Noah's Faith - Bible Baptist Church

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Text: Hebrews 11:7

The history of mankind is in its tenth generation when Noah is born. By the second generation murder already showed up. By this time the world that then was, that civilization, was so entrenched in perversion the LORD was fed up with it. Celebrity culture defined morals and standards. Physical measurements like beauty, athleticism, and entertainment defined the morals of the day. It was pop culture. …every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Full immersion into perversion. In 10 generations man went from paradise to only evil continually. The world that then was described as violent. People loved death, drugs, violence, sex, drunkenness, and endless partying. All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. That’s the LORD’s assessment of the world. The world sees it differently, and this is the point.

Faith is about listening to God’s words

Is the judgment of God justified? Is he too critical? Are his ways too harsh? The world obviously believes so. But most people only believe things like that because of what they want.
By faith Noah, being warned of things not seen as yet…
Faith is not about seeing. Faith is about listening to the judgments and promises of God.
- There is some theology going around that says faith won’t be necessary when Jesus Christ returns and is physically here. The problem with that is Jesus Christ has already been here once and people didn’t have faith then.
- The point is faith is not about seeing. It’s about listening.
- Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Noah is warned about something nobody has ever seen. It’s possible that it had never rained before on the Earth according to Genesis 2:5, but certainly nobody on Earth had ever seen a flood like what was coming.
So Noah hears the warning and gets to moving. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. This brings us to the second point.

Faith is substance and evidence

Noah moved with fear because he believed in God’s judgment. He believes God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Noah’s faith is his response to God’s words. He moved with fear to build an ark. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
- The evidence that Noah trusted God is the ark he built.
- The substance of Noah’s acceptance of the words of God is the ark he builds.
People talk about faith and claim to have it regularly. But faith is not your personal assessment of your own life. Faith is evidence and substance. And it is the basis for pleasing God.
God called Noah a preacher of righteousness.
2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
There is no record of Noah ever standing behind a pulpit and preaching a sermon. Or even street preaching for that matter. God’s description of Noah as a preacher of righteousness because of his behavior in response to God’s words.
Faith is truth that is manifested in a person’s life

Faith in the words of God leads to deliverance

…prepared an ark to the saving of his house
The sudden wrath of God
The believer is prepared for God’s wrath
Grace of God will be found in the ark of salvation (Genesis 6:14-16)
The ark was built in the open, was not hidden, just like Jesus Christ. A testimony to the world of the coming destruction as this work of faith – the ark – sits, and as he separates animals from the earth.
Unbeliever is unprepared for God’s wrath
So in 40 days the water went 15 cubits (26 ft) above the tallest mountain (29,029). That is a torrential flood of 6 ft of water over the whole earth every minute. This happens so fast there is no time to respond if you’re not ready. Fossils are formed in this massive flood of water pressure.
And while the believer, Noah, is prepared for the wrath of God, the unbeliever is obviously not. This is why the days of Noah are like the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37-41 – The sudden destruction of the flood is a type of the coming of the Son of man (Luke 17:26-27).
The direction faith takes is applying the promises and warnings of God.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD because he believed God. Noah was delivered from God’s wrath by grace through faith.
Faith produced an ark that became a supply for not only him, but his family.
The purpose of God is to remove wickedness and promote righteousness. So the provision is the ark which was provided to keep them alive.
What do you believe God for that is helping someone else?

Faith that produces a testimony of righteousness

…by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Condemnation of the world is the thing the world doesn’t agree with until it’s too late
- I can hear them trying to talk Noah out of things.
- Noah, if you keep working on that boat, your kids are going to miss out on so much. Noah, if you keep working on that boat you’ll never have any fun. You’ll never enjoy life.
- It’s not like Noah didn’t want to enjoy life or didn’t want his kids to live normal lives, or didn’t want to enjoy family life. But Noah understands if he ignores the warning then none of these other things will matter.
- People want to survive the flood but they don’t want a God telling them to build an ark.
Noah is the heir of righteousness which is by faith
- The man left standing at the end of the flood wasn’t a sinner that God was angry at, it was a righteous soul who listened to God. Noah, therefore, inherited the righteousness that was by faith.
- Only those who are included by grace through faith are delivered alive.
- 2 Peter 2:1-9 – the Lord knows how to deliver the righteous while judging the wicked