Faith Of Noah and Abraham

Faith In the Impossible

Sin dominated the world to the point that every aspect of man’s heart was wicked. It was so bad that God regretted making man, so He decided that He was going to wipe man out and start fresh. Noah was a righteous man that God spared. Noah and his family would be the new beginning of humanity.

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 [j]cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred [k]cubits, its breadth fifty [l]cubits, and its height thirty [m]cubits. 16 You shall make a [n]window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from [o]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.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

God was going to bring utter destruction on the earth because of the sinfulness of man, but entered into a covenant with Noah that his life would be spared if he was obedient to the Lord. His obedience was in building a boat for a flood that had never happened on earth.

This was not an easy task. The manual labor that it took would be tiring. The ridicule of the people would not make it easy. Noah had to trust God in order to spare his life and the life of his family. Noah lived by faith in the covenant of God.

Our covenant with God!

There is coming a day where the Lord is going to destroy the earth again and eradicate sin. He makes a covenant with us that we can enter into salvation through His Son Jesus Christ and be spared of the destruction to come.

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For [a]when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and [b]its works will be [c]burned up.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and [b]its works will be [c]burned up.

11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Friend, we may not see the fire today, just as Noah didn’t see the flood at the time God told him to build the ark. But the floods came and destroyed the earth and by faith Noah built the ark and was saved through his faith. The fire is coming! Do you have faith in Jesus to save you from the fire?

Abraham’s Faith

Faith in the unknown

God told Abraham to leave his hometown and family to go to a place that He would show him. Why would God do this? The environment that Abraham was in was not conducive to accomplish the purpose of God. He was in a pagan family that worshiped false Gods. God wanted Abraham to get away from all of this and spend time with Him.

Now the Lord said to Abram,

“[a]Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so [b]you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who [c]curses you I will [d]curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the [e]persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they [f]set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [g]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [h]descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the [i]Negev.

Abraham was 75 years old when God told him to move. This was not an easy transition. God did not tell him where he was going, but only that He would show him. This takes tremendous faith. I would want to know where I was going before I left. So why was Abraham willing to move? He had faith in the promise of God. God told him that he would make him a great nation. Notice that the promise was one that he would not be a benefactor of. The promise was to others, but he would be the catalyst.

We see this as he travels. God promised to give the land of the Canaanite’s to his descendants. Not him! He built an alter to remind his descendants that God promised the land to them.

The Bible says that they all died before receiving the promise, but their faith was in the better land that God had in store for them. They are now living in the promised land

There will be times where God asks us to venture into the unknown. He will follow it with a promise. You may never see the promise fulfilled this side of heaven, but we must trust God with faith. When God called me to pastor this church, it did not make sense. But God made me a promise. The fruit of my obedience would be sweeter than the fruit I was bearing in the banking industry. I see glimpses of it from time to time, but will probably never know the extent of what the Lord was saying until after I am gone.

God may call you into the unknown. Maybe He is doing that right now. Are you willing to trust Him? He is faithful to fulfill His promise! Be willing to step out of the land of comfort and convenience to the promised land!

Sacrificial Faith

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son. It appeared as though Isaac was the only way for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Now God was asking him to kill the one that would bring forth the promise of God. Not to mention that Abraham loved Isaac with all his heart.

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will [a]provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

God asked Abraham to give Him the one that was most precious to him. True faith in God requires that we give everything to Him. Just as God knew that he would spare Isaac, He wanted Abraham to exhibit sacrificial faith. He did this so Abraham would know God’s goodness.

God has given to us the One He loves the most. His Son Jesus Christ. Only this time He did not stop the knife. Jesus was crucified for our sins, so we could see the goodness of God. He loves us so much that he gave Jesus to die so we would not have to. Now we have a choice to receive the gift of God or reject it. You may ask, “how do I receive it?” Through faith! Are you willing to surrender your life to Jesus and live for Him? You can do this by repenting of your sins, trusting that Jesus sacrifice for you is enough for all your sin, and following Him the rest of your life.