A Bolder Witness for Christ — Genesis 6

0:05 Genesis chapter six verse five. And god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was on evil continually and it repented the lord that he that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart and the lord said, I will destroy man who I have created from the face of the earth. Both man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repents me that I have made him. Verse eight, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the lord. These are the generations of Noah.

0:47 Noah was a just man and a and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with god. Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was so corrupt before god and the earth was filled with violence and god looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth and god said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood and we'll pause right there.

1:29 Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we give thanks for this day that we can be here. We're thankful for the lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for the scripture that reveals to us many things about yourself and about ourselves as a as the human race. Father, we we would pray for wisdom and understanding as we would look at the scripture this morning.

1:54 We pray that you would make it clear to us that the changes or adjustments that we would want to make or need to make in our own lives to live in accordance with your word and in accordance with your will. So, we pray for this now as we commit ourselves and our time to thee in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, there's a a fellow by the name of Easley. He was an author and and he he had decided he was working on a few projects trying to get inspired to to write and he decided that he was going to take a trip to the shore, to the coast, and and be there to to complete his writing projects and one day, he was he was working in the office or in the in his room there and he decided he needed a little break.

2:44 So, he went out and started walking along the beach and as he walked along the beach there, he saw thousands of starfish that were beached, you know, that were on the that were on the shore and he kept walking along and and and he noticed there was a little boy probably about Eli's size here, Eli's age and Eli, you can tell me if you would do this or not but he, this little boy, he was taking the starfish and putting it back in the ocean and so, he was working around like like I said, there was thousands of em there but he was picking em up and and putting it back in the ocean and and easily, he just he just stood there and and watched this fellow for a little while and then he walked up to him and said, son, what are you doing? And the little boy said, I'm putting the starfish back in the water because if I don't, they're going to die. And easily looked around and says, but don't you understand that there's there's there's many, there's too many for you to do. There's that what what what difference is it going to make if you try to do this?

3:51 And the little boy's reply was, as he picked up a starfish and put it back in the water, he goes, it's it's going to make a big difference to this one. Easily heard the boy and kept on walking, went back to his room, and sat down at his desk, and and started to try to write but as he was attempting to write, words would not come. In fact, all he could think about was what that little boy had said to him that day on the beach and before I knew it, he put down his pen, went back out, and helped the little boy the rest of the day putting starfish back into the water. There's a name you might recognize Issachar. It's one of the sons of Jacob.

5:56 We just recently went through an election where we would scratch our heads at last fall's election results and say, was this a valid election? There's so much, well, we don't know what to think. And at, I know, I speak for myself. I think that I have no confidence in what was done there. And and there no one will bring it to light or bring it to to bear to where we can all say, okay, yeah.

6:26 I can go along with this. We also live in a nation that just celebrated Pride Month. June being recognized as Gay Pride Month. What other months do, what other things do we celebrate for a whole month? This recently caught my attention because I was I was sitting in a restaurant in Smallsville USA.

6:54 Just last week and we were waiting for our food and and this is a small, locally owned restaurant but they had one of these, you know, six foot big screen TVs and out of the corner of my eye, it just caught me. Spectrum News flashed across the screen and saying, Spectrum, Spectrum News, celebrating gay pride month and the the the thing caught my eye and it it went on to tell me, it went on to tell on the on the Spectrum News to tell that what different companies were doing to celebrate Gay Pride Month. Legos created a a set, a Lego set just to be produced and sold in during the month of June. Skittles came out with a pride pack and I like I'm I'm saying, I'm like, what? And and then, old Davey came out with a with a with a pride garment and Levi's.

7:53 I mean, Levi's, a tried and true household name, puts out a pride month garment. And we wouldn't be surprised about Disney that all all the month of June, every Disney hat sold had was didn't have the traditional Disney with black ears, rainbow ears, celebrating Pride Month. And then, our friends at Mattel produced a pride pack Uno game. You can get your own pride Uno deck. You see, it was this was kind of that you know, you look at, you listen to those things or you think about those things and I did a little bit of reading and even though was some companies that said, why do we have to do it just one month?

8:46 Let's celebrate pride all year long. Five national companies made that statement. This past week as Pride Month ended. Now, I don't want to paint a picture of gloom and doom or or trying to put put these scare tactics out there and saying, you know, our nation's going to hell in a handbasket. I'm not saying that necessarily but we want to be aware of our times.

9:16 We want to be aware of what is going on around us and and you know, when I when I kind of considered what was going on, it it reminded me of this passage that we read and god saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thoughts on his heart was only evil continually. Notice the heart of man is referenced there. And it says that his heart was evil. You know, these things we we mentioned, we we would stand and say clearly based on the word of god, we know that homosexuality is wrong. No doubt about it but I'll I'll tell you this, we don't want to just deal with homosexuality in in one as one category.

10:33 We said that man's heart was on evil continually but notice verse six mentions god's heart. What was god's heart? God's heart was grieved. It grieved him at his heart. What grieves the heart of god?

10:52 Yes, today is July 4 and we celebrate our independence. We celebrate the freedoms that we enjoy as a company and we would or as a country and we would certainly sing god bless America. We don't want to take any independence from god although that if we're aware of our times, it would seem that our nation is trying to be independent of god. You see, people have a desire. In fact, well, wasn't it so in the Garden of Eden when Satan would come and tempt Eve to become independent of god.

11:43 We see this quite evident that the the creation has this tendency to want to think it's better than the creator. And so we understand that this is just a repercussion of man's sin. Augustine said that it was pride that changed angels into devil. It was pride that changed angels into devils and really, you know, we sit, we think about pride and it it it's all rooted as a form of sin, isn't it? The Bible mentions several different words for for sin and and certainly pride falls into this category of sin and and so we think about this.

12:44 You don't have to turn there but I I want to quote for you Isaiah 53 and verse five. He was wounded for our transgressions. Transgressions is the first word that we see that is the reference to sin and our transgression, a definition of transgression would be anything that goes beyond god's limits. You might think we we started off our our talk this morning thinking about the the ocean. The ocean waves coming up and carrying these starfish and dropping them down and the ocean's receding.

13:17 You think about the ocean and the ocean has its limits, doesn't it? I mean, god set abound. We're told that god set up the the bound of where the oceans would be and so the tides, they rise and fall but they stay within that boundary so to speak. Now, from time to time, there's something like a tsunami or a tidal wave or some type of flood and what happens? The oceans transgress their boundaries.

13:45 They go beyond their boundaries. You see? What is a transgression? Anything that goes beyond the boundary or the limit that's been set for it. And to follow the analogy, we understand that anytime the flood happens, it's bad news.

14:06 There's damage that's done. There's all kind of things that happen. The same would be true for you and I. Transgression is anything that goes beyond god's limits. When we go beyond god's limits, it's not a good thing.

14:25 There's damage that occurs. There's all kind of things that can go wrong beyond god's limits. The other word as we continue on in that verse Isaiah fifty three five, it says that he was bruised for our iniquities. There's a transgression. Anything that goes beyond god's limit and now there's the iniquity.

14:50 Iniquity is anything done in self will against god. Anything done in self will against god. This is the ultimate idolatry, isn't it? I know better than god. The created thinking they know better than the creator.

15:12 Iniquity. And then, of course, we understand sin. That would be anything that falls short of god's glory Transgression, anything that goes beyond god's limit, iniquity, anything that that is done in self will against god, sin, anything that falls short of god's glory. Could you take a minute and remember back to your own salvation experience? Remember the time that you came to understand that you were a transgressor, that you had gone beyond god's limit, that you were guilty of iniquity, that you thought yourself better than god, there was a way that you thought was right in your own mind that you came to understand that was incorrect, you were going against god, or the fact that you understood the scriptures saying that for all have sinned and come short of god's glory, come short of god's standard.

16:28 You were understanding that you could be delivered from that wrath. And you you grabbed hold of that free gift of salvation. Now that you're now you're a new creature in Christ. You're a new creation. All things are passed away.

16:44 And so look, when I talk about, when we say, we consider the days that we're living in and we look around and we see evil all around us and we would say, there's there's perversion, there's corruptness, and what are we going to do? I'd like to suggest to you this morning that what we need to do is shine a little brighter. That perhaps we could say, I remember my own salvation experience and like the Psalmist that that wrote in Psalm 107 said, let the redeemed of the lord say so. Let the redeemed of the lord say so. Let me be a witness for the truth that lies within me.

17:27 I've been delivered from the bondage of sin. I've been delivered from the penalty, the punishment of sin. You and I have the good news. How is it that you and I I'm speaking to myself now this, okay? Raised in a Christian home, been part of the church, part of this assembly, and I asked myself this question, why is it that I can do this in remembrance of me?

18:07 I can be at the breaking of bread. I can follow the lord's command in worshiping him and remembering him as a as a practice, as something I look forward to, as very precious. Why is it that I can do this in remembrance of me but I have such a hard time. Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's a question we can ask ourselves.

18:34 Why why do we have trouble Sharing the gospel. You know, it it's just it it it it just kind of speaks out volumes in trying to understand the day that we live in that we need to be a bold witness for Christ and we need to be bolder than we're being. You see, the the gay activist have a very loud voice and you know, we can understand probably in our in our situation, in our own life that where you and I live, we know and interact with very few people that have chosen that type of perverted lifestyle. There's still a minority but they got a loud voice. We need to have a voice for Christ.

19:27 We need to have a representation for Christ. We need to be a witness to our neighbor. We need to show share the gospel. There's different, there's multiple different ways whether it's united effort or individual but there's got to be some. Well, Paul said it this way, I do all things for the sake of the gospel.

19:49 You see, we have to live in a way that we're sharing the good news. Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, it used to bother me that when when it said that word, every creature. I'm like, why did he write creature? Why did he say to all the people?

20:39 You know, so upon checkout, I went to get this bill corrected. There was one person in front of me and and so, I I was I I was waiting and I was looking at the the attendant behind the counter and I was like, I was wondering, okay, is this a guy or a girl? I don't know. We're in Raleigh, North Carolina and and I'm trying to decipher and figure this out and and well, I won't go into all the details but but essentially, when I got up to the counter and started interacting with this person, as soon as they brought their hand to put them on the keyboard, I said, oh, those are man's hands. And this person had gone to great lengths to change their appearance, change their name, change their voice, change their hair, to represent a female appearance.

21:37 But he couldn't change his hands. You see, that person well, most likely has never heard the gospel. That person is potentially searching. That person represents someone that that the lord Jesus Christ died for. It's just a perversion.

22:07 It's a perversion of the truth. I you know, my hometown is Salisbury, North Carolina and I was visiting my aunt all the way back up and the morning news that morning, she was all up in it. She she was very involved and active in the community, a believer and she was all up in arms because our county commissioner had got a DUI the the couple of days before and it hit the hit the front page of the paper. County Commissioner, DUI and and you know, she was stated and and you and I, we all do this, right? We hear about this and I can't believe that guy.

22:49 What is he doing? And as I listened to her, just a little check came in me and said, boy, if my sin was published on the front news of on the front page of the paper, I'm just as guilty as that county commissioner like this. And and we said, we we think about understanding our times. We want to understand ourselves and the reason that we even I I kind of took us back through and to remind us, what is a transgression? It's going beyond god's limits that he said.

23:22 What is iniquity? It's it's something it's it's it's putting anything that puts ourselves in the place of god. Ruling our own life. What is sin? Anything that misses god's mark.

23:37 You know, you and I, we're all sinners. We all are in the same boat as the human race and no matter these different perversions that happen, the only difference between the the clerk at at the hotel or the county commission that got picked up from DUI, the only difference is that that I, if you're a Christian, you've you've come to understand. I'm a sinner and I'm asking for forgiveness. Other people haven't reached that point yet but you have an opportunity You know, what is something that would help you make a change? Sometimes, it's like getting bad news from the doctor and you think, I'm going to make a change.

25:10 I'm not trying to put out a goal of saying like you need to witness to 10 people or I'm not trying to say you're not doing enough. I'm not trying to say that you're doing less than another person or what. No, none of that. What I'm saying is that there's a lost and dying world around us. You and I have the gospel.

25:37 Oh, I I forgot to tell you the reason that I had trouble with the word creature. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, in our corrupt and perverted society, people are acting like animals. People are acting like creatures instead of humans. And so, we have the gospel.

26:09 Turn with me if you will over to second Timothy. Second Timothy Yeah, this week, it was announced that Hideout Pines is coming up and Vacation Bible School is coming up and these are all gospel efforts and increasing our boldness, increasing our activity, our gospel activity can come in many different forms and it can come in prayer support. It can come in other means of of activity. It can come in verbally sharing. It can be talking to that neighbor that you hadn't talked to.

26:57 It could be calling that relative but we want to understand this as we understand our times. In second Timothy in chapter two, please. Check it second Timothy chapter two and look at verse 25. It says this, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Is that not the world that we live around as we identify the perversions that are that are so rampant in our communities and in our country?

27:24 They're they're people that are opposing themselves and so, in meekness instructing those, this is you and I. We can instruct those that impose that oppose themselves. If god peradventure would would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Verse 26 continues and says, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who have taken captive, who are taken captive by him at his will.

28:02 And so, we would like to be a bold witness. I read an article this week from a fellow by the name of Beckett Cook and he was a well, he didn't think much of god. In fact, god was no part of his life. He pursued a homosexual lifestyle, lived in Hollywood, and was a a set designer and and worked in the fashion industry and he was very successful and he got to rub shoulders with all the stars, got invited to the parties, to the awards, and things like that. His work was featured in Vogue magazine and in the magazine Bazaar.

28:50 The guy had reached the top. And he would say that he was empty. One day, was meeting a colleague at a coffee shop in LA, and as he sat at his table with this other fellow drinking coffee, there was a a couple of of students sitting at a table with an open Bible. Beckett kept kind of noticing these guys. They had their Bibles open.

29:17 They're talking and conversing and and finally, his curiosity got to him. He says, what are you guys doing? They began this conversation, this dialogue, and they kind of explained what they were doing and they said, we go to a church and it was called Reality LA. Beckett being in his forties talking to these young people probably in their twenties. And the young people said, why don't you come visit this this upcoming Sunday?

29:50 Beckett came, came to the, came to the church, heard the gospel for the first time in his life, accepted Christ as his savior that day. He turned and you know, he went on to go to seminary and you can read a story. It just got published. Well, it was published in 2019 but let me read you the title of his article that he wrote. His his his testimony was, well, oh, I didn't write it down.

30:20 I see if I can remember it. He he his testimony that what he titled it was changing affections. God's story of redemption. Changing affections. And here was this man that had lived in this type of a lifestyle empty.

30:50 You see, you and I, we have the truth of the gospel. We can share the gospel. God is in the business of of changing lives, bringing men to the knowledge of the truth, bringing men and women to the knowledge of the truth. Would you be willing to turn up your gospel effort? Would you be will willing to be a little bolder in your communicating the gospel?

32:25 The starfish left to the shore in the shining sun has an impending doom. It's gonna die. The person that you don't share the gospel with has an impending doom. They'll spend their life separated from a holy god. You know that little statement that the little boy made was enough to prompt easily to change He left his work and went out and spent the rest of the day saving the starfish.

33:13 What would it take us, you and I, what would it take us to make a change, to be a bolder witness for the lord Jesus Christ? Our heavenly father, we think about these things. We probably all agree with them. And yet, we find it a struggle but we know father, you're a faithful god. You are a wonderful master and we can bring every care and concern to you.

34:18 We want to be faithful stewards of the gospel that we've been given. Father, help us to put into action the going into our world, into our neighborhood, into our sphere of influence. Help us to be a witness. Help us to do help us to do the things that we know that we can do to be effective ministers of the gospel. And so father, we ask for help.

34:45 We ask for this lost and dying world around us. We pray that this morning, we might gain encouragement and motivation to live our lives for the lord Jesus Christ. We go out into the world this week to be a witness for thee. We pray this now in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. Amen.