Boarding and Deboarding Noah's ArkThe Ride of Your Life!(Episode 2: A Desperate Situation)

Life went on as Noah built the ark. There was probably ridicule, a cold shoulder from time to time, and disbelief, but since the ark took some 50 to maybe 120 years to build, life for society and the entire world must have just continued as normal. That was thousands of years ago.

We have our daily routines, too. Many of us go about our days with no regard for the end of life as we know it. Sometimes the hereafter doesn’t come to mind until someone we know passes. But whether we think about it or not, God’s plan is in motion and it includes each of us coming to terms with eternity.

This post is Episode 2 of an 8-episode series about boarding and deboarding Noah’s Ark. If you missed it, please read Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives. Otherwise, sit back and experience Episode 2.

Episode 2: A Desperate Situation

After God created Adam, He was pleased (Genesis 1:26-31). He placed him in the Garden of Eden, created his wife, Eve, and regularly talked with them (Genesis 2:15-23). He enjoyed their company and related to them as intellectual and spiritual beings. It was good – very good – until Adam and Eve fell to temptation. And there we have it. Through the bloodline of Adam, we are inclined to favor ourselves. We also gained the knowledge of good and evil, so we even know when favoring ourselves is the wrong thing to do (Genesis2:15-17, 2:25, 3:4-13).

Sin naturally took over. God was heartbroken and sorry He created man. The human race was simply too evil-minded (Genesis 6:5-6), so God decided to flood the earth (Genesis 6:7, 11-17) – to start over. Humans were in a desperate situation and most of them didn’t even realize it. Have you ever been heartbroken by someone who was consumed by his own life so much that he didn’t even realize what he'd done to you? God has. Every day. For 10 generations. More than 1,600 years.

If we’re honest, we usually know the difference between right and wrong, and we probably know when we’re justifying or making excuses for our wrong choices. I include all of us. Not just those who choose evil over good and not only the unchurched, but also those of us who call ourselves Christians.

As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 3:10-18

Here’s a short version about the people in Noah’s days:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness

of the human race had become on the earth,

and that every inclination of the thoughts

of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:5

The Flood was coming and Noah’s contemporaries didn’t believe it. Even if they did, they couldn’t save themselves. They would drown in flood waters because of their sinfulness unless they boarded the ark. It didn’t matter how good they were or how much they gave up for the sake of others.

***
Click to tweet

The Flood was coming
and Noah's contemporaries didn't believe it.
Even if they did, they couldn't save themselves.
They would drown in flood waters because of their sinfulness.

***

 

 

I got a slap in the face 2 weeks ago. It wasn’t a physical hand to the cheek. It was a speeding ticket on a city street on a rainy day. I'm usually the one who fellow drivers don't like following. In fact, just 2 days before the red and blue lights decorated my rear-view mirror, I was tailed onto a freeway entrance and angrily honked when the offending driver was able to pass. Two hours later, the exact scenario on the same on-ramp replayed itself with a different driver. I share about the angry drivers to demonstrate the fact that I almost never speed.

But this time I did. On this rare occasion, a nearby police officer found me with his radar gun. The reality is, it didn’t matter how much my respectful, safe driving habits outweighed my traffic offenses. The police officer issued the ticket because I was, in fact, breaking the law.

We probably know good people. Really good people. But even good people have shortcomings. My good driving habits didn’t excuse my speeding infraction. I was penalized, as I should have been, without regard for how well I regularly follow traffic laws.

All of us have become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

we all shrivel up like a leaf,

and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Isaiah 64:6

It may seem like some people are better than others, but that’s simply not true. Romans 3:11-20 is very clear in explaining this. Everyone falls short of God’s law and there is no measure of lawfulness that puts us in God’s favor. In fact, the purpose of God’s law is to open our eyes to sin – our sin.

Our relationship with God and the location of our forever home is not based on our merit or effort. It is based on our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The opportunity to receive everlasting life with God in Heaven is available to all because God is merciful (Romans 3:21-31).

God showed His mercy thousands of years ago by commissioning Noah to build an ark and allowing his whole family to remain safe within its doors before the flood overtook the earth. I'm sure if anyone else had the faith to respond to the boarding call, God would've welcomed them, too. Instead, everyone outside of Noah's family found themselves in a desperate situation. The fix was simple. Board the ark – a symbol of deliverance.

Why was it so hard to board the ark? Maybe it was hard because normal life continued. Floods never happened before. Not an ounce of rain had ever dropped from the sky (Hebrews 11:7). Stepping onto the ark meant stepping away from the norm and into something very uncomfortable. A normal life of faith is very different from a normal life without faith. Even though we like to say, “Come as you are,” and we try to make our worship service appealing to visitors, living with Jesus as Savior and Lord means lots of life changes. It’s not business as usual. True faith changes people.

***
Click to tweet

Even though we like to say, "Come as you are,"
and we make our worship service appealing to visitors,
living with Jesus as Savior and Lord means lots of change.
It's not business as usual.
True faith changes people.

***

We board the ark through faith (Hebrews 11:7). With faith, we step away from a desperate situation and into God’s approval. Here’s a recap straight from God’s Word.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

in which you used to live

when you followed the ways of this world

and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,

the spirit who is now at work

in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time,

gratifying the cravings of our flesh

and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

But because of his great love for us,

God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ

even when we were dead in transgressions—

it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ

and seated us with him

in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages

he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God’s handiwork,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 Ephesians 2:1-10 

Notice the last sentence. In the beginning of this episode, I explained that, because of the sinfulness of mankind, “God was heartbroken and sorry He created man.” This is about society before the Great Flood. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul explained what God had in mind for the human race. He created us “to do good works.” He designed us for good works and we slapped Him in the face with evil.

Do we blame Him for flooding the earth? Do we blame Him for His coming judgment against humans born after the Flood? Maybe we do, but I hope we understand a little more why we shouldn’t. I hope we understand that the perfectly righteous God and Creator is worthy of enforcing all judgment.

We’ll read more about God’s judgment in the next episode. For now, let’s respond to God’s mercy and grace. The ark already sailed but God’s arms are open wide today. He’s waiting for us to come.

• Come into His arms and trust Jesus as Savior. He paid our penalty on the cross to rescue us from our desperate, sinful situation. (Read more about this on my Good News page.)
• Come into His arms and trust Him to lead us into uncomfortable situations that honor Him. We don’t need special knowledge, skills, or abilities. We just need faith to follow God's lead.
• Come into His arms because where else would we go? To whom can we turn but Him? Where would we be if God didn’t offer His mercy and grace?

I’ll close with a song. Please play Lauren Daigle’s Thank God I Do on YouTube. It’s about our desperate situations and how God meets us perfectly with His deliverance. God gives us clarity and everything we need. He offers a home and we can breathe.

Next Episode

Episode 3: Islands and Lifelines

Read Episode 1: The Story of Our Lives

If the gospel – the good news of Jesus – is new to you and you want to learn more about it, please email me at authordlv@att.net or visit the Good News page on my blog. Jesus is alive and preparing a place for us in Heaven while we serve Him until He comes back for us.

Read more blog posts here.

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