Faith Forward - Faith in the Flood - Hebrews 11:7 / Genesis 6:1-9

Introduction

Faith is a commitment to believe and to believe in the right substance which is God and everything that He has said in His word. Faith is the verb or the action - the substance is the noun or the object of the action. And the evidence is based on the substance. Meaning when you can look at the fact of what God has done evidenced by His word you’ve got substance(something that is solid to stand on) that becomes evidence of what is not seen. In other words as we said last week since God had nothing to start with and something came out of nothing at the word of God - and we said last week since God has made something out of nothing He will do it over and over again in your life. So what if you lack the money for what God has showed you and told you? Money will come out of nowhere. So what if you’re in a tight situation wondering how you’ll get out of it? A way of escape will come out of nowhere.

The answer to your situation may seem like it does not exists. But God had the answer to your current situation before you ever had a problem. I love how the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it, you’ve got to take the first step in faith - even if you don’t see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Our hero of faith, Noah, 2 Peter calls him a preacher of righteousness. God speaks to a preacher and tells him to get a boat ready because its about to rain. The text in Genesis 6 lets us know that there was extreme wickedness in the land. There was killing, pride, polygamy, and fallen angels were hooking up with the daughters of men and having demonic offspring. People were doing whatever they wanted. The Scripture lets us know that the evil of mankind was so great that God repented that he had made man on the earth. Now when we see that word repent it does not mean that God has made a mistake. It means simply that God is grieved, that He is unhappy with mankind.

But verse 8, I love this Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Meaning out of all the evil that was taking place, Noah had his ear to the mouth of God. This is the first time grace is mentioned by name in the Bible. Although not the first time grace was seen. A lot has happened in Scripture up until this point... That word grace just means that the unmerited favor of God will bend from the superior one to the inferior one.

Verse 9 moves to tell us that Noah was just and perfect in his generation, and that Noah walked with God. When we see this phrase “walked with God” it means that God was pleased with Noah. It means that Noah walked so closely with God amid all the evil around him that God found this preacher of righteousness as he is called in 2 Peter 2:5 to tell a secret to.

Beloved we are living in the days of Noah. Evil is present all around us. And in this age God is looking for some Noah’s that will walk with Him and live counter to the culture. Living counter to the culture is difficult. It will make an outcasts out of you but God will speak to you.

Upon looking at this text you ask the question… why would God allow this kind of evil to exist even for a minute. Well, I’ll put it like this. Last week I saw that some folk were stuck on i95, some for up to 24 hours after a winter storm on the east coast presented treacherous weather conditions. And in light of this text I started thinking, Lord, there are some believers in this back up who are hungry, about to run out of gas, and everything else. But then the Lord reminded me - the wheat and the tare have got to dwell together until God does the separating. And so the problem of evil in our land as is in this text is subject to when God gets tired. And when God gets tired beloved you want to find yourself like Noah that you’ve been walking with God amid all the evil in the land that God can speak to you!

We talked last week about the substance of faith. But having substance to go along with your faith means nothing if we won’t walk this thing out.

Explanation

Noah was warned by God that a flood was coming that had never been seen before. But Noah in is walk with God Hebrews 11:7 lets us know he had reverence for what God had spoken unto him. When you’ve got complete and total faith and confidence in God, we move at what God has spoken because we trust the integrity of God. And I want to tell somebody your obedience in faith to do what God has spoken will position you for what you’ve been believing God for. We’ve all got to not only have the faith of Noah, but to have the obedience of Noah that says if God has spoken it - I won’t ask any questions, I won’t lean to my own understanding, but I will trust His word and comply therein.

I love this. Noah and his ability to hear the warning from God about what was about to take place caused him to move in faith to preparation. There comes a time in our lives when God speaks that we’ve got to respond to what He has said. James reminds us that faith without works is dead. What if Noah had heard this word from God and not moved according to how God told him? With that in mind, I’ve got to ask you who or what is tied to your ability to hear and obey God in faith?

As Noah moved in faith and reverence concerning God’s warning, he prepared an ark to the saving of his house. One man’s obedience in faith saved his house. One man’s obedience in faith saved animals of every kind.

But hold up wait a minute - the Bible says in Genesis 6: 3 that God gave evil mankind 120 years. It would take Noah 120 years to build an ark based on one word from the Lord. 120 years from the word of God to the fulfillment of what God spoke. What was in the middle of the word and the fulfillment? Faith and substance. Faith is belief and substance is what God said. So in between the word of God to Noah and the fulfillment of what God said was belief in what God said.

Can you stand on what God said even if there are years in between the word and the fulfillment?

Imagine those who would’ve scoffed at Noah to see him for 120 years building this ark. Noah continually preaching righteousness and speaking what God told him for nobody to believe him. Noah day after day cutting wood, building the ark at the word of God.

The Bible says (Genesis 6:22) Noah did all that God commanded Him.

In other words in faith I’ve got to hear him.

In faith, I’ve got to obey Him.

And in faith, though it tarry, I’ve got to trust what He said.

Noah was faithful to God. Noah heard God by faith. Noah obeyed God by faith. Noah trusted God by faith. And Noah saw God do what He said He would do!

There was no evidence that the water was going to come like God said… but the fact that He said it was all Noah needed.

God says this year I need you to have faith that even when you can’t see any evidence that I’m going to do what I said - you can just trust that because I said it, I will do it.

Just before I close, I’ve got to tell you something. Genesis 6:14, God told Noah to pitch the ark within and without with pitch. The etymology of this word comes from the word in Hebrew that means atonement. And the reason why Noah and his family could be saved is because the boat was sealed with atonement.

And aren’t you glad that one day you made the decision to give God your life and in turn He became the atonement or the satisfaction of penalty for your sins? One day they marched Jesus of Golgotha’s hill.....

The Bible says in Matthew 24:37 that the coming of Jesus Christ will be as the days of Noah. Evil present all around. When Jesus comes… will He find you faithful as Noah was?…

God will bring you through the flood because of your faith to do what He told you, how He told you and when He told you.