Because You Said So, Lord!

During the terrible days of the Blitz, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"

The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.

Today, I want to talk to you about blind faith.

If I had to give this message a title it would be: “Because you say so, Lord”

Our scripture is taken from Genesis 6:10-21

Genesis 6:10–21 NASB95

10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. 18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”

Here we are introduced to Noah, a man who choose to walk by faith.

A faith that allowed God to use him in a mighty way. His faith changed him.

1. Noah’s faith was grounded on the word of God.

The nature of the people as written in Gen 6:5 “…every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Genesis 6:5 NASB95

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

God gave a very serious warning in Genesis 6:13. He told Noah “I’m about to destroy them with the earth.”

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Genesis 6:13 NASB95

13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Today, we live in a world with warnings all the time: yellow lights, cigarette packs, TV shows and movies, side mirrors on our cars and truck, elevators, escalators. And don’t forget the warning on the pharmacist on the sheet for all the medicines we take.

God’s warning to Noah was a serious warning – total destruction of the earth, along with total destruction of all living creatures. It was a warning that God was under no obligation to give.

Cigarette companies must put a warning on cigarette packs. They don’t do it because they have a concern for cigarette smokers. They do it because the government says that they must. They have no choice.

God, on the other hand, was not forced to give any warning. The people had already rejected God and His way. God was perfectly justified in destroying them without warning. But God really had no desire to see his creation destroyed. His desire is that all men come to repentance.

When my kids were young as their parent, I was under no obligated to give my them warnings. They knew the rules and what the consequences of breaking those rules. Once they messed up, I was justified in passing out punishment immediately. But I usually didn’t. I give warning after warning.

Why? Because I had no real desire to pass out punishment, contrary to what they would tell you.

Genesis 6 says that God was sorry – it hurt Him – that He had even made man because they had rejected His appeals and were now going to face his judgment. The giving of the warning itself is evidence of God’s love and concern. It is evidence that it’s not God’s desire to judge mankind even though that is his right.

All that Noah had to go on was God’s word – “not yet seen”

Hebrews 11:7 NASB95

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Noah had never seen rain much less a flood, and yet God told him that it was going to rain so hard that the water would destroy the flood.

It’s difficult to believe a warning about something that you have never seen before.

How many of us in 2001 would have believed a warning about two planes being flown into the World Trade Center? We’ve never seen anything like it before.

Ever since 9/11, we have become very familiar with a new phrase in our everyday language – “credible warnings”. Due to a “credible warning”, all the bridges in California around San Francisco were put on high alert and increased surveillance. There was the thought that one of them would be attacked. Nothing happened.

After the bombing began in Afghanistan, we were told that there was a 100% chance that there would be a new terrorist attack here in the states. So we all held our breath…and nothing happened. With each “credible warning” and each averted catastrophe, we begin to file those warnings in the “to be ignored” category of our brains. The more “credible warnings” that go unfulfilled, the more they lose their credibility.

All that Noah had to go on was God’s word both for judgment and for salvation. He had no evidence, none, that what God said could or would happen. And even if the judgment did come, he had to trust that God’s plan for salvation was going to work.

Think about this, Noah had never seen a boat. And he had certainly never been trained as a shipbuilder. He was a farmer in all likelihood. But God said that the world was going to be destroyed and that a boat built by Noah would provide rescue for Noah, his family, and all the animals of the earth.

All that Noah had to go on was God’s word. But for Noah, that was enough!

The Disciples’ had lots of fishing experience. These were experienced fishermen. They had worked all night and caught nothing. Everything about their lifelong experience told them that what Jesus said was foolish. Everything that their aching bodies said told them to disregard what Jesus said. Every sense told them that it couldn’t happen the way that Jesus said. It couldn’t be that easy.

But they went against what their senses told them because Jesus said so.; Peter walking on the water. Jesus said, “Come”, and Peter came. All that they had to go on was the word of God, but that was enough.

But that’s what faith is all about, isn’t it. Remember the definition that Hebrews 11:1 gives. “Faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is taking what God has said and believing it simply because it was God that said it…even if there is no evidence to back it up.

Whenever you trust the source of a warning, it brings about a change in your life. Noah trusted God completely, and because of God’s warning, Noah’s life would never be the same.

1. Noah’s faith was grounded on the word of God.

2. Noah’s faith changed the direction of his life.

When we watch the weatherman, if we believe him, it changes the way we live our lives, at least for that day. It determines what we wear, whether we take an umbrella with us or not, whether or not we have school, or whether or not that urge to not even get out of bed gets the better of us. Our faith in the weatherman, who is statistically not a very good prophet, changes the way that we live our lives.

Noah believed God, and that belief turned his life inside out. Two things in particular were changed in Noah’s life by his faith.

It changed his attitude. “fear” Your beliefs control who you fear and who you don’t. Noah didn’t fear people. He preached to them. Noah did fear God. He took God seriously. He didn’t play around with God. Noah’s attitude was the motivation for the next thing that changed about his life.

It changed his actions.

Some people allow their fear to stifle their activity. But that’s because they have a fear of men, not a fear of God. A fear of God always motivates us into action.

God was very specific about the blueprints for the boat. (450 ft. long, 75 ft. wide, 45 ft. tall; gopher wood; 3 decks; coated with pitch or tar inside and out; one window; one door) It was basically a giant floating box.

What if Noah had said, “Ok, God. I believe you about the coming judgment, and I believe that a boat is the answer. But I don’t much like your design specs. I want to build it out of pine. It’s a lot closer to my house. The gopher wood is a lot harder to get to.

And I don’t want the boat to be so boxy. It needs to have some grace and some style. It needs a jacuzzi and a sushi bar. It needs his and her staterooms and a shuffleboard on the top deck. And it definitely needs a lot more windows to air out the smell of all those animals. I want to be a classy captain looking down on all those drowning people.

I want to be sitting in my captain’s chair looking down my nose at those people when I say, “Told you so!” And one more thing, Lord. Why don’t we change the name of this boat from Noah’s ark to “Noah’s yacht”?” However, Noah didn’t make any of these changes, he got out of God’s way, because he knew that the ark wasn’t built for pleasure; it was built for survival.

Think about this one very important thing, there were some things left out of the plans that even a ship built only for survival should have. There were no lifeboats. There was no “plan B”. If this ark didn’t work, then all was lost. Noah’s total faith and trust had to be in God’s one means of salvation. So it is with us. There is no plan B apart from Jesus. We’ve placed all of our trust in Him.

There was also no rudder and no steering wheel on this giant boat. Noah had no means of determining what direction the boat was going to go. He was at the mercy of God. He let God take Him wherever He wanted. We could learn a lot from Noah.

We are more than willing to get on God’s ark of safety but once there, we want to steer things in the direction that we think is best. Come on, God’s got a direction for us to go. And if we let Him do the steering, we’ll wind up not only at the place of safety but also the place of beauty.

Noah’s ark wasn’t built for style, grace, beauty, pleasure or maneuverability. It was built for stability. It was built for survival. It was built to provide salvation for the human race.

Noah had a choice to make. He could either change God’s plans, or he could allow God’s plans to change his life.

Once Noah received the plans, he picked up his ax, kissed his wife and headed out the door.

(Genesis 6:22 “Noah did everything…”) There were a lot of things on Noah’s “to-do” list for that day. There may have been a lot of things on his “honey-do” list for that day. But both of those had to be put aside. When you have a choice between fixing a leaky faucet and saving the world, which would you do?

As Noah built, the direction of his life changed further still. 2 Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah not only built, but he also… “preached”

2 Peter 2:5 NASB95

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Noah’s neighbors started to notice that something weird was going on over at Noah’s house. They could tell he was building something – something BIG. But they had no idea what it was. Finally, the neighbors could stifle their curiosity no longer. One of them was elected to go see what was going on. “Hey Noah. What you building?” Noah – “A boat.” Neighbor – “A boat?! There’s no water near us. The closest lake is a day’s walk away. Why in the world are you building a boat, and why are you building it so big?!” Noah – “God told me that He is getting ready to destroy the world with a flood. I’m building this boat for my family, the animals of the earth and anyone else who wants to come with us. Do you want to come?” And then the laughter starts. Good thing Noah did no belong to an HOA.

That neighbor goes and tells the other neighbors. They come in small groups at first, but the bigger the boat gets, the bigger the crowds get. And each time the crowds come, Noah’s response to their questions is the same: “God told me that He is getting ready to destroy the world with a flood. I’m building this boat for my family, the animals of the earth and anyone else who wants to come with us. Do you want to come?” And the laughter just kept getting louder and louder.

For 120 years, Noah built, Noah preached, and people laughed.

But Noah kept on building, and he kept on preaching. It would have been a lot easier on Noah and his family if he had been able to keep all this building stuff hidden – if everything hadn’t been so public. But it’s kind of hard to hide the fact that you’re building something when that something is as long as 1 ½ football fields, a football field wide and the equivalent height of a 4-story building. Noah had no choice but to make his faith public.

There are several things that we do in this church that are intentionally very public. There’s baptism. Baptism doesn’t change a thing about your standing before God, but it makes public to everyone there that you have chosen Christ as your Savior.

The other thing we do is that we ask you to come forward and make a public stand if you want to become a member of this church. Again, that doesn’t change a whole lot for you personally. It means that you get to vote on decisions in the church.

But much more important than either of those is that it says to everyone here that you are publicly proclaiming your support for this body and your willingness to do whatever God says to help it to reach the potential that God has for it.

Making his faith public gave Noah the opportunity to provoke faith in other people. Noah’s public building of a boat gave him the opportunity to tell the world about the way of rescue that God had provided. Noah couldn’t keep his faith a secret anymore.

The whole direction of Noah’s life was changed by the faith that he had. It caused him to build and it caused him to preach. See, Noah had learned something that most of us have yet to get a handle on. Faith is not just something that you have; it is something that you live by.

It changes everything about your life.

Hebrews 10:38 reminds us that “The just shall live by faith.”

(Hebrews 10:38)

Noah’s faith did more than just impact his life on a daily basis, and it impacted more than just him personally.

1. Noah’s faith was grounded on the word of God.

2. Noah’s faith changed the direction of his life.

3. Noah’s faith influenced every part of his world.

It saved his family. “saved”

Noah’s faith in what God said, and his willingness to build a boat as a result of that faith provided the means for the rescue of his family. Noah couldn’t force his family to get into the ark with him. All that he could do was provide the means for their salvation and tell them what God had said would happen if they chose to disbelieve him. They had to make the decision to walk through that door. But Noah had lived such a life of integrity before his children that when he told them this wild story about a coming flood, they believed him and responded.

Listen, no one can make another person come to Jesus, and I can’t make you live a life of faith in Jesus. That is a decision that each person must make for themselves. But I can put before you that option. I can declare to you the truth so that if you choose to live according to God’s Word, you will be saved.

It condemned his neighbors.

The more information that you have, the greater your responsibility if you choose not to respond to that information. Noah’s neighbors had a constant reminder for 120 years that the flood was coming. They heard the constant clink of the hammers. Every time they looked out their windows, there was that monstrosity casting a shadow over their homes. They knew the truth, but they chose to ignore it.

The Bible tells us that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. But when we refuse the truth, when you refuse to listen to the clink of the hammers as they nailed Jesus to the cross, when you refuse to see the shadow of the cross that is cast every time you pass a hill, then you stand condemned before God. When you stand before God at the judgment throne and He asks why you didn’t listen to the truth that surrounded you, you will have nothing to say. God will be shone to be perfectly just in condemning you to an eternity of punishment.

That is not God’s desire. Even as Noah was proclaiming God’s coming judgment, he was building the way for them to escape that judgment. God mercifully waited the whole time it took to build the ark before He poured out His judgment (1 Pet 3:20). But God’s mercy ran out, and His justice took over

(1 Peter 3:20)

(Gen. 6:3).

It made him righteous.“became heir”

It wasn’t the fact that Noah built an ark or preached for 120 years that gained righteousness for Noah. It wasn’t that he was sinless either. NOTE: his drunkenness in Gen. 9:2. It was Noah’s faith in what God said that made him righteous before God. It was the fact that he was willing to change his mind about himself, his world, and his future based solely on the word of God. He walked by faith, not by sight.

And I’m done

Because You Said So, Lord!

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