Noah's Wife: Finding Grace in Submission

Turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6, we're going to continue our series titled, "Marriage is made in heaven but lived on earth." And uh as we go through this series, I want to talk about in Proverbsap 18:22, it says, "Who so findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtainth favor of the Lord." Now, I know today's Father's Day, but I'm going to talk about one of the wives in the Bible, but one we don't know a lot about, and that is we know many of the wives by name in the Bible. We know Adam and Eve. We know Abraham and Sarah. We know Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel. We even know the name of more than one of David's wives, unfortunately.

But, uh, we know the names of many of the wives in the Bible. But, do you know Noah's wife's name? We don't know her. Oh, come on. That was a good one. All right. We We don't know her name. One of the most famous characters of the Bible, Noah. And we don't know his wife's name. If you'll look at Genesis chapter 6, and I want you to look at verses 8 and N. Genesis chapter 6 and verses 8 and N. It says, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. So here we have about Noah and we're we're introduced to his children.

But look at down to verse number 18. It says, "But with thee I will establish my covenant with thou thou shalt come into the ark. Thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee." Now we're introduced to Noah's children early on in this chapter. We'll talk about that later, but we're not introduced to his wife until later. In fact, it's about five times we're told Noah's wife, but we're never told her name. And she's not even mentioned till 10 verses after the rest of her family. The Bible is Noah lists his sons, but it doesn't list her name at all. And I thought that was kind, you know, why is that?

Why don't we know her name? I think there's two things that are hard for a woman when she gets married. Now, there's a lot of things about being a woman I think are hard. Having to have babies, that's a hard thing. I'm glad it's the women, not the men. Having to wear high heels. I'll let you women have that. Having to have all these holes poked in your ears and everywhere else in your body. I know there's a lot of guys that do, but I I I'm glad the women have to do that. Trying to wear a dress in a windy day. I'll let you women have that. You know, all those kind of things are hard to do. But the hard thing for a woman when she gets married is number one is that she loses her identity.

Instead of being who she originally was, she now known as Mrs. Soandso. and she kind of loses her identity and she has to submit to her husband. The Bible talks about that the husband is the head of the home in Ephesians 5 22 and 23. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body. And I think one of the greatest challenges for a wife today and in the Bible days as well, one of the greatest challenge for a Christian wife is to submit to the leadership of her husband in the home as God has commanded.

It doesn't mean her husband is the smartest guy in the room. It doesn't mean that he's the most qualified to lead. In fact, many of you know that in the military, not every officer is the most is the smartest guy in the room and not every officer is the most qualified to want to lead. But yet there is a chain of command has been established by the military and God has also established a chain of command in the home and and the wife is to submit to her husband and but husbands you also need to be listening to God. In 1 Corinthians 11 verse number three it says but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.

Look at Genesis chapter 6 and look at verse number 13. It says, "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." And then look at verse number 22. It says, "Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he." Now Noah was a man that listened to God. And husbands, let me tell you something. It's a lot easier for your wife to listen to you when she knows that you're listening to God. See, the head of every home is the husband as Christ, and the head of the woman is the man.

The head of Christ is God. When you have that chain of command, that chain of authority established, then it's a whole lot easier for your wife to submit. It's a whole lot easier for her to listen to you when she knows that you are listening to God. A wife needs to see your faith. In Hebrewsap 11 verse number 7 it says by faith being Noah being warned of God of things not yet seen moved with fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house by that which she condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. You see, Noah by faith trusted in God and his wife could see that faith in his life, could see how that he followed God, that he trusted God.

And that's how his wife could trust and follow him as well. And so, fellas, if you want your wife to follow you, then you need to be like Christ. You need to be the sacrificial servant in your family, the one that is leading and uh listening to God, the one is is following God by faith. You see in Colossians chapter 3 and:e 18 the Bible says wives submit yourselves unto your own husband as is fit in the Lord. And if you ever study through about wives in the Bible often very often when God gives a wife a command about her relationship with her husband he'll add the words in the Lord or fit in the Lord or something along that line because he knows how hard that is to do.

how hard it is for a woman to trust this man to lead her and to lead her family and to do what's right. And and ladies, you need to trust your husband. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse number 7, the Bible says that love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureth all things, charity never fails, love never fails. And as a wife, you need to learn to trust your husband. You need to learn to believe the best in him. So many wives start out with believing the worst in their husband. And you might say, "Well, you know, I believed in him and he failed me." Then the Bible says to hope all things.

You hope this time it's going to be different. This time he's going to do better. And you say, "Well, what happens when he fails me again?" Then the Bible says to endure all things. You see, love believeth, hope, and endureth all things. And and part of the process is learning how to trust in your husband and how to support him as well. But it's also learning to trust in God. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3:es 5 and 6, for after this manner in the old time, the women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being of subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord whose daughters you are, as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement.

Now, don't raise your hand, ladies, but have you ever looked at your husband, just shook your head in amazement, said, "What's wrong with that guy?" Uh, don't raise your hand. Come on, Miranda. Uh but you know every wife has done that at some point. Every wife has been absolutely amazed at the stupid decisions that we as husbands have made. We'd have amazed at the dumb things that we have done. And that's going to happen in every relationship. And that's why when you cannot trust your husband, you do need to trust in God. It says that sarahhammed uh was suggesting her husband in the Lord. Um and and and you remember Abraham uh he was kind of a jerk at at least two different times.

He told Sarah, "Tell everybody you're my sister, not my wife, because you're so beautiful. I think they'll kill me to take you away from me." And uh he even led some men take her to their bedroom before God intervened. And and if God had intervened, that would have happened. And that, you know, I I'm sure as many times as Sarah looked at him in amazement and said, "I'm not trusting you anymore." But you know who she did trust in? She trusted in God. And sometimes you got to trust in the Lord when you cannot trust in your husband. But as husbands, we need to realize if we want our wives to trust us, if we want them to follow us and follow our leadership, then we've got to be listening to God.

And they need to know that we're listening to God. And we've got to be having faith in the Lord and following him as well. And and in Hebrews chapter 13:1 17, it says, "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account that they may do with joy and not with grief. for that is unprofitable for you. You see, husbands, we need to wives, we need to realize that your job is to make your husband happy. And the happier you make him, the more he's going to want to make you happy as well. And and we need to realize that sometimes that's hard.

Sometimes it's hard to obey. The Bible says to obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. You see, to obey is to do what they tell you. To submit is to make your will my will. It's, you know, I want my wife to uh tell me what she thinks. I want to get her input. I I want to work with her together as a team. And smart husbands have learned that that your wife has has uh knowledge that you don't have. She has experience that you don't have. Uh she sees things from perspective that you don't see it as a as a woman and and as a a certain personality and the rest of it. And a smart husband, like a smart uh officer in the military, realizes that he is going to take full advantage of those NCOs's because they many times know more than he knows and they've got input that he needs to hear.

And and that's the way you need to approach your wives, that they feel like they're listened to and they feel like that they're they're respected and their opinion is respected as well. And that even if you make a decision contrary to what uh they want to do, that they know that you have listened and heard what they've had to say. And that's important, but ultimately wise, the Bible also says that your job is to make your husband happy. And as you know with your children, uh you're not happy when they just do what they're told to do with a bad attitude. Uh it's is you want them to do it with a good attitude.

And that's the same thing the Bible is teaching here as well. And and so we need to learn to obey in the Lord. And you know, a hard thing for women is to submit and and and and to kind of lose their identity and become just Noah's wife. and we don't even know her first name. And and when Noah came home and said, "We're going to gather animals and we're going to build an ark." Uh, you know, God didn't speak to Noah's wife. God spoke to Noah. But wives can submit and obey and follow when they know that you're listening to God. When they know that you have uh you you're living by faith and following the Lord, and when they know that you're going to listen here to them and hear what they have to say as well.

You see, we don't know Noah's wife's name, but we know her God. In 1 Peter chapter 4:1, it says, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it his ability, which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, who be praised and dominion forever and ever." Amen. Uh I think somebody over here is happy about my message there. All right. So, uh we got to realize that that sometimes we are not recognized, but God is. and and and even though we don't know Noah's wife's name, we know about Noah and his wife's God. And the glory needs to go to the Lord.

But Noah's wife, we don't know her name, but we do know about grace. Look at Genesis chapter 6 and look at verse number eight again. Genesis chapter 6 and verse number eight. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let me ask you a question. How do you find grace? H how do you find grace? In Ephesians chapter 2:es 8 and9 the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. So h how do you find grace? You know some things when you find some things you find them by accident. You ever you ever found money on the ground just laying there?

You ever walked by and just found it by accident? Uh, I've got some Starbucks card here and and you know if I have a Starbucks card and I just kind of toss it there in the ground. Oh, he's not taking any time at all there. See, he found it uh because it was laying there on the ground. And sometimes we find things by accident. We didn't intend to. We just kind of find them. In Proverbsap 3:6, it says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." You see, with God, there are no accidents. Over the years, we've had people come to the church because they found a track in their windshield.

Uh I told you about a story many years ago when we first started the church. We went out at Christmas and we were putting tracks in people's cars over at the NEX parking lot. And uh in in February, a young couple came to church and I asked them, "Well, how did you hear about the church?" And they said, "It was the strangest thing." Said, "We were washing our car and underneath the windshield wipers, they, you know, kind of hidden windshield wipers. Down inside there, there was a track from your church. was all faded and worn out, but we could read the name of the church and we decided to come to church today.

And as I got to talk to them further, they said, you know, if we had found that track in December, we would have thrown in the trash. We weren't ready to go to church, but because we found it now, we were looking for God and ready to go to church. Now, that wasn't an accident. That was the grace of God. We had another family that was uh uh out driving around and they were thinking about we ought to, they were talking as a couple, we ought to go to church. And on that time they they took a wrong turn while they were talking. You ever do that with your wife? You're talking so much you don't pay attention where you're going.

And they took a wrong turn and they end up driving by where we were out signwaving for the church, holding up signs saying come to Ohana Baptist Church. It says, "Well, I guess that's where we're going." And uh by the grace of God, they took a wrong turn. It was an accident, but they found the church. We had another couple that was going, they were invited to a church and they were driving around looking for the church and couldn't find it. and they drove by our church and one of our guys was out by the driveway waving people in. And so they said, "Well, he looks like he's having fun. Let's go there."

And they found our church by accident. But in every case, God brought them here by grace. And sometimes you find grace by the providence of God. Not accident because there are no accidents with the Lord, but by the providence of the Lord. Other times you find grace by looking for it. Before the service this morning, I took one of these Starbucks cards that I have and I taped it underneath one of the chairs. Right in the middle of the front of your chair is where it's taped. So, you'll take a look right now. Everybody look, one of you has got a Starbucks card taped on the front of your chair. Just feel right in the middle underneath the front of your chair and see if you got it.

Excuse right there at the front. Uh, so somebody's got it. All right, there we go. Hold it up. Hold it up there. Hold it up. All right, she got it. So, she found it by grace. And sometimes we find grace by looking for it. In Matthew 13 45 and 46, it says again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it. You ee, he said, I I I want to find this grace. I want to find God in my life. In Jeremiah chapter 29:13, the Bible says, "And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search me with all your heart."

You see, we have to come to that point where we're seeking the grace of God. Where we want to find God's grace in our lives. But you know what Luke 19:10 says? For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And sometimes grace is found because God finds us. God finds us. He's seeking out us. And and so like I've got a card right here and and I want to give some grace here. So I'm going to give this to Fong here. All right. And so give her some grace. So now see, I came and sought her out. She didn't find it by accident. She didn't find it by looking for it, but she got it because I brought it to her.

And I'm so thankful for a God that seeks us out to give us his grace. He came to seek and save that which was lost. And God wants you to find grace in your life. He wants to find you the grace of God that passes all understanding. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16, it says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in the help of time of need." You say, "Well, pastor, what is grace?" Well, to understand grace, you also have to understand mercy. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." In Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Every one of us in this room is a sinner. You see, you might say, "Well, pastor, I'm not as bad as the person sitting next to me. I I'm not as bad as another person over here. I I know people are much worse than I am." But you know what? The Bible doesn't compare you to the people around you. The Bible compares you to God who has no sin. And so if you've even got one sin in your life, then you fall short of the glory of God. And the truth is, you have a lot more than one sin, you know, every one of us's room, we do at least one wrong thing a day. And if you won't admit that, let me ask your spouse because all of us do something wrong.

You you say a lie. You you say something you shouldn't say. You do something you shouldn't do. You don't do something you should do. You know, we all at least one time a day. And the truth is we do it even more than once a day. But just take one sin a day, 365 days a year. Take that times your age and see how bad you are. And we have a lot more sins than that. And so you and I, we deserve the wages of sin is death. And we don't deserve to go to heaven. We've got this attitude. I have a right to go to heaven. I deserve to go to heaven. But we have no right because heaven is a perfect place. And if I go to heaven with my sin, heaven will no longer be a perfect place.

And so God cannot allow me into heaven with my sin. But God in his mercy, he says,"I not going to give you what you deserve. You and I deserve to go to hell." But God in his grace says, "I'm going to give you what you don't deserve." And that is, "I'm going to give you heaven." In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse number seven, it says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace." See, God says, "You deserve to go to hell because of your sin. But because I love you, I sent my only begotten son to die for you that you might have grace and go to heaven."

See, grace has been defined this way. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. God's riches at Christ's expense. You and I, because of the grace of God, we can have eternal life. because of what Jesus did on the cross, our sins can be forgiven and we can have the righteousness of God. And so grace is something that you can find today. If you have not received the grace of God, if you have not received Jesus Christ as your personal savior, then today you can ask for his grace. You can ask for his mercy and say, "God, I don't want to go to hell." And you can ask for his grace and say, "God, I want to go to heaven when I die.

I want your forgiveness." And God says you can find grace today. But you know those of us that found the grace of God, we also need to remember to be gracious. In Proverbsap 11:1 16, it says, "A gracious woman retainth honor and strong men retain riches." Are you a gracious woman? I I believe that Noah was a gracious woman. In Proverbs 31:10, Noah's wife, I'm sorry, with Proverbs 31:10 says, "Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies." The word virtuous means a woman of value. The root word of that word mean is pain. You see, to have grace, grace, being gracious comes out of pain.

It comes out of hard times. It comes when we don't feel like being gracious. and and Noah's wife, I'm sure, had had to learn to be gracious with Noah. Can you imagine? Go back to Genesis chapter 6 and look at verse number 14. God said to Noah, "Make the ark of gopherwood. Room shalt thou make in the ark and shall pitch it within and without without pitch." And he goes on and tells him to collect all two of all the animals. Now, can you imagine when Noah came home to his wife and said, "Honey, I I I've got this little project I'm going to do. You you ladies ever had your husband do that? I got this little project ends up taking months and it ends up taking your whole garage or your whole living room and and it ends becoming this drawn out thing and and and Noah's Noah came home and his wife said, "Honey, I've got this little project.

We're going to build an ark and we're going to collect two of every animal in the world." I'll tell you what, she needed grace right then. She had to they had to collect all or two of every animal in the world. Then they had to make the food to feed all these animals. They had to collect and make the food. Do you ever remember your kids coming to you when they were little and say, "Mom, dad, can I can we get a dog? If we get the dog, I'll I'll feed it. I'll walk it. I'll do everything to take care of the dog." How many of you remember them saying that? It was an absolute lie. Yeah. You remember that, right?

They never follow through in it. Now, I can imagine Noah coming to his wife and said, "Listen, honey. God told me we're to build an ark, and I promise you I'll keep it out of the house and away from the house there, and he told us to collect two of every animal, and I'll take care of all of this, right? You know who fed the animals? Noah's wife. Do you know who had to take care of clean up all the messes? Noah's wife. That's called grace." And ladies, God says that we need to be gracious in our relationship. Showing showing grace to your husband, being a virtuous woman, even when it hurts a little bit.

We don't know exactly how long it took Noah to build the ark. We do it was somewhere between 55 to 120 years, somewhere in that range there. And they were about 88 years old when they started this project. And after they built the ark and collected the animals, then they were 371 days on a crowded, smelly, rocking ark. Colossians chapter 3:es 12 and 13 says, "Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any of you have any may have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

Ladies, next time you're frustrated with your husband, remember Noah's wife. Remember what she had to put up with. Years and years and years of a building project that seemed to never get done. Collecting animals from all over the world and taking care of those animals, loading up on an ark and and 371 days cramped in that ark with all those animals in a storm. That takes grace. And in every marriage, in every relationship, we've got to show grace to one another. Go over to Proverbs chapter 31. Leave a marker in Genesis 6, but go to Proverbs chapter 31. I'm sure many of you wives know this passage and have heard of it.

The Proverbs 31 woman. In Proverbs 31, beginning with verse number 10, it says, "Who can find a virtous woman for a price far above rubies? the heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that she'll have no need of spoil. Let me ask you a question, ladies. The Bible says you're to trust your husbands, but can your husband trust you? Do you know why a h a lot of husbands don't want to lead? Is because they don't trust their wives. They don't trust their wives to follow. They don't trust their wives to submit. and and and they don't trust their wives. If I mess up that they're not going to live it not live it down for the rest of their life.

If you want your husband to be a leader, then you've got to be a follower. And I know a lot of women say, "Well, my husband doesn't lead, so I had to become the leader, and I had to start saying we're going to do this and do that." And I understand the frustration and the challenge of that. But you're not to do it individually. You're to do it as a team. And a a lot of husbands are afraid to take leadership because they're afraid of what their wives are going to say and do if they do. They're afraid of being disrespected. And the heart of the husband needs to safely trust in you. And then in verse number 12, it goes on to say, "She will do him good and not evil all days of her life.

She seeketh wool and flax and and workketh willingly with her hand. She's like the merchant." And it goes on throughout this whole passage all the way down to to the end of a chapter there. And I want you to look with me if you would at verse number 23. It says, "Her husband is known in the gates when he sitth among the elders of the land." We don't know who Noah's wife's name was. We don't know it, but we know who Noah is. And I believe part of the reason we know who Noah is because of his wife. Behind every great man is a great woman. There's a lot of truth to that. You ever looked at some couple and you ever looked at them and say, "Boy, he he married above his pay grade."

You ever looked at him and said, "How did he get her to marry him?" You know, sometimes we forget that men, we are what we are because of our wives. And we need to they don't always get the acknowledgement and they don't always get recognized but we are who we are because of who they are. And our wives deserve our praise. Look at verse number 28. Let her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praisth her. Many daughters have done virtuously but thou excels them all. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that fearth the Lord he she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works.

Praise her in the gates. Fellas, make sure your wife's known. Make sure you recognize what she does for you and for your family. And again, I know today is Father's Day and and I appreciate the fact of so many of you are saying happy Father's Day and and men we'll be recognized, but so often we fail to recognize that we are who we are because of who we're married to and because of their support and their love and their willingness to follow us as we follow Christ. And we ought not to forget to say thank you for that. In 1 Peter 3:7, the Bible says, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered."

Honor your wife for what she does in your life. We need to learn to show grace. If you remember the story of Noah, he was a great man of God that built the ark and and all the animals and and just was used of God to replenish the earth. But if you've ever read Genesis chapter 9, you also know that Noah after he got off the ark and started growing a crop, he got drunk. Now, why that happened, we don't know. Maybe it was by accident. He didn't realize what would happen to alcohol after the flood. Or maybe it was on purpose. We don't know. But he got drunk and laid naked in front of his children. I wonder what Noah's wife thought about all that.

And sometimes you ladies see us in our worst condition. And it's easy to not respect us anymore. But you have to realize that you have to show grace. In Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4 and beginning with verse number 30. Ephesians chapter 4 beginning with verse number 30. The Bible says, "Enrieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed on the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you all malice. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Be therefore followers of me as I as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and given his self for us an offering and sacrifice to God for sweet smelling savor.

Quite often wives have to deal with something their husband did that hurt. And I'm sure what happened when Noah in Genesis chapter 9 hurt Mrs. Noah. And sometimes it's hard to respect your husband when he's not respectable. But you need to respect the position. Ephesians 5:22 it says, "Why submit unselves unto your own husbands unto the Lord?" In verse number 33, nevertheless, let everyone in particular so love his wife even herself and the wife see that she reverence her husband. You always need to respect the position even if the person is not respectable. That's showing grace. In 1 Peter 3:es 5 and 6, for after this manner in the old time the holy woman who trusted in God adorned herself being a subjection under her husbands.

Sarah was in subjection. Even though Abraham wasn't always respectable, she respected him. Respect the position and respect the person. Back in Proverbs chapter 31 again and verses 11 and 12 says, "The heart of her husband to safely trust in her so that she'll have no need to spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." In Genesis 6:es 9 and 10, the Bible says, "These are the generations of Noah." Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japth. Noah was someone that God looked down from heaven and says, "I'm going to choose Noah because I know what kind of man he is."

Now, Noah messed up later on in Genesis chapter nine, but yet he was respectable. And so often what happens is we stop looking at what we love about each other, what we respect. Many years ago, my wife posted a list on our mirror in our bedroom and it says all the the good things about Wayne. And the list started out real short, but then she just kept adding to that list. And I asked her,"Well, why'd you do this?" She said, ' Because sometimes I forget all the good things and I focus on the bad. And I just want to be reminded of all the things that I love about you and all the things I appreciate about you.

And I've been thankful for that list. And ladies, don't forget the good things. Respect the person. And when the person is not respectable, then respect the position. But Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. He was a good dad. His three sons helped him with the project and they got in the ark with him. In Ephesians chapter 6, the Bible says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath." In Colossians chapter 3 21, it says that we're to not provoke them to anger. And as dads, we need to be careful to raise our children in a way that they love God and they want to serve God. It's interesting to me that in Genesis chapter 6, it says specifically here that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation.

I want you to turn over to Psalms chapter 78. We're going to look at this in one of the passages and close. Psalms chapter 78. I I do want to speak to fathers here in Psalms chapter 78 and verse number four. Psalm 78 verse number four. The Bible says, "We will not hide them from our ch from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done." Then skip down to verse number six. that the generation to come might know him, even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children. And look at verse number eight.

And might not be as the father their fathers, a stubborn, rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart a right and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. You see, Bible says that Noah was a just and perfect in his generation. But we know from chapter nine, one of his sons got away from the Lord. And our job as dads is not only to live for God in our generation, but to teach it to the next generation so that they will continue to live for the Lord. And Noah, his boys helped him out with the project. But then Noah got drunk and laid naked before his children and one of them rebelled against God and it didn't turn out well.

I want you to look at 1 Timothy chapter 6 in closing. We're going through the book of 1 Timothy on Sunday night and Pastor John will be going through chapter 6 and verses 11 through I believe verse number 16. But look at 1 Timothy 6. Look at verse 11. But thou, oh man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, meekness, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereinto thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickenth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate, witness a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot on rebukele until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When God looked down from heaven to find someone who could save mankind from the judgment to come with the flood, he found Noah, a man righteous in his own generation. But then later on, Noah messed up, got drunk, and lay naked before his sons. Folks, it just takes one spot to ruin a testimony. I've got a couple shirts at home that have got a spot right here and we can't get it out. The rest of the shirt's clean and nice, but I can't wear the shirt because there's a spot right here. And so often what happens for us as Christians and us as dads is we do something that loses that testimony and that spot ruins the next generation.

And that's our challenge. Mrs. Noah, don't even know her name. She had to submit to her husband when he came home and said, "God's called us to build an ark." And the only way to do that is when you know your husband's following the Lord and listening to God and following him by faith. It makes it so much easier, fellas. But ladies, you also need to trust not only your husband, but trust God. We need to learn that God has shown grace to us through his son, Jesus Christ. So, we need to be gracious one with another. And we need to be willing to follow and be faithful to the Lord.