- if your faith in God is not enough faith to cause you to study the Bible and to pray

Transcription

1 1 TITLE: NOAH S FAITH TEXT: Hebrews 11:7, Genesis 6:13-22, Matt 24:38-39 We will begin the message today about Noah by looking at Hebrews 11:7. The Bible says concerning this man Noah, by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. This verse lets us know that Noah s faith was a working faith. Get the implication here. The Bible says, By faith, Noah prepared an ark! You see, his faith led him to do something. It was a working faith, for the Bible says, Faith without works is dead. Now, Noah could have said that he had faith, but had he not built that ark, he would have shown no faith. The fact that Noah built that ark was concrete evidence of his faith. Be careful about saying that you have faith in God - if your faith in God is not enough faith to cause you to study the Bible and to pray -if your faith is not enough faith to cause you to worship Him; -if your faith is not enough faith to get you to church; -if your faith is not enough faith to get you to obey God in tithing to the local church - if your faith is not enough faith to transform your life! The Bible is crystal clear that Faith without works is dead! Noah s faith was a working faith. We are not saved by works but a true faith will produce works. I want to tell you something else about Noah s faith that impresses me I. He Acted on God s Word His faith was based on God s Word. Look again in Hebrews 11, Verse 7: By faith Noah, being warned of God. You see, God had spoken to Noah. Noah just didn t decide, Well, I think I ll build an ark in the desert because I want to have faith to build an ark. No, dear Friend, you cannot have faith for anything that God does not first of all speak to you about. Contrary to a lot of preaching today, Faith is not mere positive thinking. It is not faith in faith or faith in yourself. It is faith in God! That s what we re talking about. All true faith is rooted in the Word of God! The Bible tells us in the Book of Romans that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So, before you can have any kind of faith, God must first of all speak. And if you don t learn anything else in this message on faith, I want you to learn this:

2 2 * real faith, lasting faith, Bible faith is always rooted in the Word of God. The proof of WHAT we BELIEF is found in HOW we BEHAVE. Someone can say that they believe God; however, unless their life gives testimony to that fact, it is only mere words. If someone truly believes God, then they will behave like they believe God. Faith is not an attitude, it is an action. It is not passive, it is active. It takes what God has said and acts upon it. Faith is not faith as long it remains in one's head. It becomes faith once it moves from the head, into the heart, and through the hands. It becomes faith when it produces an action. Our churches are filled today with people who hear (Our Ears) God's Word. However, the number is reduced greatly when we think of those who actually heed (Our heart and life) God's word. Take prayer for example. Someone may say, "I believe God answers prayer." Yet, if they never pray, they have failed to exercise faith; and, in essence have said that they do not believe God answers prayer enough to pray. Take tithing as another example. Someone says, "I believe in tithing. I believe it works." Yet, if they never tithe, and fail to give God what He expects, they have failed to exercise faith; and, in essence have said, "God, I don't believe you can take care of me on 90 percent of my income." I have a firm belief that if all the active members of FBC, those who attend, would tithe faithfully we would have all the financial resources we need to accomplish God s will for us here in Ministry. It may surprise us if we knew how many come to church who don t tithe, yet maybe these folks complain about things. They want the lights on, the carpet cleaned, the staff available to them, Heat and Air to their comfort, a bulletin and Literature, a place to park, on and on but they are not doing their part in tithing to pay for it all. The trouble is that they have heard the word, but they haven't heeded the word. But, faith that is developed will always be demonstrated. If it is something that is believed, it will become something that is behaved. I want to say something else about true faith. True faith can wait on God. Now, Noah prepared an ark, but it was 120 years before the Flood came. And Noah waited all of this time for the fulfillment of the promise. Real faith waits on God. Faith rests in be promises of God. And sometimes faith does not see the fulfillment right away. I have read much about George Mueller of Bristol, England. Mueller was a-great pioneer of faith. He was a man who believed God, and fed multiplied thousands of orphans. Without begging for money, without even really making his needs known, he received millions of dollars to feed those orphans. You read the life of George Mueller of Bristol. It will stir your faith. What a blessed man of faith he was! But let me tell you about the kind of faith that he had. He was speaking one day, and this is what he said. He said, and I want to quote,

3 3 I have prayed for two men every day by name for 35 years. On land or sea, sick or well, I have remembered them before God by name, requesting their salvation. They are both living. Neither of them is saved, but I shall continue to pray for them daily by name until they re saved. Now, he continued for twenty-seven years after that, he continued to pray for these two men, his own brothers. For 27 years after that time, or for 62 full years, Mueller prayed for two men night and day that they would be saved! When Mueller died, they were still not saved. But Listen - They were both saved shortly after his death. Do you have that kind of a faith, faith that gets hold of God, and faith that will not let go of God until the answer comes because God has spoken and God cannot lie? Noah s faith was a faith that could stand alone. I m telling you ladies and gentlemen, as I read, the newspapers and see what is happening, the time is coming when we are going to have to be willing to stand alone in this world that crucified our Lord. Our Lord is now rejected, and by the world disowned and by the many still neglected, and by the few enthroned! But in a godless age like that, Noah stood for God and his faith did not waver. You had better get your eyes off the crowd, and you had better get your eyes on the Word of God! That is what real faith is. Real faith is faith that can stand alone. Real faith does not depend upon appearances. Look again in Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet. There s no evidence that it had rained up until this point. There s nothing that says in the Bible that it had rained. To the contrary, the Bible tells us that a mist went up and watered the earth. So, there was no rain, so far as we know. There d been no rainbow up until this time. And Noah didn t say to God, Now, God. You say it s going to rain. Just put a few clouds out there, and let me feel a few drops, and then I ll believe. Oh, no. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. And the Bible says Noah had not seen these things. All he had was the Word of God! God said it, and that settled it! Don t you try to walk by sight. Walk by faith! It may have been a cloudless day when God gave this announcement to Mr. Noah, but nonetheless, he obeyed God. I want you to notice also The Fear Noah had. Look at it. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark. Noah was moved with fear, and that s why he prepared an ark. You see, Noah resolved that he was not going to drown. He resolved that he was going to save his own life.

4 4 And there s nothing wrong with that. When God created me, and when God created you, He put within us an instinct called self-preservation. It is a God-given instinct. You know, some people accuse preachers of using fear to motivate people. Everybody is motivated by fear. The doctors use fear to motivate us. They say, You better lost some weight, or you ll have a heart attack. You need this surgery to save your life. The insurance people use fear to motivate us. They say, You d better have so much insurance or you will be in an accident and they will be able to take everything you have. When You cross the road; you look both ways; You re afraid you may get hit by an automobile. There s nothing wrong with that! It s just plain common sense. We re motivated by fear everyday in hundreds of ways except in the greatest way sometimes, the spiritual way! I want to tell you ladies and gentlemen, your greatest danger is not the danger of being hit by an automobile or having an accident or heart attack. Do you know what your greatest danger is? Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus said, In Matthew 10:28, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. Your greatest danger your supreme danger is that one day you would stand before God, unpardoned, unforgiven, uncleansed! Noah was motivated by fear. The Bible says in Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Are you ready to meet God? Do you know that you re saved? if not, you ought to be motivated like Noah was: by faith, by fear. But not only do I want you to notice Noah and his faith and Noah and his fear, but I want you to notice Noah and his foresight. Again, in Verse 7, if you will. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark. Now, look at those word prepared an ark. That means, Noah made preparation. He prepared an ark. He had some foresight. Noah did not wait until it started to rain until he started on the ark. You need to make preparation for eternity. It will be too late after you die.

5 5 II. He was given God s Protection I want us to consider the ship that Noah built for a moment. It is described in further detail in Genesis 6: (Turn there please in your Bible) 13. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14. Make thee an Ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. 18. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. 19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; thy shall be male and female. 20. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind two of every sort shall come unto thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 21. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be food for thee, and for them. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Every description, as well as every dimension of the ship points us to our 'unsinkable ship,' the Lord Jesus Christ. The SEAL of the Ship! Notice Genesis 6:14, "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." The ship was to be made out of Gopher Wood (cypress wood). Cypress wood is a very endurable wood. It doesn't rot. Gopher wood in the bible is a type of the humanity of the Lord Jesus. The ark symbolized Jesus becoming man. Just as the wood had to be cut down in order to provide an ark of safety, Jesus had to be cut down or crucified. We're also told that Noah was to cover the ark with "pitch" (tar). He was covering both the inside and the outside with pitch. This was to keep the waters of judgment out. The word "pitch" is very interesting. It comes from the Hebrew word "kaphar." Only on this one occasion is the word translated "pitch." On every other occasion, in fact, 70 other times, the word is translated "atonement." God was saying, "Noah, I want you to cover the outside of the ark with atonement. I want you to cover the inside with atonement. The "kaphar," pitch, or atonement is a picture of the blood. That's why Jesus came to this earth as man. He came to be the "kaphar," the pitch, and the atonement for our sins. His atonement for sins is the only pitch that will keep the waters of Gods judgment from our lives. The SIZE of the Ship! Notice Genesis 6:15,

6 6 "And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; the length of the ark shall be three hundred cub its, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." Now let me translate that into our terms of measurement. The ship was to be 450 ft long, 75 ft wide, and 45 ft high. It was 45 stories long, 8 stories wife, and 5 stories high. In total, its size was about 3 million cubit feet. It had a carrying capacity of 522 railroad cars. Modern shipbuilders tell us that these dimensions are the most ideal measurements to ensure the safest and most sea-worthy craft. What less would you expect of God. Its shape was like a big box or coffin. You could say that it was a huge floating coffin. When people saw it, they thought of death. Since the waters spoke of judgment, the ship was symbolic of the death of the Lord Jesus. It is in His death that we are delivered from judgment, and the wrath to come. But the point I want you to see is that it was big enough to accommodate anybody who wanted to get on board. In this massive ship God was saying, "Whosoever will, let him come." Nobody had to perish. Anyone could have come if they had believed. God made a way of escape for whosoever would come. The STRUCTURE of the Ship! Notice Genesis 6:16, "A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it." There was only one window in the ship. It was at the very top. A person could not look out or around, but they had to look up. It reminds us that when a man comes to be saved he has to look up to God. There was only one door into the ship. The door was at the bottom of the ship, so anybody could get in. You didn't have to be able to fly, jump, or climb to be able to get in. There is only one door unto salvation. In John 10: 9, Jesus said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." There are two modern religious ideologies in regards to salvation. One is inclusivism. It states that since we are all God's children, everyone is going to heaven whether they believe or not. The other is pluralism. It states that while Jesus is "a" way to heaven, He is not the only way to Heaven. People may travel different roads, but all roads will lead to heaven. However, the ship of salvation has only one "window," and one "door." If a man goes to heaven, it will be because he looked through the window of salvation to God alone, and he walked through the only door of salvation: the Lord Jesus Christ. The SECURITY of the Ship! Notice Genesis 6:17-20,

7 7 "And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive." God told Noah that every living creature outside the ship would perish, but not one living creature in the ship would perish. * The ark reminds us of the eternal security of the believer. This was an unsinkable ship. Why? Was it because Noah was a good carpenter? I'm sure he did a good job building the ship, but the security of those aboard the ship did not depend on Noah's ability as a ship builder. Let s look carefully at what it says. Notice Genesis 7:1, "And the LORD said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." God didn't tell Noah to go in but COME in. God was in the ship. God was with Noah the whole time he was in the ship. If the ark went down God was going down. In Genesis 7: 16, we read that "They went in, male and female of flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in." Once Noah stepped inside the ship he was safe and secure. God had shut him in and had shut the waters out. There was only 1 way into the ark, but there was no way out, once God had "shut the door." **Thanks be to God, the day we stepped aboard the ship of salvation, God "shut the door." He has shut us in, and shut judgment out. The only way that we could ever be lost is for the devil to bust down the door of the ship. And, if that happens, he will be a saved devil, because Jesus is the door. A little boy was saying his nightly prayers and he prayed for his dog, his friends, his mom and dad, etc. The he said, "Oh, yes God, please take care of yourself, because if anything happens to you we are in a mess." The ship was unsinkable for God is indestructible. As believers, we are as secure as God is eternal. If the ship of salvation ever goes down, God will go down with it, because He is not only the ship, but He's in the ship. God said that judgment was coming, in the form of a flood; so, Noah, by faith, made provisions and did exactly what God had told him to do. As a result, his watching faith and working faith became a waiting faith. Once he had done all which God had commanded him to do, he simply waited on God to keep His Word. Because of his faith, he enjoyed the promise of God and was delivered from judgment. Noah was a preacher, a proclaimer, and a prophet of righteousness.

8 8 Through the birth of Methusaleh, God had begun His countdown to judgment. The name Methusaleh means, "when he shall die it shall be sent, or it shall come." His name was a prophecy of the flood which would destroy the earth. 969 years shows God s grace! Noah was the grandson of Methusaleh, who began preaching the message of deliverance. For 120 years Noah preached that judgment was coming, and preparations must be made. Can you imagine the ridicule, the reproach and the rejection that Noah's message faced? III. He Delivered God s Warning Now, what is God telling us about Noah s faith? He s saying that like Noah, we should get ready! It s amazing how many people have wisdom about the future in so many things, but not wisdom when it comes to getting right with God. I want you to see what Jesus had to say about the lack of foresight of Noah s generation. Turn, please for a moment if you will, to Matthew 24. Jesus is talking here about His Second Coming. And I begin reading in Verse 36. Jesus says concerning His Second Coming, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. No one knows when Jesus Christ is coming. You don t know. I don t know. The angels in Heaven don t even know. But notice v. 37 As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Now, Jesus gives us an indication of what the days are going to be just before He comes back to this earth I see 3 marks of Noah s day. I want you to look in Verses 38 and 39. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark -- or entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all way; so, shall also the coming of the Son of man be. What were the three marks of Noah s day? The first mark was indifference! Look in Verse 38. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. What does that mean? It means that they were going on with the same humdrum daily round of life. They were thinking about physical, material things, rather than spiritual and eternal things. You listen to people speak today.

9 9 Listen to the conversation when you are out and around, in the office building, and you ll find out that most of that conversation is built around such things as buying, selling, eating, drinking, marrying, building and tearing down. Primarily people are interested in material things, rather eternal things. And the first mark of Noah s day was indifference. Did you know that we live in a materialistic age today and people are indifferent to spiritual truth s? If you would drive up and down some streets -you would find little children out there playing outside if it s warm enough out there. -You ll find houses filled with people. -You ll find people going about their recreation and hobbies and everyday business, caring not at all about the things of God. There are folks teeing off right now at a Golf course. I d say you could drive to a lake with trailers parked where the boats are in the water with folks fishing. Now please understand I am not anti-golf or anti-fishing or anti-little league baseball, etc. But I do see a problem when those things become a priority over being faithful on the Lord s day to be in God s House worshipping and hearing the message from Gods Word!! Our children learn their values from what we allow to cause us to be out of church. It s not that the majority are anti-god; they re just indifferent! But that is a sign of the last days. Let me give you another mark of Noah s time. Not only indifference, but immorality. Notice again in Verse 38. They were marrying and giving in marriage. Now, there s nothing wrong with getting married or giving someone to be married, but the scholars tell us that this is a term that speaks not of normal marriages, but the multiplicity of marriages. It speaks of sexual promiscuity. So, one of the marks of Noah s day was immorality! As a matter of fact, the Bible links the days of Moses and the days of Noah with the days of Lot. And that was sexual perversion, sodomy. As it was in that day, so shall it be. History is like an old broken record. it keeps repeating itself, and we find ourselves being sucked down into a morass of immorality. Billy Graham once said If God doesn t judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. You want to find out the level of any particular society, see what amuses them, see what they laugh at. When people start laughing at sin, when people get their amusement and their titillation at the breaking of God s seventh commandment that says Thou shalt not commit adultery, (Examples)-sex and the city, -desperate housewives

10 10 when people get amusement from perversion, you can mark it down, w in the days of Noah! Indifference, immorality. Another mark of Noah s day was ignorance. Look again. The Bible says in Verse 39, And they knew not until the flood came. Now, they should have known, but they didn t know. It was not that they had not been warned. It was not that they did not hear! They were ignorant! One of the stunning marks of our age is man s intellectual abilities and his spiritual ignorance. Man, today worships at the shrine of his computer. Man today has all of his degrees, all of his accouterments of knowledge all around him! And yet, so many are spiritually ignorant! It s like Jesus said to Nicodemus, Are you a master in Israel, and yet you don t even know these things? Oh, you re so wise, but you re so foolish! But Noah was different from everyone else. Noah, in the face of indifference, in the face of immorality, and in the face of ignorance, Noah made preparation. Have you made preparation? Have you? Are you ready for Jesus Christ to come? If not, why not? You ought to get ready before this service ends to meet the Lord Jesus, for in such an hour that ye think not, the Son of man cometh. In Genesis 6: 8 we are told that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." In Genesis 9: 1 we read that "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multipy, and replenish the earth." Why did Noah find grace in God's eyes? Why did God remember Noah? Why did God bless Noah? I believe the answer is found in Hebrews 11: 7, Let me read it again as we close "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." God saved Noah the way that He saves every man: by faith. God blessed Noah for the same reason that He blesses every person: by faith.

11 11 God honored Noah in the same manner He wants to honor you and I: by faith. Noah, by faith, stepped out and did exactly what God had commanded him to do. A young boy, on an errand for his mother, had just bought a dozen eggs. Walking out of the store, he tripped and dropped the sack. All the eggs broke, and the sidewalk was a mess. The boy tried not to cry. A few people gathered to see if he was OK and to tell him how sorry they were. In the midst of the words of pity, one man handed the boy a quarter. Then he turned to the group and said, "I care 25 cents worth. How much do the rest of you care?" William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army said, "Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again--until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other." I like how C. H. Spurgeon put it into perspective, "I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. As I close, God may never ask us to build a ship, like Noah; but, if He did, would you do it? If it had never rained, and the Weather Channel wasn't predicting rain in the forecast, would you obey the voice of God, which says, "You just build the boat, and I'll keep it afloat?" May God give us the faith of Noah Faith Begins by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior Jesus Said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am the Door. Have you been saved? Jesus also said, In the day that you think not, the Son of Man cometh. Without a doubt, one of the most famous ships that ever sailed was the H.M.S. Titanic. In her day, she was a state of the art Ocean Liner, ft long; her beam 92.5 ft. and 60.5 ft from water line to boat deck. She was consisted of 9 decks. She was designed to remain afloat with any 2 compartments flooded, possibly three. She could carry 329 passengers first class, 285 passengers 2 nd class, and rd class. On her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, she carried 2227 on board. When she sank on April , of her 2227 passengers and crew, only 705 survived. It was widely regarded that the Olympic Class liners were largely unsinkable and were themselves lifeboats. In fact, the boast was made that the Titanic was the unsinkable ship. The White Star Company, who had designed the massive ship, gave a public statement that not even God could sink the Titanic. Yet, on April 15, 1912, the Titanic did sink. In a matter of hours more than 1500 people lost their lives in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. It turned out that the Titanic was not an unsinkable ship. If your hope today is in anything other than Jesus, one day it will sink like the Titanic. But faith in Jesus will keep you afloat for eternity.