Hear and do

DEVOTION

GENESIS

HEAR AND DO

Gen 6:11-21

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.   16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

NIV

Once again we need to take a rather large segment of this time of the beginning, although it is getting a little farther away from the beginning then when we were in the garden with Adam and Eve. Yet within ten generations the whole of mankind, except Noah and his family, had become corrupt. They had stopped having any resemblance to God, as he created man to be. So he determined to destroy them. That sounds really terrible that God would kill all of them just because they had become so corrupt and full of violence. The people had corrupted their ways. It was their choice to do so. They could have kept the faith. They could have seen the errors of their ways. Surely Noah stood out among them as a godly man, and even must have said things about how they should turn back to God. Certainly he at least said something to his parents, his siblings, uncles and aunts, his cousins, nephews and nieces. We would surely think if he had not said anything before hearing what God was going to do, he would have told them about their impending death because of their corrupted ways. Two truths are here for us within this account. First God told Noah what he was going to do and second, mankind could have repented and been saved. God does not hide his thoughts nor his actions from his people. He told Noah exactly what he was not happy with, and what he was going to do about it. The people had corrupted their ways. This is another truth so we have three of them. It was the people who decided to corrupt their ways. They made the choice to ignore God, and live as they desired to live, fulfilling their own pleasures anyway they wanted. Over the years from the time of Seth and Cain their descendants both turned from God. Those who were from Cain infiltrated the thinking of those who came from Seth. The whole of mankind had now turned from God and were about to perish. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord and God told him how he could be saved. Because this was the time before Christ was to come into the world, Noah had to provide his own ark of safety, he had to build it to the exact instructions of the Lord. God did not make him guess as to how he would be saved, he was exact in his instructions. This is the same today. He does not leave us any questions, he is exact in his instructions as to how we are to be saved. But as in the time of Noah, people today had determined to corrupt their ways and they too are going to perish.

John 3:16-21

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

NIV

It cannot be anymore exact than that. Believe in Jesus Christ and we can get in the cross and be saved. Repent of our wicked ways and turn back to God and we will be saved. The same exact message during the time of Noah, but they did not repent and they did perish. The same exact end will be for those who live now, who have corrupted their ways and do not repent, turn back to God, thus getting in the ark, the cross, and be saved. Those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior find favor in the eyes of God. We would think the choice is clear, yet the very words of Jesus tells us the reason some will never make that clear choice. They love the darkness, their corrupted ways. If people were to accept the scripture as the word of God, accepting it as the truth, they would have to admit their ways are corrupt and see their need to repent in order to not perish. But by refusing to accept the scripture as true, they can live anyway their heart desires, they have no respect for God and his ways and thus they will perish, as those did in the days of Noah. It has nothing to do with how good or how bad we are, it is only about being in or out of the ark of safety because of a choice we make. It was not about the faith Noah  nor was he a perfect man, but that he walked with God. He knew God, accepted the ways of God as the right way. We certainly cannot gain eternal life because of how good we are, or will ever be, but because we accept the way of God, we walk with God, we accepted his Son as our Savior. We found favor in the eyes of God. We found Jesus. We decided to follow Jesus. God has told everyone the same truth. He has given everyone on earth the same chance to make the right choice. He has not hidden his intentions from anyone.

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

NIV

There is not a single human being on this planet that has an excuse for not turning from their wicked ways, repenting and turning back to God. He has not hidden the fact that his wrath will come upon those who refuse to accept his ways, just as in the days of Noah. When people say that if he is a God of love he will not condemn anyone to hell. He is not condemning them, they are condemning themselves to perish. He is a God of love, he said so. He loves us all so much he gave his Son, he provided an ark of safety of everyone. We are so blessed to have seen the truth and found favor in the eyes of God. We are so glad we heard the voice of God telling us what he is about to do, and what we should do in order to be saved.