Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201323
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00:11 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time.
00:15 God's book, The Bible 00:19 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:24 It Is Written 00:25 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 00:41 >>Chris: Jean Francois Gravelet was born in France in 1824. At a young 00:45 age he found his calling. At the age of five, he strung a rope between 00:51 chairs and attempted to walk that tight rope. He fell off of that rope and 00:57 it would be the last rope that he ever fell from. He was sent to an acrobat 01:03 school and at the young age of eight became known as boy wonder or the 01:08 little wonder. Eventually Jean would be known as Charles Blondin or the 01:14 Great Blondie. He would become known as the greatest tightrope walker 01:19 to ever live. He walked tightropes until he was 70 years old. His act was 01:26 both a great show of ability and showman entertainment. His most 01:32 famous act is his crossing of Niagara Falls. He would stretch a rope almost 400 01:38 meters in length from the Canadian falls to the U.S. side. Blondin would 01:44 famously cross the falls blindfolded, on stilts, pushing a wheelbarrow and 01:50 even pausing on the rope to eat breakfast. The most terrifying of his stunts 01:57 was an offer to carry someone on his back across the falls. No one would 02:03 volunteer, so Blondin's manager Harry Colcord was forced into duty. As 02:11 recorded in the book, Blondin: His life and Performances, Blondin gave 02:15 these instructions, "Look up, Harry.. you are no longer Colcord, you are 02:22 Blondin. Until I clear this place be a part of me, mind, body, and soul. 02:29 If I sway, sway with me. Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself. If you 02:34 do we will both go to our death." Colcord had a choice, would he trust 02:41 Blondin or choose his own way. Not trusting would surely cost him his life. 02:51 The real story of Noah is a story of trust. Many have perceived the story 02:57 of Noah to be the story of a harsh unforgiving God. Many have thought that God 03:03 is a vengeful tyrant. However a careful study of God's word, the Bible 03:09 demonstrates the complete opposite. The story of Noah and the flood paint a 03:15 picture of God who is very patient and gracious and trustworthy. It paints a 03:21 picture of a God is seeking to make the universe perfect once 03:26 again and seeks to reconcile His relationship with humankind. A 03:31 relationship, which He did not break, it was a relationship broken by 03:38 mankind when the choice was made to be disobedient and sin against God. The 03:44 flood was an attempt to bring things back around in a world that had become 03:49 so corrupt that man's very nature was evil to the very core. God gave man an 03:57 abundance of time to turn things around and turn from his evil ways. He 04:02 provided ample opportunity and then provided a safety vessel in the ark built by 04:09 Noah. He sent a message in the name of Methuselah - a name that meant - at 04:15 his death, it will come. And the flood did come the very year of his death. 04:22 Noah preached for 120 years warning of the impending doom. A boat was 04:32 the width of a hockey rink, the length of 2 and ½ hockey rinks and a 04:40 height of almost 16 meters. God sent warning after warning, yet only 8 04:49 people got on that boat. Just Noah and his wife along with their children 04:56 their spouses. Only 8 people. Friend, not only is the story of Noah the 05:04 story of the grace, mercy and justice of God, but it is also the story of 05:12 warnings gone unheeded. It is the story of man ignoring His creator. It 05:22 is the story of neglect. Friends, the story of Noah speaks to our heart and 05:29 tells us of One who is seeking to repair a repair relationship. The story of 05:35 Noah is a reminder that Jesus is setting up a new kingdom and world of 05:42 perfect peace and happiness. It is a reminder that God will not 05:46 allow things to continue down this road of violence and terror. A new kingdom 05:53 is coming and He wants you to be there. 06:00 C2 <---------- 06:05 new earth. Friend, let's look to the example of Noah and as Genesis 6:9 06:12 states, 06:27 Friends let's look to Noah who yielded his life to the Lord and follow the 06:32 Lord, let's not follow in the ways of those who didn't get on the ark. 06:35 Let's yield our hearts to the One who is the repairer of hearts. But 06:41 with such a powerful lesson about the character of God what would happen 06:46 on this earth? Obviously things didn't continue in purity and righteousness. 06:53 The world today tells us that even with starting over, evil has risen 06:59 again. How long did it take? Unfortunately not very long. Genesis 9:20-21 07:15 tells the sad story, 07:36 Although God had given Noah permission to eat of the clean animals, Noah 07:42 also chose to farm and undoubtedly provide his sustenance through that 07:48 farming. As a part of his farming, Noah planted a vineyard. There is no 07:53 question that he planted the vineyard for the grapes and for the juice 07:57 of those grapes. Noah was familiar with the result of drunkenness and the 08:02 terrible results of drinking fermented beverages. He would have 08:06 seen that in sin and rebellion of the pre-flood world. No doubt Noah would 08:15 have been familiar with the principles of drinking alcohol. He would have 08:20 known God's timeless principle found later in Proverbs 20:1, 08:40 He would have known the changeless principle found in Proverbs 23:31-32, 09:06 He saw the results in the pre-flood world. But one of the beauties of the 09:14 Bible is that it doesn't just give us stories of victory. It doesn't just 09:20 tell us the nice things. It also shows us failures. Noah, as the Bible calls 09:27 him, was a righteous man. Noah lived according to the truth found in 1 John 09:34 2:1, 09:56 The goal of the Bible, the goal of our relationship with Jesus is to live like 10:00 Him and to live a victorious life under His grace. But if we might 10:08 stumble, Jesus will lift us up and encourage us to continue on the path of 10:13 eternal life. 10:18 Part of the post-flood story is that our previous spiritual experiences and 10:24 victories are no guarantee of future success in the spiritual life. Noah 10:30 walked with God, but for a moment took a detour. And isn't it interesting, in 10:38 the aftermath of the flood, I extremely high spiritual moment is when 10:45 Noah sins. Friends, we can never let our guard down We need Jesus at every 10:51 moment of every day so we can be faithful to Him. While Noah had this weak 10:58 moment, it led to another sin, but not his own. Genesis 9:22-23 continues 11:10 on in verses 22-23, 11:46 Noah's drunkenness led him at some point to disrobe. And in disrobing he would 11:51 have been completely naked and exposed himself. God has made it clear in His 11:56 word that it is shameful for a man to expose himself. What Noah did was 12:02 shameful. However, Ham also acted shamefully. Upon finding his father, 12:09 he could have privately covered him. But instead, he broadcast the 12:15 embarrassment to his brothers. Some have come up with some very creative 12:19 thinking on what it means that Ham saw the nakedness of his father. In fact, I 12:25 like what The Bible Knowledge Commentary directly says about this 12:28 text, "Many fanciful ideas have been proposed..But the Hebrew expression here 12:35 means what it says: Ham . saw his father's nakedness. He was not 12:41 involved with Noah sexually, for in that case the Hebrew would be 12:46 translated "he uncovered his father's nakedness." Instead Noah had already 12:52 uncovered himself , and Ham saw him that way. Because of Ham's sin and 12:59 his own character, the generations that followed him no longer desired to 13:05 follow God, but desired their own ways. What did these descendants then do? 13:14 Let's read in Genesis 11:1-4, 14:01 These group of people decides to build a city. There is nothing 14:06 inherently wrong with a city in general. However these people were 14:10 instructed to scatter. But the more problematic issue was with their building a 14:19 tower to the heavens. Why would they do such a thing? Is it possible that 14:26 this group of people was trying to make their own way and create their own 14:32 salvation? Some might say, what do you mean by that? Here is what I mean. These 14:39 descendants must have been familiar with the story of the flood. They knew of 14:45 the destruction that had happened on the earth. And so now, in order to avoid 14:51 any other type of pending destruction and to escape any possible judgment of 14:56 God, they were going to build a tower to the heavens to avoid any 15:01 possibility of destruction by a flood. However, in so doing, they were directly 15:07 rebelling against God and his promise. They made a decision to trust in their 15:15 own way and do their own thing than to trust in God and His ways These ancient 15:28 people were intelligent and God could not allow this to happen. So the 15:34 Bible goes on to tell us in verses Genesis 11:5-9, 16:31 Isn't it fascinating, the diversity of language and culture all captured in 16:36 these few short verses. The language is confused. No longer can they 16:43 communicate with one another and the building stops. Can you imagine the 16:49 scene? The mixers speaking Polish, the brick makers Chinese, the bricklayers 16:55 French, so on and so forth - the confusion that abounded there. 17:06 But I want you to take clear notice of the name that is given this 17:10 place.Babel. It literally means confusion. It is where God confused the 17:17 languages. But, of greater significance is the lesson that God is trying to 17:23 teach us. And it is a lesson that has been passed down the pages of 17:29 history. Here at this place called Babel. Man made a decision to not 17:36 follow the paths that God had outlined. They faced a choice.to obey God or to 17:47 obey the desires of their heart, ultimately the ways of Satan. Here Babel 17:54 serves as a picture of rebellion and confusion against God. Here at Babel 18:04 comes to fruition the text found in Isaiah 55:8, 9 18:34 The lesson of Babel is that God's ways are best, but when we choose to go 18:41 another way, we have placed ourselves on a road that has a very bleak 18:45 outlook. This city of Babel in the land of Shinar would eventually be 18:52 known as Babylon. Throughout time Babylon would become a fitting 19:01 symbol of rebellion against God. And what emerges throughout the 19:07 Bible is the tale of two cities and the tale of a decision to be made by 19:14 each individual on this earth. What emerges from the story of Noah and the 19:19 flood is the story of a decision. It is the decision to follow God or 19:25 to follow man. The fitting symbol that emerges from the story of Noah is 19:31 Babylon as a city of rebellion. Then throughout scripture while Babylon 19:39 represents a city of rebellion, Jerusalem represents the city of 19:45 obedience and submission God's way. 19:53 We fast forward to the time of Daniel. In the time of Daniel, you have 19:59 Jerusalem that is home to God's people, but then you have Babylon and king 20:06 Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon became a city filled with the worship of idols and 20:11 false God's. Paganism abounded. Babylon the city of rebellion and Jerusalem 20:17 the city of obedience and submission to God. It is in the book of Revelation 20:36 that this choice comes into full view. The book of Revelation is a summary 20:44 of the entirety of scripture. The book of Revelation is a story of 20:50 choices, the Lamb or the dragon, obedience or rebellion, Babylon or 21:01 Jerusalem. Babylon symbolized rebellion and religious confusion in 21:09 these last days. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:37-38, 21:47 Babylon was set up in the time just after Noah. The book of Revelation warns 21:55 of the religious confusion that exists in our day and the days to come. 22:04 Revelation 17:5 says this about Babylon, 22:19 Babylon is the mother of harlots. What is a harlot? A harlot is a prostitute. 22:25 Babylon represents the religious and spiritual institutions that have 22:32 prostituted themselves with beliefs and traditions other than that 22:36 which is found in the scriptures. What is God's solution to such a 22:42 problem? Revelation 14:8 says that 23:03 Babylonian confuse religion is bankrupt. God's way is the best way. 23:14 We need to follow the counsel of Proverbs 3:4-5, 23:33 Our only surety in these last days is to stop trusting in ourselves and 23:39 trust in God. Revelation finally makes an invitation, in 23:48 áááRevelation 18:4ááá, "Come out of her, my people," God is calling 23:57 people out of Babylon and calling them to the safety of his ark. He is calling 24:04 you and calling me into His arms of safety. The story of Noah is the story 24:17 of a loving God trying to call you back. The choice is yours. Will you choose 24:25 Him? Or will you choose your own ways? Will you come to the open arms of 24:31 Jesus and into His ark of safety? Or will you wander on your own path. 24:42 Harry Colcord got on the back of Charles Blondin. And he trusted Blondin 24:47 fully. He followed the instructions to a T. The two of them made it safely 24:53 across. Friend, Jesus loves you. He died for you and He died for me. He's 24:59 calling us home. He's saying trust me fully. He's calling you and 25:04 calling me to get on His back, and to hold on for life. Friend, we don't 25:11 have to be people with no home. Jesus wants you to be God's son, God's 25:17 daughter. All it takes is to give your life to Him. The choice is yours. What 25:25 is holding you back today? Today do you want to say to the Lord, the Real Noah 25:32 teaches me that I can trust God and trust Him fully. Today, I give my 25:40 life to Him. Today Jesus won't you change my life and help me to follow you 25:48 all the way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we have seen from the story of 25:54 Noah that it is a story of choices. And so today we choose to follow your son 26:03 Jesus. Please help us, help us in our choice to be faithful to Jesus. 26:11 Change us from the inside out Lord and help us to become like your Son and 26:21 be examples to those around us. Please be with us we pray in Jesus name, 26:28 Amen. 26:46 I hope you enjoyed today's program. This program is only one in a series of 26:51 six programs. In fact, it's the last program. I would like to offer you 26:56 today the DVD series of those six programs, Noah: The Real Story, where you 27:03 can study and learn about a God who loves us and who is seeking to reconcile 27:09 his relationship with us. Here's the information that you need to get 27:14 today's offer. 27:55 Dear friend, the story of Noah teaches us about God, about a God who is 28:01 gracious, who is loving, who is merciful, but who is also just. Our 28:08 wonderful God reaches down, and the story of Noah teaches that He wants 28:14 to bridge the relationship, repair our relationship with Him, to 28:18 save us and take us home. I hope you'll join us again next week. Until 28:24 then, remember, it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but 28:30 by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 28:37 $$$$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-02-05