The culture he lived in is made clear in Genesis 6:
[5] And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
[6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
[7] 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.
[6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
[7] 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.
"As Noah goes and builds the ark, he's reproving. The verse says he condemned the world. How? By doing something positive," explains Richard Jordan.
"You know, there are a lot of parallels you can think about. We build an ark, the Body of Christ. We're providing salvation to the world based on something God said is coming, whether they want it, believe it, recognize it . . .
"Here are the results: Hebrews 11:7: [7] By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
"Noah condemned the world by building the boat, in spite of all the ridicule, the mocking, the indifference.
"Everybody going about then was only concerned with the 'now,' the earth, what they're doing. No mind about the future or about what God said about it.
"I think about Noah for 120 years. I'm sure it didn't make him feel good to be condemning the world. He's ridiculed, misunderstood. When you preach the gospel, you remember what II Corinthians 2 says: [16] To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
"When the world responds the way they respond, instead of wringing our hands and saying, 'Woe is me,' and how terrible it all is, we need to understand we do this by faith. Then it says he became 'heir of the righteousness which is by faith.'
"That's talking about the inheritance associated with the hope God gave Noah. What did God tell Noah? 'I'm going to wipe all this out.' He comes out on a NEW world and God says, 'Go out and replenish.'
"We often say we come from our father Adam, but you know you also come from your daddy Noah because all of us come from one of Noah's three sons and their lineage. So Noah became the heir of the world; he got this allotment, this inheritance. You know what we're waiting on?
"We go out and build the Body of Christ. The world does its thing, we're doing our thing. They don't understand, it isn't popular, it isn't the big thing. It's what God gave us to do. We do it by faith.
"By the way, you've got something Noah didn't have. You've got a Book to look at. Noah was waiting for a new earth. You know what you're waiting for? Paul says, [18] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."
(new article tomorrow)
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