The Integrity of Enduring Obedience, Part 1

Depravity isn't a new invention. Those who aspire to virtues, like kindness, integrity, and love, are fighting against human depravity. And to be successful in our pursuit of godliness, we can't afford to ignore this powerful force in our lives. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us understand the relentless tension between good and evil, and how God empowers those who truly want to follow Him. What you're about to hear is the second message in a brand new series called Walking with Integrity in Times of Adversity. And Chuck titled today's message, The Integrity of Enduring Obedience. On my shoulder, if you will, as I read for you a small portion of what I have been meditating on earlier this week.

John R.W. Stott has left in his legacy a number of great works, most of whom, many of whom, are for ministers to read for the purpose of examining our work, which all of us must do from time to time, to determine if we are still on target. Any career, any calling that is this important calls for evaluation, soul searching, and periodic times of meditating on how to do it better. I've almost worn the book out, having read it so many times.

It's titled Between Two Worlds. As Stott encourages the minister to consider the world of scripture at the same time, the real world in which we live. And the importance of building a bridge from one to the other.

He writes in the fifth chapter, which is titled The Call to Study, these words. When we measure issues of the day, then we have to take seriously both the biblical text and the contemporary scene. We cannot afford to remain on either side of the cultural divide, to withdraw from the world into the Bible, which is escapism, the Bible into the world, which is conformity, will be fatal to our preaching ministry.

Either mistake makes bridge building impossible and non-communication inevitable. Instead, it is our responsibility to explore the territories on both sides of the ravine until we become thoroughly familiar with them and be able to speak the divine word to the human situation with any degree of sensitivity and accuracy. Such exploration means study. Those with knowledge or those who remain students all their lives. It is particularly true of the ministry of the word. Spurgeon had the same conviction when he wrote, he who has ceased to learn has ceased to teach.

He who no longer sows in the study will no more. Reap in the pulpit. For that reason, we never apologize for turning our attention inevitably to the text of scripture. It is from there we find truth to live by, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. I remember how to live in a world that's lost its way and how to do so with balance, understanding our times, and yet realizing God's method of working.

So my exhortations are often filled with reminders to align ourselves with what scripture teaches. In doing so, we are best prepared to live in this wayward world of ours. Without compromise, without duplicity, without hypocrisy.

It's a tall order since we're surrounded by all the above. We're looking at lives of integrity. Last time, Daniel, who chose God's way even though his life was threatened. Today we look at Noah living in a world of violence and universal evil. The man stood out as the only human on the planet walking with God.

Remarkable. So we're turning to Genesis 6 together. I'll read several verses from the New Living Translation. Beginning of the reading of verse 5 of the 6th chapter of the first book of the Bible. The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth.

It broke his heart. And the Lord said, I will wipe the human race I have created from the face of the earth, yes, and I will destroy every living thing, all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, even the birds of the sky. No one knew I ever made them, but Noah found favor with the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time. And he walked in close fellowship with God. Noah was the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.

God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. He wiped them all out along with the earth. Build a large boat from cypress wood, waterproof it with tar inside and out, then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, have an 18-inch opening below the roof, all the way around the boat.

Put the door on the side and build three decks inside the boat, lower, middle, and upper. Look, I'm about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. For your family and for all the animals, so Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. Let's pretend we're all in school. We're taking a class titled The Bible as Literature. And as the teacher, I announce we're going to have a quiz. Just 10 questions, fill in the blank, no trick questions, very simple, straightforward answers.

I give you the first part of the heading of a story and you give me the last part. Here we go. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Sodom and Moses and the Ten Commandments.

Good. Samson and the whale, Jonah and the whale, Daniel and... You could have said Bathsheba, but Goliath works. Daniel and... Jesus and... Good. The disciples, Noah and... Good for you. Most of you got all 10.

A few of you are still sitting there staring. Pretty simple. However, what you gave me was simply the heading of the story. As is true of every great story, there is a back story that gives meaning to the heading of the story. For example, the story of Jonah is just a small part about a large fish or a whale. There's a whole back story that you need to understand to realize why the great fish was even brought into the story. Daniel with his life threatened, thrown into the lion's den. There's a story there.

It is far more to Daniel than just a lion's den. Moses, of course, broader and wider than a set of commandments. That's part of the story, but the whole story requires that you understand the back story. David and Goliath, the same. Understand, everything in the Bible falls in the category of three general headings.

Everything. Turn anywhere you wish in the Scriptures and you will come across either people or events or great truths. Sometimes there will be a mixture of two, often all three, and that's what forms the back story. This is especially true of Noah, even though when the name is mentioned we always add to it the ark. But there was a reason for that ark and most have never examined the back story.

Backstories are best followed when you go to the passage of primary reference, which means the very first time the subject is mentioned. And the story of Noah, the flood, the ark, the whole account of Noah begins in chapter 6 of Genesis. So I invite you to turn with me to the passage of primary reference. There, I should add, there are also parallel verses that add shading and meaning to the story.

There's a statement made, for example, in Hebrews 11.7, in 2 Peter 3.5, and another part of 2 Peter. If you don't know those little tidbits along the way, you'll have less knowledge of the full story. So when you are reading about an event or a person or a great truth in the Scriptures, always remember that you may be in the main section or the passage of primary reference, but you're not getting it all unless you look at the other sections as well. Noah is a man I'm calling a person with the integrity of enduring obedience.

There's a reason to give him that title. But before I get there, let's notice how the story begins. Noah's left out of the picture altogether.

In fact, we, the reader, have a very privileged position in this narrative. We get to stand right alongside the living God as he talks to us in his Word about what he sees and what he plans to do about it. This is before he even encounters Noah in the account. I'm looking at Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, and really it's a frightening scene.

Look for yourself. The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth. He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. What we have here is the great truth of universal human depravity. We're not too deep into the Scriptures, are we?

Just six chapters, just begun the sixth chapter, and already the civilized world is shot through with depravity. We read that the Lord saw this. The reason I mentioned a privileged position is because no one else sees it except the Lord, and we're given the opportunity through the narrative to stand alongside and to hear him as he describes what he sees in this fifth verse.

He goes on, look for yourself. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. The New Living translation says it broke his heart. The Hebrew text says, literally, he grieved unto his heart. When we grieve deep within our hearts, the colloquial English response or description is it breaks our hearts. If you have an adult child that has brought disappointment and maybe even shame to the family's name, and you have a chance to visit that adult in prison, you may have an opportunity to say you're breaking our hearts.

Breaking our hearts, which is a description of the depth of grief. God isn't standing looking into a prison. He's looking at the whole world. No one else can do that, but when you are omnipresent God and you are the omnipotent one who created the world, you have no difficulty seeing everything that's there.

And he's never lied to us, nor could he, being holy, so he tells us the truth. Here is an earth that is wholly given to evil. God saw that the inhabitants of the earth, only evil continually. The Hebrew text reads evil the whole day.

Isn't that an interesting way to put it? Meaning all day, all night, every day, every week, every month, every year, constantly, habitually evil. And that little word, so, begins to turn our attention to God's plan, which he tells us about before he even tells Noah. So the Lord was sorry. Verse 7, he goes on to say, I will wipe the human race I have created from the face of the earth. That's his right, since he is sovereign. We live in a day that worships earth, unfortunately, rather than worshipping the one who created earth. But when you worship the creator, you understand he has the right to do with earth however he pleases, without even explaining his reason. But in this case, he explains it. Because of this universal depravity of humanity, I will destroy every living thing, all the people, all the large animals, all the small animals, all the small animals, even the birds of the sky.

I'm sorry I ever made them. I am grieved deep within my heart. We stand there, it's sort of taken our breath away as we hear the story unfold in the scriptural text. And then we see suddenly, but Noah! Now, I do that for the sake of emphasis.

In fact, I did that in my study. I was all alone upstairs, Cynthia's down in her study, and I said, but Noah! And she said, is everything okay up there? It seemed a strange thing to do. Of course, she hadn't been with me in my study and realized what a contrast it was.

He is the only one who wasn't walking in evil. First time the word grace appears in the scriptures is in this eighth verse of Genesis 6. Noah found grace. It's really a play on word.

It's the consonants in reverse the Hebrew term is, and it's translated grace. Noah found the Lord's grace. How good of God to notice. He's still looking. He's still observing.

He doesn't miss anything. Silent? Yes. Absent?

No. He finds Noah and gives us an account of the man. Why, I would shout the word, but Noah! I hesitate to use it in this way, but this is one of the biggest buts in the Bible. I hesitate to use that, but I am only human. So on occasion, that kind of thing comes out.

Now, why would I say it's so large? It's the first mention of grace. It's the first time someone has found who caught God's eye because of, what do we read? Read it for yourself, because he was a righteous man.

Most of us are hearing a part of Noah's story that never gained our attention until now, and there's much more to learn. You're listening to Insight for Living and a message from Chuck Swindoll titled The Integrity of Enduring Obedience. It's the second message in a brand new teaching series called Walking with Integrity in Times of Adversity.

In today's program, it's become quite evident that forces of evil are pressing against our progress, and those who truly want to become people of integrity need to take deliberate steps. Along those lines, let me recommend a book Chuck has written called Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness, and it's available for purchase by going to insight.org slash offer. I saw a recent note on Insight for Living's website from one of your fellow listeners who said, Chuck, our book club at our church is currently reading one of your books.

We are all thoroughly enjoying your insights into becoming more Christ-like. Well, again, to purchase the biography of Joseph titled A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness, call us. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888. As God prompts you to support this nonprofit ministry with a donation, we welcome your contribution. We have no other means for making these daily visits with Chuck possible other than the voluntary gifts from grateful friends like you. To give a gift today, just go online to insight.org slash donate. It always helps when you remember to tell us where you hear Chuck's teaching, so please include that information as well. Once again, we're online at insight.org slash donate, or you can call us. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888, and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Join us when Chuck Swindoll continues to describe The Integrity of Enduring Obedience, Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Integrity of Enduring Obedience, was copyrighted in 2021 and 2022, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.