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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll discover how Noah’s righteous character, faithful preaching of God’s message, and obedient completion of God’s mission provide a powerful example for believers living in an ungodly culture.

Key Verse

Genesis 6:8: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Introduction

Imagine being the only believer in the world. Not just in your neighborhood or your city, but in the whole world. No one to pray with. No one to encourage you in your faith. No one who even believes that God exists. This was the case for Noah; there was nobody in the world, apart from his own family, who truly followed God.

Why should we study the life of Noah? Because his story shows us that faithfulness to God is possible even in the most hostile environment imaginable. If you feel alone in your faith, if you’re the only Christian in your family or workplace, if you live where following Christ brings persecution—Noah’s life is especially for you. Scripture tells us these ancient stories aren’t just history lessons—they’re life lessons written for our encouragement and instruction. The apostle Paul makes this powerfully clear:

1 Corinthians 10:11: These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

What is an example? An example is a pattern or model that teaches us how to live—or how not to live. We look at good patterns and seek to follow them. We look at bad models and learn what to avoid. As we study these biblical characters, we should observe the details of their lives, understand the spiritual truths they teach, and apply these lessons to our own journey with God.

Noah’s story speaks directly to our generation. We live in a time when many people have abandoned biblical truth. When standing for God’s Word makes you seem strange or extreme. When the culture celebrates what God calls sin, and mocks what God calls righteousness. Sound familiar? This was Noah’s world—only much, much worse.

Think about it: Noah didn’t have a single prayer partner for over a hundred years. He couldn’t turn on Christian radio for encouragement or open his Bible for comfort. He had no pastor to guide him, no small group to support him, no worship service to strengthen his faith. Yet in this spiritual wasteland, Noah walked with God. He heard God’s voice. He obeyed God’s commands. He became a beacon of hope in a hopeless world.

His story proves something we desperately need to hear: you can live for God no matter how dark your surroundings become. You can maintain your faith when everyone else loses theirs. You can obey God’s Word when the whole world calls you a fool for doing so. Noah shows us that one person plus God is always a majority.

In this lesson, we’ll explore three vital aspects of Noah’s life that made him useful to God:

• Noah’s righteous character
• Noah’s faithful message
• Noah’s obedient mission

Noah’s Character

Before God gave Noah a message to preach or a job to do, He saw something special in Noah’s character. The Bible introduces Noah with these remarkable words:

Genesis 6:8-9: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

These verses show us four important things about Noah’s character. First, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The word “favor” here means grace—this is actually the first time the word grace appears in the Bible. Noah didn’t earn God’s favor through good works. Instead, God’s grace helped Noah live righteously in a world that had rejected God.

Second, Noah was a just or righteous man. This means he lived according to God’s standards of right and wrong. While everyone around him did whatever they wanted, Noah chose to follow God’s ways. His righteousness came from his relationship with God.

Third, Noah was perfect in his generation. The word “perfect” doesn’t mean Noah never sinned. It means he had integrity—he was complete and mature in his faith. The phrase “in his generation” is important. Noah didn’t live among godly people who encouraged him. He kept his integrity while surrounded by people who had completely abandoned God.

Fourth, Noah walked with God. This same phrase describes Enoch, Noah’s great-grandfather, earlier in Genesis. To walk with God means to have a close, daily relationship with Him. It means going in the same direction God is going and enjoying His presence every day.

(Notebook Moment: What does it mean to “walk with God” in your own generation? What challenges do you face in keeping a close relationship with God in today’s culture? How can Noah’s example encourage you to stay faithful?)

To understand how remarkable Noah was, we need to look at the world he lived in. The Bible paints a terrible picture of humanity before the flood:

Genesis 6:5: 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.

Notice these strong words: every thought was only evil all the time. This wasn’t occasional sin. This was complete and constant wickedness. The earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. Humanity had become so evil that God was sorry He had made people.

Genesis 6:11-12: Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

In this completely corrupt world, Noah stood out as the only righteous person. Think about how hard this must have been! He had no church to attend. He had no Christian friends for support. He had no Bible to read. Yet he stayed faithful to God. This teaches us an important lesson: we can live godly lives no matter what is happening around us. If Noah could stay faithful in the most wicked generation ever, we can stay faithful in our generation.

The New Testament confirms Noah’s character. The book of Hebrews includes Noah in the great list of faithful people:

Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Peter also writes about Noah, calling him “a preacher of righteousness”:

2 Peter 2:5: if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.

We need to remember that Noah wasn’t sinless. After the flood, we see a troubling incident in Noah’s life:

Genesis 9:20-21: Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.

The Bible doesn’t fully explain this failure, but it clearly shows a lack of self-control. The same man who had walked faithfully with God for centuries fell into drunkenness and shame. This reminds us that even the greatest heroes of faith were still human beings who struggled with sin. Noah’s righteousness didn’t mean he was perfect—it meant he had faith in God and lived according to that faith. His failure after such great spiritual victory also warns us that we must always guard our hearts, especially after God uses us in mighty ways.

Noah’s Message

Because of Noah’s righteous character, God gave him an important message for his generation. God told Noah that He was going to judge the world for its wickedness. But God also provided a way for people to be saved.

Genesis 6:13: 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.”

Noah’s message had two parts, just like the gospel message we share today. First, there was the announcement of judgment. Noah had to tell people the hard truth: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He had to warn them that the wages of sin is death. People didn’t want to hear this message then, and they don’t want to hear it now. They don’t like being told they are sinners who deserve judgment.

Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But Noah’s message didn’t stop with judgment. It also included the offer of salvation. God had provided a way to escape the coming flood. Anyone who believed God’s warning and entered the ark would be saved. This points forward to the salvation God provides through Jesus Christ, who is our ark of safety.

Think about how hard it must have been for Noah to preach this message. He was warning people about something they had never seen—a worldwide flood. Some Bible teachers think it may never have rained before the flood. If that’s true, Noah’s message would have seemed even more strange to the people. Yet Noah faithfully preached God’s warning for 120 years while he built the ark.

Genesis 6:3: Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

For over a century, Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” Day after day, year after year, he warned people about the coming judgment. He urged them to repent and turn to God. We can imagine him explaining God’s holiness and pointing to the ark as the way to be saved. But as far as we know, no one outside his family believed his message.

(Notebook Moment: How do you respond when people reject the gospel message you share? What can we learn from Noah’s persistence in proclaiming God’s truth even when no one seemed to listen?)

Jesus used Noah’s story to warn about future judgment:

Luke 17:26-27: Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t describe these people as doing terrible things. They were eating, drinking, and getting married—normal daily activities. The problem wasn’t what they were doing. The problem was what they were ignoring. They were so busy with their daily lives that they paid no attention to God’s warning. They thought Noah’s message wasn’t important for them, right up until the flood came.

This applies to our world today. Many people aren’t doing obviously evil things. They’re just living their lives as if God doesn’t exist. They’re too busy with work, family, and entertainment to think about eternity. Like people in Noah’s day, they ignore the warning signs. But just as the flood came suddenly, Christ will return suddenly to judge the world.

Noah’s Mission

Noah showed his righteousness most clearly through his obedient actions. God didn’t just give Noah a message to preach. He gave him a huge construction project to complete. This job would require great faith, patience, and complete obedience to God’s instructions.

Genesis 6:14-16: So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

God gave Noah exact plans for the ark. It would be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high—about one and a half football fields long and as tall as a four-story building. This wasn’t a boat for sailing. It was a huge floating box designed to protect its passengers through the flood. The ark had three decks, many rooms, windows for air, and one door on the side.

Look at Noah’s response to this huge task:

Genesis 6:22: Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

This simple sentence shows us the secret of Noah’s success. He did everything—not some things, not most things, but everything—just as God commanded. He didn’t change God’s plans to make them easier. He didn’t take shortcuts. He didn’t argue that the job was too hard. He simply obeyed, completely and exactly.

Building the ark tested Noah’s faith in many ways. First, think about the size of the project. This was possibly the largest wooden structure ever built. Noah had to build it with simple tools and limited help. It seems that only Noah and his three sons worked on the ark—just four men building something the size of a modern cargo ship.

Second, think about the time involved. If Noah preached for 120 years while building the ark, he worked on this project for over a century! Year after year, decade after decade, he kept building. Nothing happened. The sky stayed clear. Life went on as normal. People surely mocked him for wasting his life on such a foolish project.

Third, think about what people said about him. Everyone must have thought Noah was crazy—building a giant boat, possibly far from any ocean or lake. Every day without rain would have increased the mockery. Yet Noah kept obeying God even though he couldn’t see any sign that judgment was really coming.

Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

When the ark was finally finished, God gave Noah another big job:

Genesis 7:2-3: Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Noah had to gather representatives of every kind of land animal and bird, plus food for all of them. This wasn’t just a hard job—it required God’s help to bring the animals to the ark and to give Noah wisdom to care for them.

(Notebook Moment: What “ark” might God be asking you to build—what long-term project requires patient obedience even when you can’t see results right away? How does Noah’s example encourage you to keep going?)

When everyone and everything was inside, God Himself shut the door:

Genesis 7:16: The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

This detail is important. God closed the door, not Noah. Once that door was shut, the time for salvation was over. Those outside couldn’t get in. Those inside couldn’t get out. The ark became both a place of safety and a sign of judgment—salvation for those who believed, destruction for those who rejected God’s warning.

Conclusion

Noah’s life teaches us three essential lessons for our Christian walk today.

First, Noah proves we can maintain godly character in an ungodly world. If Noah could walk with God when everyone else had abandoned Him, we can walk with God in our culture. Like Noah, we can choose to be different and maintain our integrity even when we stand alone.

Second, Noah shows us the importance of faithfully sharing God’s message even when people don’t want to hear it. For 120 years, Noah warned his generation about coming judgment. He didn’t stop preaching when people mocked him. We must likewise proclaim the full gospel message faithfully.

Third, Noah demonstrates complete obedience. When God called him to an impossible task, Noah didn’t make excuses. He did everything just as God commanded. This is the kind of obedience God wants from us—complete trust and full obedience, even when His commands don’t make sense.

Despite his later failure with drunkenness, God still honors Noah as a hero of faith. Hebrews 11 lists him among the great examples of faith, showing us that God’s assessment of our lives isn’t based on perfection but on faith:

Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Peter connects Noah’s salvation through water with our salvation in Christ:

1 Peter 3:20-21: to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just as Noah and his family were saved by being in the ark, we are saved by being in Christ. Jesus is our ark of safety. The story of Noah reminds us that God’s patience has limits. For 120 years, God gave people time to repent. But eventually the rain began to fall. Christ will return suddenly, just as the flood came suddenly in Noah’s day.

May we be like Noah—maintaining godly character, proclaiming God’s message, and obeying His commands completely. And when we fail, as Noah did, may we remember that God’s evaluation of our lives is based on faith, not perfection. May we walk faithfully with God until He comes again or calls us home.

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