Alright, Genesis chapter number 5, if you want to turn there, we're talking tonight about Noah, God's remnant. Noah stands out as a wonderful type of foreshadowing of the remnant that God has promised that He would always have. And as the world became more and more wicked, then God decided to destroy all mankind except for Noah and his family. And in the saving of Noah, we see a couple of good truths, wonderful truths. One is God will always have a remnant. And then second, Noah's deliverance through the flood portrays the protection of the nation of Israel through the tribulation. This is following the rapture of the church. Just as Enoch, which we talked about last week, his translation into heaven foreshadowed the rapture of the church, Noah's being left behind and yet divinely protected illustrates the saving of Israel during the reign of the Antichrist. And now concerning the life of Noah, we're given a composite portrait of a man who was the godliest person, as far as we can tell, in all the world at that time, but yet his life did end on a bit of a sad note. And so let's have a word of prayer and we will jump right in tonight. Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Lord, for your grace and goodness and mercy. And Lord, we thank you for the man Noah and the things that we can learn from his life. And Lord, the monumental task that you set him to, I can't even imagine. what that would have been like, having to build the ark and preach to the people and gather all the animals and all the things that you had him to do. What a monumental task, and yet your grace was sufficient. And Lord, you've given us tasks to do here on earth and things, Lord, that in our own mind may seem impossible, but Lord, your grace is sufficient for us as well. And Lord, may we look to you for these things, and Lord, I pray that you help us to learn from our lesson tonight the things that we can apply to our lives and grow closer to you. In Jesus' name, amen. Before we get into that, let me just, I do want to ask you, does anybody have in your Bible, I did this, I brought this Bible on purpose, the times, like the years where it says, you know, Abraham, or Adam, Adam, his son Seth, and you have the years, how long that goes, anybody have that marked out in your Bible, ever do that? Nobody's ever done that? Let's turn over to Oh, let's see, where are we going to start here? We're in Genesis chapter number 5, look at verse number 3. It says, and Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and called his name Seth. I wrote, and if you don't write in your Bible, that's fine, but I wrote out there next to that 130 years, right? So Adam was 130 years old and begat Seth. And if you jump down to verse number six, and Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos, and so now we're up to 235 years since Adam was created. And then you jump down to verse number nine, it says, and Enos lived 90 years and begat Cainan. And so I have written there next to that 325 years. And verse number 12, and Cainan lived 70 years and begat Mehalelel. And that's why I have 395 years and you can check my math. I don't think I'm wrong, but 395 years next to that one. And then verse 15, and Mehalelel lived 65 years and begat Jared. So now we're up to 460 years. You jump down to verse number 18, and Jared lived in 160 and two years, and he begat Enoch. So now we're at 622 years since Adam was created. And in verse 21, and Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah, and so we're at 687 years. And then in verse 25, and Methuselah lived in 180 and seven years and begat Lamech, so now we're up to 874 years, and Adam is still alive. Yeah, Adam's still alive all the way through, so Adam dies between Methuselah being born and Lamech, so verse number 28, and Lamech lived 180 and two years and begat a son, so now we're up to 1,056 years. And then it says over verse number 32, and Noah was 500 years old when Noah begat Sham, Ham, and Japheth, so now we're up to 1,556 years. And if you'll turn over to chapter 7, verse number 6, and Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. So that is 1,656 years after Adam was created. Now Methuselah, we know him as the longest living man, he was the son of Enoch, and his name means he dies, or there's a dart, or man of the dart, or death, which has also been interpreted in this way, when he is gone, it will come, meaning the flood. So this was God's kind of warning to them, and perhaps this was even part of Enoch's preaching that he did before he was translated, so he was born Let's see, he had, let's see. I'll make sure I get my numbers right here. If you add from Methuselah lived 180 and seven years, begat Lamech, and then Lamech after that was, it was 180 and two years and begat his son, and then you add Noah's 500 years before he begat, and then another 100 years, if you do all the math, which I don't have it written out here, it comes out to that same year that the flood came. So I know you've probably heard that before, but I don't know if you ever had it marked in your Bible so that as you know, you have kids, you have grandkids, you can kind of share that out. It's really neat how God did that, how He worked that out. And so, I say worked that out, He made it happen. And it's another testimony to the grace of God. Hey, when He dies, it's coming. and yet he was the longest living man ever, ever recorded. And so what about the grace of God there? That's not part of my notes there, but I thought that was neat and I didn't know if anybody, I heard that first, I think, at a teenager, at a youth conference, and then I heard it at Bible college, and anyways, it's kind of neat to throw down those numbers. Number one, And we're talking about Noah, God's remnant, is Noah's life was a blessing to future generations. If you're there in chapter number five, in Genesis, and look at verse number 28, it says, and Lamech lived 180 and two years and begot a son and he called his name Noah, we're at verse 29 now, this saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. So I guess the question would be, how would it be that, how is it that Noah would be able to comfort those who had lived before him? I mean, for too long, they're all going to be, they're all going to be dead. If they didn't die in natural causes, they would drown and it would be only Noah and his immediate family that would be protected. How then is there to be a comfort for his forefathers? And their answer to that is, his life being spared, in his life being spared, the line of the Messiah would therefore be protected. Through Noah and his son Shem, Messiah would one day come to be the deliverer and the Savior of all who were alive at Jesus' time, but also all those who had gone before and all those who would come after His birth, just as we have. So Noah's life was a blessing to future generations. Number two, Noah's life was pleasing to the Lord. Look at chapter number six, and we'll look at verse number seven. And the Lord said, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." That's the second person we see, the only other person other than Enoch that we see written down that he walked with God, of the people before the flood. And so, again, we keep running across that word perfect in our different studies, whether it's now or Sunday night or even in Sunday mornings, that's not meaning sinlessly perfect, but mature and, you know, and he loved the Lord. What a contrast that must have been, must have existed between Noah and, well seemingly, everyone else on the earth at that time. Word of Lord, God's Word tells us that God was ready to destroy all flesh, everybody. He was gonna destroy them all, but Noah there found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now what it does not say, and I'm always careful about this stuff, maybe some people may say you're too careful about this stuff, what it does not say is that Noah was the only person who was just or entire or mature. I say this because again, people get dogmatic where the Bible is silent, it could be that Noah was the only righteous man in his day, yes it could be that, but it's not clearly stated. When the Bible says that Noah was just, that means he was lawful or righteous, if you will. So, meaning that he, and perhaps only he, remained of those who believed in the coming Messiah. That's very possible. How else would God call Noah just, meaning righteous, if he did not believe that there was in this coming Messiah? Again, we've talked about this before. We're all saved the same way. Those Old Testament saints are saved looking forward to the coming Christ. We are saved looking backward at the Christ who already came. But it's all by faith. Now remember that Methuselah, this is Noah's grandfather and Enoch's son, he was still alive. He, however, died the same year of the flood. Did he die peacefully before the flood happened? Or did he die in the flood with the rest of mankind? Mine is, of course, Noah and his family. We don't know. We don't know. So it's that one, we don't know all the answers about everybody. But what we can surmise is that Noah had been diligent to maintain a blameless testimony when others were surrounding, or sorry, surrendering their character to the devil and to the snares of the flesh. And that's why God wanted to destroy them all. You know, life is full of decisions. It is so important that we make decisions based on principles. But not just principles, premeditated biblical principles. Premeditated meaning that we have, that we have an understanding of God's Word and have decided to follow the principles that He has laid down for us as our primary basis for making our decisions. In other words, the decision has been made before the opportunity even presents itself if we're walking in God's Biblical principles. And to do that, obviously, you have to know His Biblical principles, and to know His Biblical principles, you've got to be in the Bible. So what else we see here is pertaining to Noah pleasing the Lord is his willingness to pay the price in trying to rear a godly family in the midst of a wicked world. This remains, I will say, a very worthy goal in today's world. In our ever-darkening society, trying to rear your family, or if you're just you, trying to maintain a godly testimony, a godly relationship with the Lord, it is a worthy goal for men and women of God to bring up their children and to guide their homes for God. And listen, there is increasingly more and more pressure to give into the world. There's more and more pressure to just give up on rearing your family God's way, but stand fast, hold the line, and trust God. It's a worthy calling. Number three, Noah's life produced great privileges. So we understand when I say that Noah's life produced great privilege, I don't mean his existence, but literally his life, the course of his life that was created by his choices. And that's true for us today. I think God still blesses His children as they obey Him. And I think that's very true and always will be. Genesis chapter 6, we're still there, and let's turn a page if you need to to verse number 17. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, and thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee." God didn't owe this to Noah. He didn't owe Noah anything, and yet Noah was blessed with a variety of privileges as he made good choices and as he pleased God with his just or righteous life. These privileges included the fact that his life was supernaturally spared from the flood. He was given an understanding and strength to build the ark. Understanding how to build what was no doubt the biggest boat, the biggest ship to date. His family, whether they, whether, another privilege was his family, whether or not they were saved or lost, they were also spared. Another privilege that he was allowed to personally witness a miracle of God. Though, although it did appear in the form of a worldwide calamity, but he did get to see a miracle from God. His life was used as an encouragement to the Jews to display how God would also protect them through the coming tribulation. Noah enjoyed such a personal relationship with God that he received a personal promise through the rainbow that God would never destroy the world again through a flood. And another privilege, if I was, well it's in the privilege, but this is just underneath this. If I was gonna trade places with a Bible character, I don't think I would choose Noah. That's a heavy task that he had. But what an amazing testimony. What a good life, a life of good choices, for the most part, and the magnitude of his task. I mean, have you ever thought about that, the magnitude of the task that God gave him? Did his sons help? I would imagine so. But I mean, he's not getting little small pieces of wood, I mean, he's getting these long, I mean, this thing was massive. And the understanding that God must have given him and the abilities that God must have given him to accomplish that. What an amazing story that Noah's life was. He had great privileges. Number four, Noah's life was marked by obedience. Look at verse number 19 through 22 and God continues and says, and of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark, more work for him to do. to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind. Two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all the food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them." Verse 22, thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he. You know, obedience to God is an instant act of faith. We understand from God's Word, or from the leading or the prompting of the Holy Spirit, then we act. We act in obedience to a God that we have never physically seen, we have never audibly heard, but we act in faith in that obedience. This takes faith. And faith is the starting point of pleasing God. Hebrews 11, verse six, without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Verse seven says, 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." You look at other stories in the Bible, when Lot was told to abandon Sodom, what did he do? He hesitated. When Zechariah was told of the birth of his son, John the Baptist, he doubted. When Adam and Eve were told to leave just one tree's fruit alone, they disobeyed. When Saul was told to wait for Samuel before the sacrifice, he was impatient. But when Noah was told by God the massive task that God had planned for him, he obeyed in faith and that pleased God. That pleased God. Man, are the things that we're doing day by day, is it in faith? Are we doing it by faith? Well, I've done this thing a thousand times. I just stand at work and I push the same button or whatever it is you do. I've done this thing all my life. For years and years, I've done this same thing. But are you doing it as unto the Lord in faith? Why do I need to do that? Because it pleases Him. Lord, I need your help. I have muscle memory galore for the job that I do day in and day out, but I need you. Maybe there's something you'll help me see that'll help my company save some money because maybe there's a better, more efficient way to push this button. I don't know, but Lord, I need you. And have faith. That obedience. Now, it's interesting when God was looking, and this will be a little bit on Sunday night as well, for Adam, for a help meet, he calls all the beasts of the field to come out of the dust of the ground. That would have been something to see, right? I don't know if you know this, I put myself in the stories, I try to see what they would have seen, and it's not like, for Noah, they're coming to him, or he's gotta go gather them up, and so he's got a large task, when it was Adam, God just, here they come right out of the dust. That, if there's a rewind back up in heaven where we can see things, I want to see that. I want to see the parting of the Red Sea. I want to see the walls of Jericho fall. There's a lot of things I want to see, but these animals, you know, that would, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, no special effects on that. It just happened. No Hollywood trickery, no lights, right out of the dust. That's something to see right there. Number five Noah's life was a wall of protection to his family. Look at Genesis chapter number seven in verse number one And the Lord said unto Noah come now and all thy house into the ark for I have seen for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation the Bible doesn't record just how godly Noah's sons were but we do know that they were protected from the flood because God remembered Noah and Now the Bible does not teach that a person can go to heaven on the merits of another, outside of Jesus Christ of course, being that other. There are, however, abundant examples of how godly people are responsible for others being blessed. Laban, Laban, anybody know who Laban is? He's the father-in-law of Jacob, he was the father-in-law of Jacob and he was blessed, why? Because of the presence of Jacob. Genesis 30, verse 27, Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. Joseph, in similar fashion, throughout all the time that he was separated from his family, was the catalyst that God used to bless Potiphar, to bless the jailer, and to bless Pharaoh, and the entire Egyptian army, and Joseph's family, ultimately. Do you know in Acts chapter 27, over 200 people were saved from drowning because of the presence of one person, the Apostle Paul? He stood before them, they were fighting the sea, and he said, hey, take some meat, it's been a long time, I've seen a vision from God, he said, I've given them all of them that sail with thee. He's like, I'm gonna save them all, why? Because of the presence of Paul. And today, millions of Americans are the recipients of God's blessings and goodness upon them and this nation. Why? Because of biblical foundations. I believe because of our friendship and protection of the nation of Israel. And I believe, I believe the good God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians who still lift up Christ today and send missionaries all over the world to do the same. So, stay faithful, child of God. Stay faithful. This generation and future generations need this from us. I mean, ultimately, we do it, why? Because we love the Lord and we're seeking to please Him. But if we're in tune with Him, the generation that's coming up, have a hope. Right, because they'll see, OK, alright, I saw grandpa do that, I saw mom do that, I saw dad do that, I saw my older brother and older sister, I saw my siblings, I saw the church do this, and man, how God blessed, and maybe not everybody had all their wants, but man, everybody was happy, and everybody had the joy of the Lord, and everybody loved one another, and man, there was just this unity within the church, why? Because we were all seeking the same thing, to please the Lord. Why, how do we do that? Because we did things in faith. Because by faith that's impossible, without faith that's impossible to please Him. So stay faithful. They need us to stay faithful. They need us to grow in our walk with God and they need us to be pleasing to the Lord. Number six, Noah's life was marked by worship. Look at verse, chapter eight, verse number 20. Chapter eight, verse number 20. It says, and Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. So the question would be, well, what is worship? One definition I read stated that worship is the upward reaching of man to God through some type of religious exercise. I looked up in Noah's 1828 Webster Dictionary, Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary, and it's very similar. He defined worship in this way. chiefly and eminently the act of paying divine honors to the supreme being or reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercise consisting in adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving, and the like." Now there are those who would say that church is not for worship. I don't know if anybody, I think some of y'all have probably been around long enough that you probably have heard that. That worship is private, something you do in your prayer closet and in your personal Bible reading and they make statements like the church does not exist for the purpose of reaching upwards to get closer to God, it exists for the purpose of spiritual fellowship between Christians. This is, like I said, when I was reading, reading a study for this, this is some things I read. I personally would say that my experience with church differs from this opinion. I have had experiences in church that, that there was a lifting up towards God in adoration and prayer. I've heard it said that worship is not a corporate experience, but one done between an individual and his or her God. Now again, some of this stuff that I heard was a long time ago that I heard it. I don't know that I hear a lot of preaching and teaching against corporate worship these days, likely because the overwhelming consensus leans into corporate worship. However, this isn't a lesson on worship, but I do want to give some thoughts. Today, what was once called a preaching service is now called a worship service in many churches. But we'll say in John 4, verse 24, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So when I'm preaching, or anybody's up here preaching, the preacher is speaking soul to soul to the people, not spirit to spirit, because if I talk through spirit, I'm talking to God, okay? So God is spirit, and so soul to soul with the people. and the congregation listens soul to soul, hearing from a man. If we are each filled with the Holy Spirit, God can use that and speak to our spirit, which can result in our responding in spirit with worship. I hope this isn't, my wording sometimes isn't the best. The act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being, or the act of reverencing Him, or giving homage paid to Him through adoration, through confession, through prayer, thanksgiving, and the like. So if we, as we are together here and we're in the Word of God, if we are filled with the Spirit and seeking to please Him, God can use that then for us to then have that communion with Him, Spirit to Spirit, and we can worship together. This would be worship, but let me say it this way, not all in attendance at a church service participate in worship. They may sing, and they may even listen. That does not mean they are participating in worship. if worship in itself is that upward paying of divine honors to the Supreme Being in reverence or homage through adoration, confession, prayer, thanksgiving and the like. When we sing together, that can also be an act of worship to the Lord, but remember, they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So singing the songs does not mean that you're worshiping. It has to be done in a spirit to spirit with that reverence and that adoration. We come to the Lord, we sing these songs, if we're just singing it because, oh, that's the one that they put up on the screen or that's the one that Robert Wesley called out and so I'm just singing it and I'm just singing it because I know it and it's familiar. I mean, there's no sense of adoration, there's no reverence. Have you really worshipped? No. On the topic of songs we sing, I will also say this, that not all songs are God-facing. Even the ones in your hymn book, they're not all God-facing. What I mean by that is, there are believer-edifying songs like Victory in Jesus. Victory in Jesus speaks obviously of victory in Jesus. But it is sung to edify each other. It's not directed at God. It's talking together about our victory in Jesus. There's nothing wrong with it. I love that song. It's one of my favorites. But if you say, I heard an old, old story, God doesn't sit on the edge of his throne and say, oh, do tell. What is this story? So that is not a God-facing song. However, how great thou art, that's different. That is to God, about God, and can, I believe, be worshipful, though not if done in a way that brings attention to those singing it, and not if it's sung without reverence and adoration to God. So you show up and you sing, oh, I was moved by it, but it was all about the show, it was all about the getting wrapped up in all the people swaying or whatever it is, is that truly worship? I'm not one to say, but if there's no reverence, there's no adoration, there's no lifting ourself up to God, it's all about the moment, I would say no. So you gotta be careful about this thing of worship. Again, we can worship corporately, but not all in attendance at a church service participate in worship, even though they might sing the songs and they might listen to the preaching, that does not mean that they are participating in worship. You ever hear the illustration of the glass church with the unsaved people observing from the outside, seeing only, not able to hear? The question goes, what do you think they would call true worship? Was it to be the performance of the musical numbers? How red in the face the preacher got while preaching? Or would it be the silent tears as your spirit is moved by the goodness of God? Not emotions because the music moved you, but the message maybe of a song or the sermon that brought you to a place of reverence and adoration towards God. Maybe it would be the believers on their face before God as they call out to their Lord and Master earnestly seeking Him. Maybe they would probably say, that looks more like worship to me than a performance. I do believe that some preach against corporate worship because it can be so easily twisted. I also believe that we don't come to church, and hear me out on this, we don't come to church primarily for worship. We come for exhortation, edification, and fellowship. Hebrews chapter 10, I'll give you some verses, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more. as you see the day approaching. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And so it is meant for us to edify one another, and for us to encourage one another, and to exhort one another, the more and more as we see the day approaching. And I also believe this, and we'll get back on track with Noah, I believe that your sweetest, most genuine times of worship will be when it's just you and the Lord. It, it may not necessarily have the emotion of a whole big gathering where everybody's singing, how great thou art, and, and, but, but that's gonna be your most genuine, your sweetest time, just you and the Lord. When Jesus told him in the Sermon on the Mount, when you pray, enter into your closet. Enter into your closet and pray privately to your Father. All right, back on track here. Number seven, Noah's life was concluded with carelessness. Look at chapter nine, verse 20. And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. Now we don't know how long this was after the flood. I hear some people say it was right away. Obviously, Noah needed time to grow a vineyard, to harvest a crop, to make the wine, and then have that wine ferment, so that took some time. We also see Canaan mentioned here in that verse, and he was the fourth son of Ham. So this could have been five years down the road or more than a decade after the flood. We don't really know, but the inference of Cain, and then when you go a little further down and you see the genealogies, that was Ham's fourth son. So a little bit of time had passed, but the point being that just as the devil was waiting by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for Eve to come along, he was waiting for a moment of weakness in Noah. And remember who this is. All the world, seemingly, is living wickedly. They're living for themselves. But Noah was just perhaps the only person who still believed that there was a coming Messiah. A very, seemingly very godly man. And yet Satan found a point of weakness for him, a moment of weakness. You can have differences of opinion on whether or not drinking any alcohol is wrong. We won't get into that tonight. I, myself, am against alcohol. I see no benefit from it. The verse of, take a little wine for thy stomach's sake, I believe is a poor argument with the invention of modern medicine. I have seen homes ruined by it. It could rob you of your health as it did my dad and ultimately took his life. One can be said to be under the influence of alcohol. And we really should only be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Anyway, whatever side of that argument you fall on, I believe the Bible's pretty clear about not being drunk. Ephesians 5, 18, and be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. You know, the obvious and tragic lesson here is that there's never a time in this world, this sinful, dark world, that we are safe or free from temptation. And we must therefore always keep our guard up. I think we can safely say that it was not the Holy Spirit that led Noah into this drunken state. Now earlier we were talking about, let me flip back a couple pages. We were talking about Noah's life being marked by obedience and we were talking about Noah's life was a wall of protection to his family and we talked about, you know, staying by it and staying faithful, child of God, you know, this generation needs us and, you know, and I'm not one that hunts for amens, I won't do the whole, you know, pull the ear thing, you know, and when I pull this ear, say amen, when I do this one, say praise the Lord. And I won't ask you to say amen, but there were a few amens about that, but this is a very similar topic. What kind of a heritage are we leaving? We're talking about the temptation that every single one of us are susceptible to, and we still need to maintain faithfulness to the Lord and to His Word, if not for our own sake, for the generations coming after, but ultimately we should be doing it for the Lord. So again, I'm not pushing anything on what side of that argument you fall on as far as, you know, is a little bit of alcohol okay? I'm not talking about that tonight. I'm talking about, though, is there is temptation for all of us that Satan is looking to drag us down and ruin our testimony, ruin our effectiveness for the Lord, ruin our influence for the Lord, and he's out there, he's out there seeking us. So a few takeaways, and we'll be done here. Now one, it's obvious, Noah walked with God, we should walk with God. That's very, it's obviously very important. But not just walk with God, walk with God in faith. And walk with Him consistently. Another thing we learn from Noah here is when God speaks, obey. Obey, man, that's tough to do sometimes because it doesn't always fit with my agenda. It doesn't always fit with what I like or what I want, but we should obey. Don't fail to properly, properly worship Him along your journey. Also remember there are generations who will follow us and they need us to continue in faith. And then this one, we didn't talk about this but I do want to talk about it because I think it's a very important concept. Give people the big picture courtesy. What do you mean by that? When we think of Noah, we typically think of the builder of the ark. someone who obeyed God in a massive task, a preacher of righteousness, 2 Peter 2, verse 5, said, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly. He was a man of faith. We read that in Hebrews 11, verse 7, by faith, Noah. He was a man in good company. Ezekiel 14, verse 12, And the word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it. Listen to this, Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. Man, now he's here, he's accompanied with Daniel and Job. Noah was a pretty righteous, godly man. But I imagine, because I've been around for a long time, that there's some people that when you think of Noah, oh, that's that guy that got drunk and got naked, right? I don't know why we do this, but we do it. I'm not saying that we should not address sin. But we so easily put on blinders on our eyes, blocking out sometimes an immense amount of good that a person has done, and we only see the bad. I don't know why we do this. Again, I am not, listen to what I'm not saying, I am not saying that sin should not be called out and that sin should not be dealt with. It absolutely should be and needs to be. But once sin has been dealt with, confessed, and repented of, there needs to be a path of restoration back into fellowship with God's people. But if we have blinders on focusing only on the negative, we ourselves are becoming a stumbling block to that person's path back to reconciliation. Because that's all we can see and that's all we can consider them to be and we're missing out all the good that they've done over their entire lives. Think about the prodigal son. Had the father died while he was away in the far country and he came home only to find big brother calling the shots. we would have had a way different outcome, I believe, than welcome home. Right, and so we are given this ministry of reconciliation, and there's people out there who are hurting, there's people out there who maybe have a history of, maybe even in Bible Baptist church, I'm not being here long enough to know, but every other church I've been in is like this, people who serve the Lord, and they were faithful to the Lord, but the devil, just like he did to Noah, got in there and got some things twisted, and they stepped aside, and now they're looking for a way back. And sometimes that's one of the hardest things to do is to come back into the service of the Lord. And sometimes it's because the person stepping back in thinks they should just jump right back into whatever area they were serving. Oh, I was a deacon before, can I be a deacon again? Well, let's give a little time. There's obviously decently in order, but sometimes it's because we won't let them. We fail to see, remember all the good that they did, and we get these blinders on. I'll probably get in trouble if this goes out live stream, but they're preachers. who messed up, who spent time in prison, who also had an immense impact on my life, for good and for God. And if I saw that person, those people today, I don't think I'd be like, oh, you. Oh, I think I would run up and hug their neck. And I would want to encourage them to say, man, thank you for what you did. And I'm praying for you. And if there's anything I can do in your journey, let me know. I'm telling you, I don't know why we do this. Again, I bring this up with Noah, because I don't think he's one of the ones we do it to. I think we think Noah, because we all grew up on the stories, Noah and the ark, and the two little drafts sticking their head out, and all that kind of stuff, because it was out of the holes in the ark. But that's kind of what we think of, but you can very easily, and you do it with a lot of other saints in the Bible, you do it with each other. This is bad. It's not good. What we choose to see in people matters. It matters. Oh, you can say, well, you know, there's some people, they don't really have a lot of goods stacked up yet. Oh, give them a chance. Don't write them off. People are people, and you is one of them. Right? And so you wouldn't want that to happen to you. We're all just as capable of getting trapped and snared by the devil, and we would want somebody to help us find a path back. At least I hope you would. I hope you wouldn't be like, oh, finally got out of that, you know. No, you'd want a path back. And there's people out there, again, there may be people that are on your mind right now. My wife and I haven't been here long enough to know. Let's take the blinders off and say, you know what, that person used to teach a science school class, used to work in the nursery, used to help out on the bus route, that person used to whatever. And there's so much good that they did in my life. Lord, help me take the blinders of bitterness off my eyes so I can see the whole picture. Aren't you glad Jesus did that with us? He could've just said, sinner condemned to hell. But no, he saw the bigger picture, and in his bigger picture, he sees Jesus when he looks at me. Because I'm his child, I'm washing the blood. Let's pray.