The Last
Invitation
Pastor
Darrin Wright – March 9, 2008
Introduction
Planning a wedding takes a lot of
time and effort, not to mention expense.
Take for instance the wedding invitation. You would think that every invitation is the
same, but as I found out, they are not (explain our invitation). Much time and effort is put into “just the
right invitation and just the right color and just the right envelope.” A lot of thought and energy is put into that
one single piece of paper.
Life is filled with
invitations. Everyday we are invited to
do something, or to take part in something.
It may be an invitation to a wedding shower, a baby shower, a party, a
new product or a new restaurant. It is
impossible to go through life without being exposed to invitations.
However, the greatest invitation
that you and I can ever receive is the invitation that comes from the Lord
Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible begins
and ends with an invitation.
Revelation
I am amazed at the thought and
effort that went into our wedding invitation.
Think of the price that Christ himself as our
bridegroom had to pay to extend His invitation to us. In fact, His wedding ceremony has been two
thousand years in the making, and one day soon, He will split the eastern sky,
and come back for His bride. And
sometime before that day, the last invitation will have been given.
I.
A Gracious Invitation.
(vs.1)
·
The Lord gave
Noah a special invitation. God said, “come into the ark”.
It was a gracious invitation. The
invitation suggests that God was already in the ark, inviting Noah to join Him
there.
·
God didn’t
have to invite Noah into the ark, but because our God is a gracious God, He
gave Noah a gracious invitation. The
same invitation that the Lord gave Noah is the same invitation that He would
give you and I today, “come into the ark”.
A.
Heavenly Provision For
The Home.
1.
You will
notice that the Lord not only provided for Noah, but the Lord also made
provision for Noah’s entire family.
2.
The Bible
says “you and all your household”.
3.
Noah had been
preaching and warning the people about the coming judgment for well over a
century, but only his own family had believed him and trusted the Lord.
4.
God would say
to us today, “Not only do I want you to come into the ark, but also, I have
made provision for your entire family to come with you.”
B.
Heavenly Observation.
1.
Notice that
the Lord saw Noah. Isn’t it comforting
to know that the Lord sees us? He sees
us in the midst of any circumstances that we may be in.
2.
The Bible
says that Noah and his family were saved because the Lord saw that Noah was a
righteous man.
3.
Noah set the
example and led others to Christ: his
family probably wouldn’t have come if he hadn’t set the example.
4.
Noah didn’t
do anything to become righteous. Noah’s
righteousness was God’s gift in response to Noah’s personal faith.
5.
Genesis 6:8 (NKJV) – “Noah found grace in the eyes of the lord.”
6.
That is where
Noah’s righteousness came from. Noah
wasn’t saved because of who he was, or what he did. Noah was saved because of the grace of God.
7.
We are not
saved because of who we are, or what we may be able to accomplish. We are saved only by the grace of God.
8.
The only
righteousness that God will accept is the righteousness of Jesus Christ His Son
(2 Cor. 5:21), and the only way you and I can receive that righteousness is by
admitting our sins and placing our faith in Christ to save us.
9.
The Bible
says in Isaiah 64:6 that all of our righteousness is like filthy rags. We cannot produce righteousness on our own, it is Christ living inside of us that makes us
righteous before Almighty God.
10.
As you study
the life of Noah, you learn that Noah walked with God and was safely taken
through the judgment. You also learn
that Enoch, Noah’s great – grandfather, modeled a Godly way of life for
Methuselah. Methuselah must have passed
it along to his son Lamech, who shared it with his
son Noah.
11.
It makes a
difference when Godly character is modeled and passed along to younger
generations.
12.
I believe
that Noah’s family trained him in the ways of the Lord, and because of that
training, Noah gave his heart to God, and God made him righteous.
13.
Noah was
trained in the right way, but eventually he had to make a personal decision for
himself. His family couldn’t choose for
him, he had to choose. Everyone must
choose.
1.
The Lord
commended Noah for his righteousness and character.
2.
Genesis 6:9 (NKJV) – “Noah was a just man, a perfect man in his
generation who walked with God.”
3.
Not only was
Noah righteous, but he was righteous in his own generation.
4.
Genesis 6:5 (NKJV) – “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every intent of the
thought of his heart was only evil continually.”
5.
Yet, in the
midst of all that evil, Noah was still obedient. Noah was right with God when everyone else
was wrong.
6.
Noah’s
generation was a generation of ungodly people committing ungodly deeds in
ungodly ways and speaking ungodly words against the Lord.
7.
Yet, Noah
didn’t give up, or succumb to the pressures and temptations of the world. Noah had a strong faith, and an obedient
heart. He didn’t take the easy way out.
(Anyone who has ever developed godly character has had to fight against peer
pressure)
8.
Noah received
an invitation through the grace of the Lord.
That is why God gives us his gracious invitation. He sees us right were we are, at our very
point of need. Then by His grace, He
does something that only God can do. He
makes us righteous through Jesus Christ.
9.
That
invitation is found in the same word that God used when He talked to Noah. He simply said, “come”. Today is the day to be saved.
II. A Great Instruction. (vs.4-7)
1.
What makes
the instruction so unique is the response of Noah.
2.
The Bible
never records a time when Noah doubted what the Lord said. That shows how great Noah’s faith was.
3.
Up to this
point in his life, Noah had never seen a drop of rain. In fact, there was no large body of water
nearby, and it is highly unlikely that Noah had ever seen a boat, let alone one
the size of the ark. Yet Noah exhibited
great faith and trust in God. He
understood God’s urgent instruction and was obedient.
4.
In verse 5,
we see Noah’s faith exhibited once again.
The Bible says that Noah “did” all that the Lord had commanded him. He accomplished all that God instructed him
to do.
5.
according – unity; Noah was aligned and in unity with God,
Noah did not do things his way, he did them God’s way.
6.
C.S. Lewis – “There are two kinds of people:
those who say to God, Thy will be done.
And those to whom God says, All right then,
have it your way.”
7.
Noah did all
that the Lord said. Noah was to build an
ark and offer it as a way of escape from the coming wrath to that doomed
generation.
8.
Genesis
6:14-22 describes the great instruction that God gave Noah. God’s great instruction to Noah consisted of
building the ark (14-17), trusting in God’s covenant (18), and gathering in all
of the animals (19-22).
9.
If you are a
believer, the greatest thing that you could do in the
10.
If you are
not a Christian, the greatest thing that you could ever do is heed God’s great
instruction, and follow Noah’s example and turn to Christ in repentance for
salvation, and do all that He commands.
11.
Illustration: Heeding
Gretchen’s urgent instruction to apply the breaks.
III. A Glorious Identification. (vs.7, 16, 23)
1.
The dimensions
given for the length of the ark made it one and a half times the length of a
football field.
2.
The ark was
to be made of gopher wood. Gopher wood
was incorruptible wood.
3.
Its cargo
capacity would hold over one and a half million cubic feet.
4.
It had 3
levels, each with individual stalls or nests for the animals.
5.
It had a
series of small windows 18 inches high to provide light and ventilation.
6.
It had only
one door.
a.
In verse 16,
the Bible says that all of those who entered the ark, entered as God had
commanded them. It is interesting to
note that the ark had only one door.
Everyone who went into the ark went in through the same door. From the smallest of animals to the largest,
they all had to enter the same way.
b.
What was true
in Noah’s day is true for us today.
c.
John 14:6 (NKJV) – “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one
comes to the Father
except through me.”
d.
Jesus is not
“one of many ways”, “a way”, or even “the best way”, He is the only way.
7.
The Bible
also says that when the ark was completed, it was to be covered inside and out
with pitch.
8.
pitch – the same word used in the O.T. for atonement,
this is a direct reference to the blood that Jesus shed for us all.
9.
Lord shut him in – Noah didn’t shut them in, God shut them
in. This was another act of God’s
grace. If Noah would have been in charge
of shutting the door, he might have always second guessed his decision,
wandering if someone else might have come.
However, God knew that no one else was going to come, so He shut the
door. It is a reminder to us today, that
when God closes the door, no one else can open it.
10.
In verse 23,
we see that all those who were in the ark remained alive and escaped the
judgment of God.
11.
What it meant
for Noah to be in the ark in his day is what it means for us to be in Christ
today.
12.
Rain falls
everywhere just like God’s judgment, and all of us need an umbrella. When we come into the ark through Christ, we
escape the judgment of God because Jesus becomes our umbrella.
13.
The moment
Noah went into the ark he was saved. The
moment we ask Christ to come into our heart, we are saved, and are gloriously
identified with Christ.
14.
Illustration: This One’s With Me
I was dreaming about heaven
Dreamed I was standing at the pearly gates
We were all there and I was so scared
Standing in the presence of one so great
I felt so very unworthy, I felt like running away
I bowed my head as I turned to go
When I heard someone say
Father, this one’s with me
He’s part of the family
One of the reasons I died on
Father, welcome him in
I paid the price for Him
Father, O Father this one’s with me
Conclusion
Narrative Preaching.