living god and all of a
sudden god said here’s what i want you
to do.
so i want us to think for just a moment
about what went on
in noah’s heart and mind and life
when god told him what he wanted him to
do and we’ve talked about
the whole issue of building the ark and
all the things that took place
with that and i think about what he had
to deal with personally
knowing what god said to him i’m gonna
i’m gonna destroy
everything that you see i’m going to
save you and your family because you’ve
listened to me
you’ve trusted me and you’ve obeyed me
but everybody else is gone
i wonder what they were thinking about
this man
who was totally different morally
spiritually than all the rest of them
so think about it for a moment what he
was thinking think about the mental
conflict he had
and yet god said here’s what i’m going
to do and he knew it was the truth
how do you live and kept that kind of a
society for that period of time
it took him a while to build this ark
450 feet long and 50 feet wide
three stories high and so forth don’t
know how long it took him
but what i want you to see is this he
had to live
with this in his heart in his mind and
his emotion
they are all going to be destroyed and
my family and i
are going to be the only ones left
and you see there was any question in
his mind about it because he learned to
listen to god
and to trust god and to obey god so it
wasn’t a matter of maybe it’s going to
happen maybe god will change his mind
it was a subtle issue here’s what god
was going to do
and so you and i live in a time when we
see
wickedness on the increase and we think
well yes but this is the united states
of america yes it is
and so while we rest in our sense of
security
watch the scare but the only security
you and i have
is our personal relationship with god
that’s the only thing we have and then i
think about for example
they get all these animals in i don’t
know how god did that somebody says well
how could that have happened i don’t
have an answer and i’m going to give you
some answer i don’t know
but somehow god over a period of time
he got all the animals in there and ark
was finally finished and
it’s going to start raining and it’s not
going to stop for 40 days and 40 nights
now when we have a little spell of
something for about three days
we have a fit and the bible says not
only did he come down
it came up noah was locked in
by the grace of god because listen
carefully
because he listened to god because he
trusted god
because he obeyed god listen carefully
those three things can
save you from heartache troubles trials
difficulties cost your life
listen to him trust him
and obey him do what he says it was not
enough
for noah to listen to god
or to trust him but obey him and
oftentimes many people say well i’m
i’m living a christian life i’m doing
what god wants me to do
is that right well the issue is not what
you know but
the issue is are you obeying what god’s
told you to do
watch this obedience has sharp edges
very sharp edges i do or i’m not do
i do what he says i don’t do it i can’t
obey god and sort of cut off the side i
can’t obey god and just compromise this
area
well i did almost everything you said no
obedience is obedience and people don’t
even like to think about it
but obedience is should be a part of our
daily life and it should be a priority
in our
life you never know when god’s going to
close your door
when you’re going to be called home when
you have to turn your back upon
everybody
and so there he was
can you imagine what they must have felt
when they heard the cries and the calls
of their friends
and it rained and kept on raining and
then all of a sudden
that big old boat moved just a little
bit
because there was enough water now to
move it
40 days 40 nights it was not a drizzle
but it was pouring rain from above and
coming out of the earth
until finally there was not a sound
the only sound was on the inside
of that boat
and then for almost a year that’s why
almost a year
they lived in that boat how many times
do you think they woke up at night
wondering
what about so and so but they knew what
happened to so and so
they were all destroyed because they
sinned
against god and that sin had to be so
definite and deliberate
that it wasn’t a matter of them just not
being very good it was wicked
in the evil and god said it was so bad
that he was sorry he made the earth
the days went by the weeks went by the
months went by
and finally after god had accomplished
what he set out to accomplish
the ark landed god told him when he’d
sent out a bird you remember and see
what was going on the bird came back
finally one came back with a leaf god
said now you can go out
and one of the first things noah did was
to build an altar
don’t you know that was some altar big
altar
thanking god for what has happened the
scripture says he built an altar to the
lord and took of every
clean animal and so forth and scripture
says
that god said to him i will never again
destroy every living thing as i have
done
while the earth remains see time and
harvest cold and heat
summer and winter day and night shall
not cease that is it’ll never
happen again that way but he didn’t say
he wouldn’t do it by fire which when you
come to the new testament
that’s god’s view and so when i think
about that
and think about what god said he said
i establish my covenant with you and all
the flesh
shall never again be cut off by the
water of the flood he didn’t say in that
fire
neither shall there be again a flood to
destroy the earth
god said this is the sign of the
covenant which i’m making between me
and you and every living creature
that is with you for all successive
generations
and then here’s what he did to remind
them forever
he showed them a rainbow and when i
think about the rainbow i don’t know
what you think about it
i think about it in two ways how
beautiful it is but i think about
what god said by this sign you’ll know
that i will
never do it again
let me ask you this
do you listen to god
do you trust him
do you obey him life isn’t like it was
then
but on the other hand it’s just like it
i either obey god or i don’t
whatever you’re doing whoever you are
whoever you are
god requires that we obey him
that means we must trust him
and god has offered
salvation to every person whosoever
shall call upon the name of the lord
shall be saved
if you confess with your mouth jesus is
lord
you shall be saved if you will to
confess and repent of your sins
you’ll be saved you say well i’ve got
plenty of time
no you don’t you don’t know how much
time you have
you don’t have as much time as you think
you do
and the question is this don’t you think
it’s time you got honest with him
about the fact that your lifestyle is
one of sin
disobedience rebellion against god it
can be sophisticated rebellion
or just pure evil rebellion but you’ve
turned your back on god
you don’t need god you don’t need the
church you’re not even interested in
anything spiritual whatsoever
and you think that somehow some way
you’re going to get through the judgment
of god
and somehow you’re going to sneak
through no you’re not
there’s no escape of god’s judgment
and there is nothing to keep you from
rejoicing when you have christ in your
life you don’t have to be afraid of
anything
god put the rainbow in the sky to remind
not only noah knowing his family but all
of us watch this
whatever god promises that’s what he’ll
do
has ever been a flood like that since no
why because god said it wouldn’t happen
i want you to think about this you
have professed to be a child of god
following the lord jesus christ
having professed that everybody who
knows you
everybody you work with live with
everybody around you
has a legitimate right to expect you
to be different
not perfect different but not just
different but spiritual because you have
professed to be a christian a follower
of jesus
so the world has a right to expect us to
be different
watch this and when we’re not
we’re a disappointment even to people
who don’t even
think about god because they know
what we say the standard is obey god
if god’s people would make it a habit
of listening trusting and obeying
i’ll tell you what would happen the
churches would be full of people
because they would see the difference
that there’s something within us that’s
different
and therefore they they would want who
we have or what we have
and god gave noah
an awesome promise and then he put it in
the sky to say
you can count on it he’s given us
something better than a rainbow
and according to this i can trust him in
life and trust him in death
according to this i can trust him every
day according to this i don’t
ever have to be disappointed with god
maybe discipline myself not god
i read this i know my name is written in
the lamb’s book of life
and that means that no matter what
happens i’m going to heaven when i die
and nothing can change that nothing
nothing
nothing on earth can change your
relationship with god
i think about how many people who own
one of these
this is the bible how many people owned
them
and never opened them
own one and never opened it to find out
what god’s thinking
what he wants to say to you listen i
don’t know many times in my life when
i’ve opened the word of god
it didn’t say something to me it may
have been something i didn’t want to
hear something i wanted to hear was
something i was elated to hear
but listen listen carefully god
wants to speak to you because god
loves you and proof of that is look at
the cross
oh it’s god’s demonstrated his love to
us
not only with a rainbow thousands of
years ago but at the cross
just a couple of thousand years ago or
so to say what
i love you i’ll save you
i’ll bring you home to spend eternity
with me
could you give me give god any
excuse for not beginning this day
whoever you are wherever you are give me
an excuse
acceptable for not listening to him
trusting him
or obeying what you teach your children
same thing what about god
have you learned to trust him
have you learned to obey him
not until you learn first of all to take
time to listen to him
do you listen to him
do you listen to him expecting him to
speak to you
trusting him i’ll tell you how we know
whether you trust him or not
whether you’re obey him or not then that
tells you
whether you’re trusting him or not
somebody said oh i trust god
no doubt in my mind well why do you live
the way you live because you’re not
trusting him
when i think about a portion of the
scripture
where a lesson is so descriptive
so imaginable so true
so characteristic of how god works
and what god desires for us right up
front in the bible
with noah threefold lesson
i want you to listen to me i want you to
trust me
and i want you to obey me
is that asking too much
but i ask you is that your lifestyle
if it is not ask yourself the question
why
amen father we pray the holy spirit
would speak to every person seated here
who is unsaved
they’ve been too busy to talk to you and
listen to you
they’re sending their life they don’t
want to give up
speak to every person father to remind
them
that as it was in the days of noah so it
shall be in
all of us all of our days all of us will
one day
die and face you
and i pray that the person seated here
who’s never trusted
jesus as savior heard about him thought
about him
believed about him sort of but never
trusted you
as savior that today this morning
they will make that decision to ask for
your forgiveness
and to surrender their life to you
lord most of all
we want to be able to answer this
in the affirmative
am i listening yes
am i trusting yes
am i obeying him yes
and father impress upon each of our
hearts
there is no other correct
answer
not maybe not sometimes yes
and i pray that you will sink this
simple message into all of our hearts
[Music]
because it’s a daily message
and we need to hear it daily because
you’re speaking to us daily
we bless you we praise you we
thank you for the word of god that gives
us direction
for our life in jesus name
amen
[Music]