The Faith of Noah.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we are diving back into our study of Hebrews 11. If you remember, in Hebrews 10, the author (who I take to be the Apostle Paul quotes from Habakkuk saying “the righteous shall live by faith.” He then gives a list of Old Testament saints who lived by faith for us to study and emulate. We are to learn from these saints of old. We are to ask, “how did they live by faith?” and “how can we live by faith like them?”

We have studied the Apostle’s definition of faith, faith is title deed of things hoped for, the convincing evidence of things not seen. We then studied the creation account, the life and death of Abel, and the translation of Enoch. And now, this morning we come to Noah. Noah is the Apostle’s next example of what it means to live by faith.

Stand with me for the reading of God’s holy Word.

Reading of the Passage:

Hebrews 11:7“7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Behold, the Word of God, let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our gracious Heavenly Father, please open our hearts to your Word. Use it to sanctify us ever more into the image of your Son. We commit this time to you and your glory this morning. In Jesus name, amen.

Introduction/ Opening Illustration:

The account of Noah’s ark is one of the all time most famous Biblical accounts. And I love this account. It has fascinated me since I was young. I love studying the global flood. There is so much incredible detail in the account and even in nature itself. The fact our World was flooded is testified in geology everywhere. The physical evidence of the global flood is undeniable. The biblical account in Genesis of a global flood is true history. It is accepted as a historical account by every biblical author who mentions it. The Bible clearly records this as an actual event that actually happened.

Some theologians have attempted to say that it is not historical but merely mythological. Others have attempted to say it was a local flood, not a global flood. But the Bible clearly states the whole earth was flooded. And the account in Genesis says that the highest mountains were covered by fifteen cubits. That is about or over 29 feet of water.

I say this to show my hand. I believe this was a true historical account. I am in agreement with Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the other Biblical authors that Noah was a real man who God saved from a real global flood. These other views honestly ignore the Biblical text.

Noah was a real historical man, not a myth. The entire earth was truly flooded. And we can learn from the faith of Noah.

Need:

And we need to learn from the faith of Noah. Noah was a man who lived in an age of increasing rebellion against God and sexual perversion. Sound familiar? We too live in a culture and age of increasing rebellion against God and sexual perversion. We need to study this man’s faith carefully. And thankfully, in our passage, the Apostle gives a great summary of the faith of Noah.

Text Idea:

The Apostle in our text today says that Noah was warned of things not yet seen, filling him with holy fear, motivating him to build an ark to save his family. This act done through faith made Noah an heir of righteousness and condemned to world that then was.

Sermon Idea:

This morning I pray we can see the faith of Noah and learn to live by faith like Noah.

Transition:

So let’s begin by examining what happened. Our text is laid out really well. Paul begins by giving Noah’s experience, then his motivation, then his action, and finally ending with the result. What was the experience that spurred Noah into holy action? Well;

Noah Was Divinely Warned of Things Not Yet Seen. (Experience)

Explanation:

If we remember our definition of faith given previously in the chapter, faith is the evidence of things not seen. And this is demonstrated in Noah’s life. We read in Genesis 6 that the earth was filled with evil. All manner of sin and truly demonic sexual perversion, even giving birth to the abomination of the Nephilim. But in the midst of that wickedness, there was one man who was righteous. One man who found favor in God’s eyes. And that man was Noah. Genesis 6:8 “8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

We are not told much about what happened to Noah before the flood, but we know from verse 9 that Noah, just like his great grandfather Enoch, walked with the God. Noah was a faithful man, even in the midst of an evil generation. And God has determined to destroy mankind. God has set His face against the wickedness and demonic evil of man. He will destroy them. And in Genesis 6:13–21 God warns Noah and gives him a command. He tells Noah that He is going to destroy the earth and all living beings. He then commands Noah to build an ark. And listen to Genesis 6:17–21“17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.””

You hear that? God will establish a covenant with Noah. God will save Noah and his household. God will spare Noah and every kind of animal. Even in wrath, God is merciful. And listen to Genesis 6:22 “22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”

And one thing that is so interesting to me is that Paul in Hebrews expands here on something. Paul gives Noah’s motivation.

He Was Moved with Godly Fear. (Motivation)

Explanation:

This is Noah’s motivation. He was moved with godly fear. Now, this is fascinating to me. Often times when the Bible uses the word “fear” it is the word “phobos” which is where we get the word phobia. It literally means terror. But here, there is a different word used. The Greek word “Eulabeomai” (evlabeome’) is used. And this word is very different. It has sort of a double range of meaning. It can mean reverence or it can mean fear. And sometimes it means both. A reverent or holy fear. And John Calvin and Matthew Henry both agree that Noah is motivated by both fear and reverence.

What do I mean? Noah seems to have two motivations. He is obeying God’s command to build the ark. He is honoring or reverencing God through obedience, but he is also afraid of the judgement God is sending.

Calvin puts it this way, “But Noah attended so much to God’s word, that turning away his eyes from the appearance of things at that time, he feared the destruction which God had threatened, as though it was present.” Noah, motivated by faithful reverence for God takes the evidence of God’s Word over his own eyes.

If we closely examine the Biblical account, the judgement of God came 120 years after the warning. God warns Noah, and Noah begins to build the ark. Think of how this played out. Noah trusted God’s Word enough to labor for 120 years building the Ark. In the midst of all that evil, it must have been tempting to give up. Think of the constant temptations. Noah is in the middle of a culture obsessed with evil. “Give up Noah, no judgement is coming. It hasn’t come for 80 years, 90 years, 110 years. Come enjoy a prostitute. Eat, drink, and be merry.” The temptation to give in must have been immense.

But Noah turned his eyes away from the appearance of things. Motivated by reverence for God and fear of the coming judgement, he worked. He build something to save his household from the judgement of God. And that is what we see next.

He Prepared an Ark for the Salvation of His Household. (Action)

Explanation:

Noah, motivated by holy fear, got to work. He was not discouraged. Genesis 6:22 tells us “22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” And this is important. Noah obeyed God. Noah’s faith pushed him to action. Noah did not just hunker down. He did not bury his head in the sand. He saw the wickedness of his generation and rather than give in to despair, he prepared as God commanded.

This is dedication. Noah was faithful in his actions. He took his motivation, holy fear, and put it to work. How easy would it have been for Noah to just sit and complain? He didn’t expect God to build the ark for him either. He got to work. He built. And through he and his son’s work, their household was saved.

And it is worth noting that we know something else Noah did during this time. He preached. 2 Peter 2 tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He built the ark for he and his household, but he was also preaching. It is perhaps the deepest condemnation that no one heeded Noah’s preaching 120 years. Rather, the world was condemned. And that’s the next thing the Apostle tells us.

He Condemned the World. (Result)

Explanation:

This was the first result of Noah’s action. Noah was warned, he was motivated by holy fear, he got to work building, and the first result was that he condemned the world.

Now this is not saying Noah himself was the divine judge. God was the judge. But Noah, in building the ark, obeying God, and saving his and his households lives and souls was a condemnation on the world. No one repented. No one heeded his preaching. Noah built the ark for 120 years likely facing mocking and scorning we can only imagine, and no one in all that time repented. When the door of the ark was closed by the hand of God, the sentence was cast. The fate of all those outside the ark was sealed.

With every stroke of Noah or his sons hammers, the wickedness of the culture was condemned. Every saw stroke, every axe swing screamed of God’s coming judgement. As every board was placed, it was like a bell ringing sounding that God was going to judge. Condemnation on their sin was seen every day for 120 years. Judgement was coming. And Noah condemned the world to God’s judgement.

But this was not the only result of Noah’s action.

He Became an Heir of Righteousness Which is According to Faith. (Result)

Explanation:

Noah became heir of the righteousness. Noah was righteous. He was justified before God. And the Apostle Paul leaves no room for doubt here, that righteousness is by faith. Noah was not fundamentally saved by his works. But notice very carefully that Noah’s faith was not alone.

Many of you know the great five sola’s of the reformation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the glory of God alone. We affirm fully that we are saved by faith alone. But we must be careful in what we mean by that. Often when we think of faith we think of mere intellectual assent. That is certainly part of faith. But it is not all that faith is.

Think of Noah. Noah believed God’s warning. He trusted God’s warning was true. But that trust caused him to act. In fact, the trust and action are so inseparably linked that if Noah did not act, we could confidently say he did not have real faith. You see, we are so tempted to say “faith alone” and mean that all faith is is intellectual assent. We can run a real danger of believing that if someone just intellectually accepts the Bible is true, they have true faith. But true faith will always bring about righteous works.

John Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers said in his sermon on this passage, “Faith, it is manifest, works righteousness.” Or in other words, “it is patently obvious that faith works righteousness.” If someone has faith, they will obey God. Faith is proved by righteous works. This is why we say, we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. It is always accompanied by obedience. While salvation is not a result of works, we cannot separate it from the works it produces. It would be like trying to say an apple tree does not produce apples. It is impossible.

Listen again to our passage. Hebrews 11:7 “7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” The way Paul begins and ends this verse is “by faith” and “righteousness which is according to faith.” Noah obeyed God by faith. His faith came out his fingertips. And the result was his and his household’s salvation. Why was Noah saved? He possessed true faith, true faith that acted.

Transition:

So let’s summarize:

How Did Noah Live by Faith?

Noah lived by faith in an age of wickedness and perversion by trusting and obeying God.

That really is the summary. He trusted God’s Word. God told him judgement was coming. Noah believed God. His faith was in God. Noah also obeyed God in building the ark, condemning the world and saving his household. That is how Noah lived by faith.

Visualization:

Now let’s ask the next question. Remember we are to see the lives of those listed in Hebrews 11 and see what living by faith looks like so that we too can live by faith. We are to follow the example of our great cloud of witnesses.

How Can We Live by Faith Like Noah?

What must we do in order to live by faith like Noah did? This is a very broad question. So for starters, let’s contextualize our question a little bit. After all, one of the chief aspects of Noah’s faithfulness is that he lived in a wicked and perverse generation. And if we even briefly look outside at our culture we must admit, we do too. So let’s change our question just a little bit. Rather than asking just how can we live by faith like Noah, let’s ask it this way:

How can we who live in an age of increasing wickedness and perversion live by faith like Noah?

This is a much more pointed question. You see, Noah was surrounded by a culture that was filled with evil. There was rampant Idolatry, sexual perversion, murder, you name it. Are we any different? Look at our culture. We are filled with rampant idolatry. Even paganism is rising again. People actively worshipping pagan idols. We murder countless children in the womb. This is state sanctioned child sacrifice. I can’t even begin to talk about the sexual perversion of our age. Our leaders have set aside this entire month to celebrate every kind of perversion imaginable. I won’t detail any of it because of how inappropriate it is. As Paul says in Ephesians 5:12 “12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.” The only thing our culture is not doing that they were doing in Noah’s day was committing immorality with fallen angels. And were that possible, I imagine July would be set aside as Nephilim appreciation month.

All this to say Noah may be one of the most applicable people on this list for us in our day, in our culture. Noah lived by faith in the midst of an incredibly evil culture. So how can we live by faith in the midst of an age of increasing wickedness and perversion like Noah?

Application:

I see two direct ways Noah’s example ought to motivate us.

1. Be Moved by Godly Fear.

God gave Noah a promise of impending judgement. This moved Noah to godly fear. He reverenced God and feared the judgement. Now you may say, “But pastor, God told Noah judgement was coming. He hasn’t told us about any impending judgement on our culture.”

Hasn’t He? I want to show you two ways God has promised we will face his judgement. We will face the judgement of God individually and as a culture.

Individually each one of us will stand before God. Hebrews 9:27 “27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” Someday you will die and you will face the judgement of God. That is a promise. When you do, will you be found innocent or guilty? All of us are sinners. And outside of Christ, we are all damned to hell. There is only one hope. Repent and believe the gospel. This is the ark of salvation God has given. Hear now the preaching of the good news! If you will repent of your sin, and believe in Christ, you will be saved. On judgement day you will then stand before God clean. But I warn you, judgement is coming. Repent now, before the flood of God’s wrath comes.

So that is individually. But what about God’s promised judgement on our culture? Let’s even get more specific. Has God promised to judge our nation? Yes He has. Let me demonstrate this from Scripture. Proverbs 14:34 says “34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.” So righteousness is what exalts a nation. Psalm 47:7–8 says “7 For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding. 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.” God rules the nations. He is King over all nations. This means they are to obey Him, as Psalm 2 says explicitly. In verse 9 of Psalm 2, God says the Messiah will break the nations with a rod of judgement. In Psalm 89:23 God says He will break his foes. In Psalm 110:5–6 We read this about Christ. “5 The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. 6 He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.”

Oh but that’s the Old Testament. Revelation 2:26–27“26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father;” Revelation 19:15 “15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

God judges nations. The Bible is full of God judging nations for their sin. Why did God judge Sodom and Gomorrah? Why did God judge Egypt? Why did God judge Babylon? Why did God judge the Assyrians? Why did God judge Nineveh? Why did God judge all the nations Israel wiped out? God consistently judges nations who reject Him and live in gross immorality and evil.

Now, more importantly, why do we think our nation and culture is above God’s judgement? We are living like all the nations God has openly judged in Scripture, but we somehow think we are above His judgement? No. Judgement is coming and it is already here. This should motivate us unto holy fear. We should look outside and see the judgement of God on our nation and be very afraid.

But this is not a paralyzing fear. We should have the same fear Noah had. The judgement of God motivated Noah to honor God while fearing the judgement. When we look outside, are you just discouraged? Have you taken the black pill of gloom? Or are you motivated to honor God all the more? Let me state it plainly. Does the sin of our culture motivate you to be more or less holy? Does the sin of our culture motivate you to obey God more or less? Does all the sin we see make you want to worship God more? Does it make you want to be in church more? To give more? To sing louder? To raise your kids in the faith more? Noah was motivated to obey God more by the impending judgement. Are we?

And this leads right into our second application. How can we live by faith like Noah in the midst of a wicked and perverse culture? Be motivated by godly fear. But motivated to what end?

2. Believe the Word of God Enough to Get to Work.

Noah was not paralyzed. God commanded Noah to build the ark. Yes, judgement was coming. But there was work to be done. Beloved, the same is true today. We have marching orders. There is work to be done. Christ commanded us right before His ascension, to disciple the nations. This includes our nation. Our nation is to be baptized and taught to obey Christ. These are our marching orders. The gospel must be shared. Obedience must be taught. We have work to do.

We must not bury our heads in the sand. But that is so much the Christian response in our day. “Ignore the evil of our day. Don’t address it. Don’t offend people. Don’t rock the boat.” We have a social gospel of cowardice. But think of Noah. He was a preacher of righteousness. He declared that what the people were doing was wrong, that judgement was coming, and that there was salvation. We too must be preachers of righteousness. We must declare that what our culture is doing is wrong, that judgement is coming, that there is salvation.

But it is more than this. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. But he was also a boat builder. He worked and built. In the same way, we must build.

Build.

We must dedicate our time to evangelism, yes. But also to building. And I want to be very practical here. So often we can be so far in the clouds we don’t touch earth on a lot of these things. What exactly do we need to build? Really there are so many things I could say. We need to build Christian schools to actually educate our kids in the faith. We need to build businesses that honor Christ. We need to build strong discipleship programs. We need to build institutions to promote Christian political thought. There is so much to build. So let me summarize, and then I’m going to focus on two specific things we need to build in our age.

What do we need to build? Well, what has God gifted you in? What are you good at? Are you good mechanically, are you gifted mathematically, are you gifted at carpentry? Where is your gifting? And your gifting is not some mystery. What are you good at. So find your gifting.

Next, where are you right now? What job do you work? What is it that you do? Now, take your gifting and what you do, and ask this question. How can I do this to the maximum glory of God? How can I do this to the maximum glory of God.

And this applies wherever you are. Are you a worker in a factory? How can you work the line in a way that your actions, work ethic, production, attitude, all glorify Christ? Are you a business owner? How can you manage your business to be glorifying to Christ? How can you shape your business to prioritize glorifying Christ? Do you give your employees Sunday off for the express purpose of encouraging them to worship Christ as a family? Do you engage in crooked deals? Do you refuse to bow to the secular gods of our culture that demand you violate God’s commands?

Maybe you’re a stay at home mom. Praise God, that is righteous. How can you be a stay at home mom to the maximum glory of God? Are you a grump? Are you a nagging and loud woman? Or are you joyfully taking that incredible opportunity to raise your kids every day closer to Christ? Maybe you’re retired. You worked your whole life and now you’re done. Well, let me be frank. Everyone will someday die and leave behind all they worked for. Who are you leaving it to? How are you intentionally setting up your kids and grandkids to build something for the Lord?

Noah’s great grandfather, Enoch, was taken early. But you know what Enoch left? He left a household of faithfulness. Here is some really basic Titus 2 stuff. Old men, instruct the young men how to build things for Christ. Older women, instruct the younger women how to be wives and mothers. Why? Because someday you will be gone. And those young men and women will take up the torch you leave them. Is it a well maintained torch? Or have you been leaving it sitting in a leaky garage for the past forty years soaked in water?

In short, the summary is this. Build right where you are, with what God has given you, and then hand on the work to your kids and grandkids.

That is the summary. But now two specifics. When I look at our culture, these are two things we must build. First:

Build Christian Households.

Start in your home. Are you obeying God’s commands for your family. We recently went through 1 Peter. Peter there gives commands to households. Are you obeying them? Husbands, are you being patient and loving with your wives? Wives are you submitting? Children, are you obeying? Obedience to God is the first step.

But let me ask you this. What is the culture of your home? Is it an explicitly Christian culture? Is the culture of your home aimed at Christ? How distracted is your home? Are you torn to and fro by endless other activities? Is prayer a central part of your home? Bible reading? What about other influences? Does what you entertain yourself with honor God or blaspheme Him? You families with children, are you raising your children as Christians? I would even ask, are they baptised into the faith? Are you filling them with the slop from the culture or with true and beautiful things? Are they being given a distinctly Christian upbringing and education or are you giving them a godless one hoping for the best?

If we are to weather our current culture, we need Christian households. And remember, Noah is called out here alone. But Noah was not saved alone. His household was saved. His household was baptized. His household, not he alone. Men, are you leading your household to be distinctly Christian? Is your household baptized and obeying Christ? We need Christian households, like the household of Noah.

But second, we must:

Build a community that can weather the coming storm.

This is one of my chief prayers. I pray that God would make Ramsey a church that endures. We are 138 years old this year. This church has weathered a lot. But the state of spiritual decay in our culture runs deep. Can we survive this? Well, we can, but we have to work, we have to continue to build. And if we build, there is hope. In the darkest nights, the light shines brighter. We have the ability to impact our entire county with hope. We can build here a community that affect north west and central Iowa. How?

Stay for the membership class and find out… kidding.

We must commit to obey God above all. We must be a community grounded on worship. Worship must be our heartbeat. The true worship of the True God must shape all we do. Worship is the heartbeat of our community. The Lord’s Day service where we come to worship Christ must the very center of this community. This means we must be true in our singing, our preaching, our giving, our participation in the Sacraments. And we must be very grounded on these things. We must know why we do them and how we ought to do them. And this comes to the second thing.

We must educate. And in many ways this is a two sided coin. I as your pastor must commit to give education from the Word. You as the congregation must prioritize receiving true Christian education. I must commit to teaching the truth. You must commit to learning the truth. And we must hold one another accountable. This means that we must dedicate time to being educated in the faith. The sermon is important. Catechism is important. Bible study is important.

Finally, in order to build lasting community to weather our culture, we must love one another. We must deeply and truly care for one another. There must be a bond here that is unbreakable. We must prefer one another. We must long to be around one another. We must be a true covenant community. A community bound to Christ, covenanted with Him and one another.

Appeal:

These are things I pray for. These are things I long for. I pray you do to. Let us build a Christian Borough here. Let Ramsey Reformed be a Christian Borough in the midst of our wicked age.

Conclusion:

How do we, in an age of increasing wickedness and perversion live by faith like Noah?

Visualization:

Be a proclaimer of righteousness to our culture.

Be motivated by godly fear.

Build.

Reiteration:

Let’s build a Christian Borough by the grace of the Lord, together.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction: