A few years ago, I heard a sermon by Tim Orbison about lessons we can learn from how God dealt with people during the time of Noah.  Obviously it goes without saying that Noah is a popular man right now, with stats from BibleGateway.com and YouVersion showing more than 200% increases in searches for him. But I don’t want to talk about the movie. I don’t want to compare what’s accurate with what’s not, why Hollywood should or shouldn’t make movies like that, and why or why not go see them. All I care about is the Biblical story, and how it applies to us today. So thank you, Mr. Tim, for these great points*.

1: God does not believe that mankind has a right to live however they want.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Genesis 6:5-6

God has rules. He always has. From the beginning with Adam and Eve, then with Cain and Abel, and so on with Abraham and Moses and the Jewish people and the 1st century church and now us today. God has always given rules for how to obey Him; otherwise, wouldn’t He accept any form of worship?

God has set up an order for how we are to worship Him and how we are to go about our every day lives. We cannot do whatever we want, whenever we want. We have to obey our Father. And those who do not obey will be destroyed. Not because He’s an unloving God, but because He has done everything for us and we choose not to serve Him. And how much worse will it be for those of us who know of the love of Christ and yet choose to trample Him under foot (Hebrews 10:29)?

2: God had the ability and willingness to destroy everyone who was evil. 

In today’s world, people believe that God won’t punish people. They believe that our God is “so forgiving” and that surely He wouldn’t destroy the majority of people. Jesus taught otherwise. In Matthew 7:13, Jesus talks about the narrow gate and the wide gate. The wide gate—that the majority will go through—leads to destruction. And what kind of destruction? A total destruction just like in the time of Noah.

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away; so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:37-38

People were going about doing everyday things, and then the flood came and destroyed them. Today, people go about living their lives—evilly— and will be destroyed when Jesus comes back. Why? Because God has rules and He has standards, and people who intentionally forego and abandon all He has said to do will not be with Him forever.

God was willing to save the evil city of Sodom if even 10 righteous people lived there. The angels could only find Lot. So God rescued him, and then annihilated the entire city. God will also do that to our generation in the last days. Again, not because He is unloving, but because He has told us exactly what we must do to be saved. And it is so simple! But like the people of Sodom and like the people in Noah’s day, if you choose to not serve God, you are also choosing destruction.

3: A few have always been obedient to God. 

Just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with someone who said something about the church being “nonexistent” in the Middle Ages. And since it was, how  could the Church (as we have it today) say it wasn’t “created” by man.

I cannot argue that the church has not always been as strong as in other times. But I can say with certainty that some are always there, being faithful to God. Take Noah, for instance. The entire rest of the world was evil, but Noah walked with God. A few verses back in Genesis 5 we meet a man named Enoch. Enoch lived in the time when the people (who lived in Noah’s day) would have started turning evil. Yet Enoch “walked with God” all of his life.

Then you have people like Elijah, who wasn’t alone at all, even though he felt like it. Yet God said He had thousands who had not knelt to an idol. So sure, while the church might have gotten a little bit smaller in certain time periods, I know that I will meet people in heaven who were walking with God at those times, and who were keeping the church alive. Otherwise, what would have kept God from destroying the earth again?

We must do all within our power to keep the church’s light from going out. We have a responsibility to evangelize so that more and more people can be saved. But, even if every person we preach to doesn’t repent (like in Noah’s day), a remnant will be preserved.

4: There is no safety in doing evil, even if everyone is doing it.
I love this point. So many times you hear (or use) the expression, “But everyone else is doing it!” I know I did when I was younger (in middle school in particular). EVERYONE in Noah’s day sans Noah was practicing evil. Everyone in Sodom was practicing evil except Lot. Do you think those people were saved, “because everyone else was doing it.” No. And people today won’t be either. Just because our world is accepting homosexuality and all other things that go against God doesn’t mean that God will start accepting it. God WILL destroy those who are evil, no matter how many He has to destroy.

Let me note here, though, that the greatest thing about God is that He sent His Son so that—even if you are a sinner (aren’t we all!)—you can still be saved. You can escape corruption by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, by confessing that He will be your Lord forever, by repenting of your evil, weak, sinful ways, and by being baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:36, Acts 10:48, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 3:21).

So, what can we learn from Noah. Mr. Tim summed it up like this:

“Noah preached that you can be obedient to God in a corrupt world.”

I think that’s something we all need to learn. No matter how bad things get around us, and if the U.S. turns completely away from God—we can still be obedient.

*The only material from Tim Orbison is the numbered portion, not the commentary afterward.
**The commentary taken from a previous post by Emily published in June 2010.