The Work of Faith-Noah
The Work of Faith
Noah (Hebrews 11:7)
Hebrews 11:7 7 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.
Hebrews 11:7 Pi,stei crhmatisqei.j Nw/e peri. tw/n mhde,pw blepome,nwn euvlabhqei.j kateskeu,asen kibwto.n eivj swthri,an tou/ oi;kou auvtou/ di h`j kate,krinen to.n ko,smon kai. th/j kata. pi,stin dikaiosu,nhj evge,neto klhrono,moj
crhmatisqei.j verb participle aorist passive nominative masculine singular
[Fri] crhmati,zw (1) of what God makes known; (a) active impart a revelation, give a message (HE 12.25); (b) passive be warned, be instructed, be given a message (MT 2.12); (2) active with a passive sense bear a title or name, be called, be known as (AC 11.26; RO 7.3)
Matthew 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Luke 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
kateskeu,asen verb indicative aorist active 3rd person singular
[Fri] kataskeua,zw (1) prepare, make ready, put in readiness (MK 1.2); of persons with mental and spiritual readiness prepare; passive be prepared (LU 1.17); (2) build, construct, erect (HE 11.7); (3) furnish, equip (HE 9.2)
Introduction: Faith without works is dead.
James did not launch into a lengthy refutation of the respondent. The apostle simply addressed him forcefully, You foolish man, and returned to his original argument that faith without deeds is useless (argē, “lazy, idle, negligent”). The adjective “foolish” (kene) is usually translated “vain,” “empty,” or “hollow” (cf. mataios, “worthless, fruitless, useless,” in 1:26). Flimsy faith is dead; so are empty, faithless works. James’ argument is not pro-works/anti-faith or pro-faith/anti-works. He has simply said that genuine faith is accompanied by good works. Spiritual works are the evidence, not the energizer, of sincere faith.
We are not saved by faith plus works; however we are saved by a faith that works. A faith that does not work is dead.
Illustration: The church at Sardis had a name that it was great. However, they were great on the outside. They were dead on the inside. Our faith should cause us to act.
Noah because of his faith the Bible says “moved with fear.”
euvlabhqei.j verb participle aorist passive nominative masculine singular
[Fri] euvlabe,omai 1aor. ptc. euvlabhqei,j; only passive in the NT give careful heed, be cautious or beware; be moved with reverent regard (HE 11.7)
He did not sit around and do nothing for God after he received the message about the flood. He was divinely warned by God about future destruction.
That would cause a real fear in almost anyone. Illustration: When we were attacked on September 11th those in the U.S. were fearful. They were fearful of another destruction. However, this is not a fear from faith. Noah’s fear was a direct result of his faith. In other words, Noah’s fear was quite different from the fear many have today.
His fear caused him to act. The fear of the world causes people to panic. It causes people to run away. It causes people to stop acting.
Illustration: I was reading on the news about a man who weighed over 1,000 pounds. He was not born 999 pounds. He was born normal. After eating and trying diets he was afraid of what others thought. This caused him to be bed-ridden and homebound for years.
The fear of the world paralyzes people. The fear of God causes people to act. A healthy fear backed up by faith should cause us to act in two ways.
Faith will cause us to act:
I. Contrary to what we see
Noah was warned of things not yet seen. He had never seen rain, because it probably did not exist before the Flood. He had never seen a flood, since floods could not have occurred without rain. Noah responded to God’s message by faith, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). By faith Noah … prepared an ark.
Noah never saw rain or a boat. Noah believed God even though that which God promised was yet a long way off. The flood did not come for another 120 years. There was never a boat before. The size of the ark is compared to one of those modern day battle ships. It was huge. What faith Noah had! He built the ark on dry ground and believed in God’s promise to destroy the earth. The cause of his reverential respect for God was his faith. What was the trademark about Noah was the fact that he demonstrated his faith in God by his obedience as he proceeded to build the ark according to the plan of God revealed to him.
Genesis 6:22 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Why build an ark? What’s an ark Lord? There has never been rain. Yet, Noah did not question God; he just did what he was told. That is true obedience! That is true faith. We take the Word of God and do what it says. He had nothing to go on but God’s word, which for him was more than sufficient.
But Noah, who had but a fraction of the divine light that we have, did not argue, quibble, make excuses, complain, or procrastinate. He did not question God, but simply began obeying Him. He spent over one hundred years fulfilling this single command. True faith does not question, and Noah did not question. Among the countless faithful saints who have endured and persisted in obedience to God, Noah stands supreme, if for nothing else than the shear magnitude and time span of his one incredible assignment from the Lord.
We are told to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Co. 5:7)
Illustration: George Muller was on a ship and it was foggy. Captain and him prayed.
II. Contrary to what others say
The times in which Noah grew up were among the most evil and corrupt in history. “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” (Gen. 6:5). If any man had reason to regret the time in which he lived it was Noah. But he did not complain about when he was born, his lot in life, or his calling. He obeyed as he was and where he was.
What impressed God when He looked down from heaven is that He saw a man who was just. A man who was committed to do what is right no matter what other people were doing. He stayed close to God even in the midst of all the wickedness around Him. Isn’t that thought great!
Although the world around us does not want to live for God and although the world around us does not have morals and standards in their lives and in their homes, and although there is wickedness growing and jails are filled and crime is up and church attendance is down, we can still have a walk with God! Noah walked with God.
Genesis 6:11-14 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 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.
Amidst ridicule, wickedness, long years with little evidence of success, and many unanswered questions, Noah obeyed and obeyed and continued to obey.
Illustration: When I went on my first missions trip to Peru my mother wrote me a long letter. She wrote about how she raised such a smart son who turned out to be such a fool.
When Jim Elliot wanted to evangelize to the Achua Indians they called him a fool. He said, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
The only ones who supported Noah was his family. Some believers do not even have their support.
Illustration: My father when I got saved.
- His faith led to the saving of his household-He preached righteousness and about salvation and only his family responded.
Not a bad crowd to respond. I am so blessed to have a believing wife. She loves God and loves His word and is committed to doing what He says. Only Noah’s family was saved. A total of 8 were saved. Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. That’s it!
- His faith led to the condemning of the world-By him building the ark and the rains came down and I could see as it started raining that people pounded on the door. Noah, Noah let us in! It’s raining. All the people and all the animals that were left on the earth died! Noah’s salvation proved that people could have been saved if they were willing to believe and put their trust in the word of God.
Salvation is available to all who call upon Jesus Christ. Jesus likens the days that we are in like those of Noah. Listen to what He says. We are living in the days of Noah.
Matthew 24:37-39 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The exact length of the cubit during Noah’s time is not certain, but using the lowest, most conservative figure it would be about seventeen and a half inches. On this basis, the ark was 438 feet long, 73 feet wide, and 44 feet high. In other words it was nearly one and a half times the length of a football field and more than four stories high. Since it had three decks, the total deck area was almost 96,000 square feet, and the total volume within the decks was about 1.3 million cubic feet. Naval engineers have discovered that the dimensions and shape of the ark form the most stable ship design known. The ark was not designed for maneuverability but for stability, in order to best protect those within it.
The ark is a beautiful picture of the salvation offered in Jesus Christ. The ark was easily large enough to hold all the animals needed to assure each species’ survival. It had plenty of room for every person who wanted to come to God for safety. The fact that only eight persons came into the ark means that only eight wanted to be saved on God’s terms. God does not wish “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). God’s nature does not change. His will in Peter’s time was the same in Noah’s time.
Christ Jesus is our ark now: big enough for the whole world, strong enough to withstand the shocks of life, the rising waters of death, and the upheavals of the last judgment. There is safety here in the Son of God, sent to be for us all the shelter, the salvation, that we so desperately needed; our ark and safe passage into the new world God has planned. From that ark we will emerge to inherit a new heaven and a new earth.
Noah did something because of the coming judgment. What are we doing? Are we telling others that God is coming and will judge the world just like in the days of Noah but this time with fire? Every time we see a rainbow we are reminded that God will not judge the world with water. However, He will judge the world with fire! Do we tell them that all the things we see will be burned? It will all burn and only those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood for the forgiveness of sins. Everything Noah did was calculated to save. He built the ark to save the world, yet nobody came. God sent His Son to save the world, yet there are so many who refuse to believe and be saved.
I want to weep when I think about how people live as if there is no coming judgment.
Illustration: There was a terrible hurricane a few years ago heading for Florida. The people of certain towns were asked to leave their homes. A group of young people were on T.V. drinking and having a party just waiting for the hurricane to hit. They said, we aren’t scared. What will happen to us? Let me tell you what happened to them. They are dead because they did not prepare for what was coming. Please be prepared for Jesus’ Coming by accepting Him as your Savior. It is amazing to think that after Noah’s flood, he got drunk. Whenever we stop working for God here on this earth, we are heading for a life filled with sorrows.
Noah has left us a worthwhile and instructive legacy. He was the first person in Scripture to be called “righteous” (Gen. 6:9), and that righteousness proved that his faith in God was genuine. James Boice gives us this fitting summary of the impact of Noah’s life:
This solitary righteous man of the pre-Flood generation, Noah, is remembered throughout the world when virtually all his unrighteous contemporaries are forgotten. A “dog now,” but vindicated later! Forgotten now, but remembered later! That is what Noah was. It is what every true believer should be willing to be.
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