3.1.20 4.11.2021 Hebrews 11.7 Genesis 6 Noah and the Clarity of Faith

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Series Introduction...Heroic Hope in Hard Times

We need hope in what sometimes seems to be a dejected, depressed world in desperate times. We are called to be agents of hope. In this series I want to lift up an assortment of individuals who are models of hope pointing us forward as we emerge from these difficult times.

A further issue is the allure of false hope. False hope is based on:

Inattention to Scripture.

Inaccurate theology.

Inappropriate application.

For the initial weeks of this series will use Hebrews 11 to frame the heroic hope of an OT hero.

The last few weeks of the series we will look at some NT heroes and explore some specific lessons to be learned from their lives, ministries, and messages.

Entice:

Heroic faith is hard.

Heroic faith is vigorous.

Heroic faith is lonely.

Heroic faith is world-shaping.

And You can have it

here and now!

Let us begin with one of the most famous characters in the Bible whose faith provides an example of clarity during crisis.

Hebrews 11:7 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Engage: Biblical heroes are typical men and women who had atypical faith. We are typical people. What we are trying to do is learn more about their a-typical faith.

Expand: Noah's story is about origins. Genesis 1-11 is about beginnings. And as far as scripture is concerned these chapters are about understanding how the beginning of humanity including the fall impinges on the middle and the end. So in these chapters we see Anthropology. Ethics. History. Theology. Personality...and personality disorders. Like every aspect of the human story beginning, fall, and now flood was lived and then written about in the twin shadows of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil...and the Tree upon which Jesus died. All of us live between fall and redemption.

I expect you know the background...you are likely familiar with the whole story.

When fallen man does not seek God the result, whatever it might look like, tends towards Evil.

Genesis 6:1–8 ESV

1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Excite: Do you understand how privileged you are to live in this age? At this time? Even in an age of post-christian Empire-driven marginalization of the Church our heroic faith does not just carry us beyond the waters of the flood but rescues the perishing for all eternity.

Explore:

Noah's faith is a heroic example of clarity during crisis because it is active and responsive.

Explain: Noah simplifies faith paring down and teaching some very basic lessons about active, heroic faith.

1. Believe

Genesis 6:8–9 ESV

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

Biblical faith has horizontal and vertical elements...

Blameless.

Walked with God.

2. Build.

Genesis 6:9–18 ESV

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

What God Commands.

How God Commands.

In partnership with God we learn that faithful living involves:

architecture

artistry

attention to detail.

action

3. Bold.

Genesis 7:1–5 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

Expectation

Go in

Gather

Execution

Noah acted

4. Bow.

Genesis 8:20–22 ESV

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Worship

Covenant

Shut Down:

Our world shares some characteristics of that far-off time.Like Noah we need clarity about what actually provides the security and safety of full deliverance.

Recently Mrs. Beckman & I watched King Kong. The end of the movie includes this sequence of dialogue...

Well Mr. Denham…the airplanes got him! No, it wasn’t the airplanes that got him. Twas beauty killed the beast.

Similarly we might say “the ark saved Noah.” No, it wasn’t the ark, twas faith saved Noah.

For the first time, in looking at Noah, we see a pattern begin to emerge which serve as an encouraging example. You can Believe. You can Build. You can act with Boldness. And like Noah, when God blesses you should Bow. Heroic faith gives us clarity amidst the wreckage of a fallen world. Do you see the way forward? Like Noah you must act and respond.