David Diga Hernandez - God's Anointed: Noah the Patriarch

We are living in the greatest hour of church history. You may be looking around and saying things are getting darker out there; the world seems to be becoming more vile, and it appears to be turning away from Christ. However, the truth is that the church shines brightest in dark places. Remember this: the greater the pressure upon the church, the greater the power within it. Noah, the patriarch, lived during very dark and vile times, yet God used him to preserve entire generations. So God can use you during these dark times, and we’re going to look at Noah’s life to see exactly how. But first, Steven Mzuma is here with me, and then we’re going to get right back into this lesson, which is a continuation of my series, God’s Anointed.

Show/hide text

As I stated at the beginning of the lesson, we truly are living in dark times. However, God can use your life even in the darkest of moments. In fact, you may feel like you’re in a situation right now where you are alone or isolated. You may look around at the people surrounding you and wonder how you found yourself in this place. But here is the good news: God puts His light in dark places. You may think that the enemy is attacking you, not realizing that God has placed you in a certain situation among specific people, even among certain family members, to be a light in that dark place. Noah was the righteousness of God demonstrated on the earth during his time, even when there was nothing but evil surrounding him. Let’s go to Genesis chapter 6 and read from verse one, where the scripture states: «Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.» Then the Lord said, «My spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.» In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilim lived on the earth. For whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. Now, I have a lesson where I discuss the Nephilim, titled «The Origins of Demons.» In that lesson, I detail clearly that the term «sons of God» does not refer to earthly beings; it actually refers to angelic beings. Things had become so bad, the world had become so sinful, and the nature of humanity had become so vile that there was a mixing between fallen angels and human beings. For whatever reason, God had to start things over. This was a very dark time; it was twisted and wrong. This violated human nature and God’s holiness, and there were many other things occurring during this period that caused God to feel sorrow in His heart over His own creation. Now, going to verse number five, the scripture states: «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 ever made them and put them on the earth; it broke His heart. The Lord said, «I will wipe this 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, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.» Now, think about the depths of sorrow that God must have experienced during this time, during this dark period in human history. It is much like today, to be honest, except now we have the grace of God because of the shed blood of Jesus. However, I am reminded of a scripture in Matthew 5:14, where Jesus states, «You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.» Light shines brightest in dark places, and we, as believers, are in a dark world. We, as believers, must face the facts of life and preach the gospel in the face of all that is occurring on this earth. Number one, the called are placed in darkness. The call of God is not merely about comfort; it’s not just about fellowship with one another. Sometimes, the call of God will place you in areas that are uncomfortable. Sometimes, the call of God will put you right in the middle of darkness, like a soldier sent into enemy territory. You have been sent to this earth to preach the gospel and declare the freedom available to all who put their trust in Christ. You are called to dark places, and this doesn’t mean that you participate in the darkness; we’re obviously not talking about that. Instead, this means you are God’s shining light and a representative of the hope given to you. You are a representative of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, an ambassador of Heaven going into the dark places and shining the light of Christ. We call to humanity, to all who will hear us, and we say: step out of the darkness and come into the marvelous light of Christ. The called are placed in darkness. Verse number eight states: «But Noah found favor with the Lord.» Number two, the called are favored of God. Now, Noah was living in a time when man was extremely sinful, and again, we can easily compare those times to our own. We see that God, in the midst of all this, could still see someone who lived righteously, someone who lived holy, and Noah found favor in the sight of God. When you are favored of the Lord, you don’t have to promote yourself. When you are favored of the Lord, you don’t have to try to be noticed. When you are favored of the Lord, God will open doors for you that He wouldn’t open for anyone else. Some may say, «Well, the Lord is no respecter of persons.» That’s true, and it means that…