God's Warning, Noah's Faith

Our scripture reading is from Genesis 6-5 and we'll read through 7-10. The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become,! and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, I will wipe mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth, men and animals and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air, for I am grieved that I have made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

So God said to Noah, I'm going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it. The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

Make a roof for it and finish the ark within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, every kind of animal, and every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Noah did everything just as God commanded.

The Lord said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.

And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

And after the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth. Pastor Aaron, come and preach the word of God to us. Well, I said this in Sunday school, but it really is a privilege, a joy to be back and to have the opportunity to minister God's word here at Grace Fellowship Church with you all.

Thank you for your love and your prayers and your support and your generosity for Grace Baptist Church and Warsaw and for my family in particular.

That love and that kindness to us is not forgotten. Let's begin this morning and play a little game of word association.

You know how that goes. I say a word and you respond with whatever the first word is that comes to mind. All right, so, we'll do an easy one.

I say up and you think down. Okay, see, that's opposite word association. You think of the opposite thing. We could do a lot like that, but let's just get right to the one that I'm most interested in.

This one isn't an opposite, but, and this one won't be quite as uniform as that, I'm guessing, where sort of there's this quiet rumble of everyone saying the same word together, but if I say Noah, what do you think of, and don't, don't be afraid, go ahead and, and shout out some things if they're different or don't shout, but, you know.

So, I say Noah and you say? Ark. Ark? Okay, I heard Ark. Somebody that didn't say Ark, say what you said. Flood. Flood? Okay.

Those are probably the two most common ones that you would think of. Ark, flood. Maybe somebody was thinking rainbow and wasn't brave enough to say it this morning. Or maybe they did and I didn't hear it.

Maybe someone might think judgment if you hear the name Noah. Beyond one word, associations, you might think of all sorts of things when you think of Noah. You might think of some play toys that your children had of Noah and the Ark and the animals.

Or you might think of artists' renderings that you've seen of the Ark and the animals coming to it. You might, when you hear Noah, you might immediately be skeptical of the notion of an Ark carrying animals and people through a worldwide flood.

Maybe that seems like the most ridiculous thing that you have ever heard. You might wonder how a good God could destroy almost all life on earth.

You might think of a rainbow and God's promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood. You might be thankful when you hear of Noah to think about the picture of salvation that God provides for us in the Ark.

That big floating box that was salvation for Noah and his family. And you might think of Christ when you think of Noah and the Ark who is our salvation from the wrath of God.

There's lots of possible things to call to mind when considering Noah. We're not going to talk about all of those things today. I'm sorry if you're disappointed to hear that. We're going to focus in on something in particular.

But when we're done I hope that you'll have a new word to associate with Noah. I hope when you think of Noah after spending a little time in Hebrews and that's where we're going to be.

If you want to turn to Hebrews 11 I know we read from Genesis but we're going to focus on Hebrews this morning. Hebrews chapter 11. I hope that after spending a little bit of time in Hebrews 11 that you'll think of the word faith when you think of Noah.

Or maybe the word salvation when you think of Noah. Which I doubt would be most folks first thought. It wouldn't have been my first thought unless they've just read Hebrews 11 and verse 7 which says 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. I'm reading from the ESV I think that I looked at the NIV it's pretty similar nothing that we need to draw attention to anyway but just so you know why it might sound a little bit different than what you're holding if you don't have the ESV.

So Hebrews 11 tells us in one verse about Noah we just read a bunch of verses about Noah from Genesis chapter 6 and 7 but Hebrews 7 gives us one or Hebrews 11 verse 7 gives us one verse about Noah a lot of people know that Hebrews 11 is sort of some people call it a hall of faith you know what a hall of fame is it's a place a museum with people that are famous for whatever that hall is for so I'm a baseball fan so you go to the baseball hall of fame and you'll find all sorts of baseball greats on the hall where here is not a hall of fame as it were but in some ways it is it's people who are famous for their faith and so some people call it a hall of faith but why is it here you can take Hebrews 11 and you can just preach a series on Hebrews 11 and let's look at some good examples of people who have faith but Hebrews 11 is preceded by Hebrews 1 through 10 and it's followed by Hebrews 12 and 13 so why is Hebrews 11 here and if you were here in the adult Sunday school class you might already have an inkling of why Hebrews 11 is here but I'm gonna and so if you were here for Sunday school sorry I'm gonna do a little bit more review and talk a little bit about Hebrews and the context of Hebrews and why Hebrews 11 is here and so if that it does overlap some with Sunday school but maybe it'll just reinforce it if you were here for the adult Sunday school the recipients of this letter this it's almost a sermon the book of Hebrews is the recipients of it needed an exhortation to continue and persevere in the faith probably early

Jewish Christians they had come to faith in Christ they had abandoned their old way of Judaism and they had followed Christ but they were thinking of going back something had caused their faith to waver they were waffling and they were thinking of turning back and so if you read Hebrews there's really really strong exhortations against apostasy against falling away from Christ because if you do that then you will die you will certainly suffer judgment and so one of the things that Hebrews is known for is really strong warning passages hard warning passages against apostasy so these early Jewish Christians had started well they put their faith in Christ but now they're thinking of going back going back to Judaism and what Hebrews says is you can't go back there's nothing to go back to because Jesus is the fulfillment of everything you're thinking about going back to you want to go back to the temple Jesus is the temple you want to go back to the sacrifices Jesus is the once for all sacrifice that all of those sacrifices pointed forward to you want you want to go back to having priest as an intermediary

Jesus is the high priest we don't need any other and so if you go back you are abandoning all hope you are leaving the one savior the one that can deliver your soul from hell so these strong warnings if they go back there is nothing to go back to Jesus has fulfilled that and so he's making the case as he goes in Hebrews that Jesus is better and we talked about that in the adult Sunday school class Jesus is better than the prophets he's better than the angels he's better than Moses he's better than Aaron and all of the priests and sacrifices and then the last section of Hebrews is that Jesus is better as the new and living way and that's the section that we're in here so in Hebrews 11 he gives a list of witnesses that testify to the reality of faith they're not just examples of faith they are witnesses that's what Hebrews 12 1 tells us since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses and those witnesses are Hebrews 11 and they testify to the reality of the Hebrews faith they testify to the reality of your faith yes they are examples of faith but even more they are witnesses to faith they show that faith is not in vain they show that faith can persevere until the end which is exactly what the Hebrews needed they were in danger of turning away and the author says look at the end of chapter 10 in verse 39 but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who have faith and preserve their souls these Hebrews these Hebrews are in danger of shrinking back and turning away and he says that is not who we are we have faith now let me call a list of witnesses to the witness stand and they will testify to the reality of faith to the fact that it is not misplaced even though you can't see the Savior in whom you trust even though the things that you are hoping for you don't hold in your hands yet they are real and your faith in them is not misguided and that faith can persevere to the end let me give you some witnesses that show you that let me give you some examples of people whose faith endured to the end and that's what

Hebrews 11 is so read Hebrews 11 in that bigger context the Hebrews are thinking of turning away and he says no no no look at all of these ancestors of yours your forefathers these are Jews who had faith in Christ who was to come and they didn't give up their faith and neither should you so let's talk about some of those witnesses so I'm going to read for us this morning from verse 1 through 7 so you can hear about a few of the other witnesses but our focus this morning is on Hebrews 11 in verse 7 but we'll pick it up at verse 1 this is God's word now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen maybe a little bit better translation would read something like this now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen for by it the people of old received their commendation by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible by faith

Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died he still speaks by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God and without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him 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 three things this morning let's talk about God's warning Noah's obedience by faith and then the fruit of faith so we start with God's warning and I pray these things will encourage all of us to persevere in our faith or for some to come to faith in Christ for the first time so first of all

God's warning you see how the warning is described here in Hebrews we read the warning back in Genesis 6 but notice how Hebrews describes it Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen Noah was warned we know from Genesis it was God who warned him of things to come he warned him of a coming flood and told him of the way of salvation through that flood and Hebrews sums up that warning as concerning things as yet unseen you know where else that expression is used things unseen it's in verse 1 now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen faith is so sure of things unseen that it acts on God's testimony regarding those things and actually possesses those things and that's what Noah does here even with evidence to the contrary he acted on the warning of God for which there was no tangible evidence in sight that's the nature of faith it's not by sight it's by faith and so God tells

Noah there's a flood coming and Noah goes there's no sign of that anywhere there's a warning about something unseen but you know what Noah did he believed and he obeyed and what an encouragement for these Hebrew Christians they were used to a very tangible religion very touch and taste and smell and see oriented they were used to bloody sacrifices and the ornate temple they were used to tangible and they had come to faith in a Christ that they could not physically lay eyes on he'd gone up into heaven and what they need encouragement in their faith in is that faith in something that you can't see is okay it's not misguided it's not foolish it's not blind faith people say your faith is blind it's empty you're just blind faith no it's not faith in something unseen and blind faith are two very different things we have good reason good evidence that's what all of these witnesses in Hebrews 11 provide us they provide us with evidence with testimony that says our faith is not foolish it's not misplaced we've got a book full of evidence for our faith as well as a world full of it for our eyes to see things that we can see but the warning that Noah received was about things that he could not see so let's dig into that a little bit about what God warned him he told him there was a flood coming why was he sending a flood we saw it in Genesis the people have become wildly wicked the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention not some intention some of the time every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually the earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled with violence and God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth now that's a scathing indictment of the state of mankind on the earth this isn't just well things are bad and so we need to clean it up a little bit no this is things are so bad that we need a fresh start and that fresh start would come through the man

Noah it's interesting as you're reading through the Genesis account God tells Noah that he's going to make an end of all flesh and then he tells Noah to build an ark he hasn't told him yet how he's going to destroy all flesh right so he says I'm going to destroy all flesh on the earth men are wicked I'm going to destroy them and I want you to build an ark and he gives him the dimensions of it tells him how big he wants this ark to be and then he tells him how he's going to destroy the earth it's through a flood 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 it's quite a warning isn't it and it's likely that it would have been hard to believe also hard to believe would be the solution for Noah and his family because God promised salvation through an ark the answer was deliverance through a big boat and God gave Noah directions regarding the general dimensions and material he was to use to assemble this floating box and that's what it was that's what the word ark is it's the same word as ark of the covenant which was a box this is a gigantic floating box would you have doubted

I think I would have no sign of a flood and you're telling me that a huge box is the way of salvation would have posed something of a problem for believing would it float would we want to be cooped up with all of those animals can't we just relocate to an area that won't be affected is there really a flood coming and we should understand the scope of what God is warning what we're looking at here in our day if we receive a credible warning about a flood I know that that doesn't really happen in Bremen but let's say it did credible warning flood is coming all right you're going to do a few things you're going to get everything that you can in your house up off the floor as much as you can and get it a few feet off the ground if you have a second floor to your house you're going to carry all your furniture or all your belongings that you can you're going to get them upstairs and put them up in the house and then the next thing that you're going to do is you're going to get out of the dangerous of the danger of the flood region you're going to get to the nearest hotel or family member or friend and stay with them until the flood has passed now you're going to be afraid you're going to be wondering what your house is going to look like when it gets back but you're just going to go to the nearest place where there isn't a flood this flood was different there wasn't any place outside of the flood zone there was no safe place on earth that you could go there was no neighbor or family member who lived in another state there was no place moving your belongings to a higher place in your house isn't going to do you any good in this flood you would need to move yourself and your family into a floating fortress a floating zoo in this case for an indefinite period to ride out the coming flood and that's what God promised in the ark that he would save Noah and his family by housing him there through the duration of the flood so God gave Noah a warning about something he could not see and he promised salvation through something that he also could not see now before we move on to talk about how Noah responded to this I want to ask you all a question

I want to ask if you believe the warnings of God regarding things that you cannot see Noah believed in a flood that not only he couldn't see but he really didn't have a category of thinking to even begin to understand a flood of this magnitude Noah believed and we too have received warnings about things unseen things that we cannot see with our eyes for example Jesus said to the Pharisees you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come do you believe that there is wrath to come and that you need to flee from it even though you've never seen never seen the wrath of God but do you believe that it exists and that you need to flee it when Jesus says in

Matthew 13 verses 41 and 42 the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace and that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth do you believe it do you believe that that place of punishment that we call hell is forever I know you can't see it I know the place of weeping and gnashing teeth like fiery furnace you can't see it but God's word testifies to it do you believe it and do you believe that it is forever Mark 9 part of 47 and 48 it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched never ends or 2nd Thessalonians 1 8 and 9 in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know

God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might do you believe those warnings that those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and every morning that you sit here in this place and hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ do not come in repentance and faith you're not obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ those that persist in that unrepentance in that rebellion and sin will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction second Thessalonians one eight and nine I know that hell is unseen and the notion of eternity is difficult to wrap your mind around just like the notion of a worldwide flood of judgment and the destruction of all flesh that would have been really hard for Noah to grasp but by faith

Noah believed the warnings about things unseen the question is do you because as Noah found that the flood was indeed very real you too will one day find that the wrath of God forever is very very real Noah also believed that the ark was the way of salvation as God told him and maybe you have found it just as hard to believe in an unseen savior Jesus and him being the way of salvation as Noah might have had difficulty believing that an unseen ark would deliver box a floating box would deliver him and his family but Noah believed and he built the ark do you believe and have you come to Christ we have advantages that Noah didn't have we actually look back to the accomplished work of the historical Christ testified to by eyewitnesses we have history Noah was anticipating a deliverance that wasn't there yet we're looking back on a deliverance that has taken place the work of

Christ is finished you have people to tell you about it in the pages of scripture we have independent historical verification of the life of Christ from non-Christian sources we have more than Noah he had no eyewitnesses to strengthen the faith to believe that a flood was coming and the ark was the way of deliverance we do have eyewitness testimony we do have evidence and I know that it is hard to hold fast to someone that you cannot see but Jesus is the faith your faltering trust in him Jesus is more real than your doubt and he is stronger than your faith he did not fail Noah and he will not fail you even though you cannot see him by faith Noah heeded the warnings of God regarding things unseen will you Noah is another witness for our faith his faith was not disappointed and he stands and testifies for us that

God keeps his word and that should strengthen our faith here it's faith in something sobering certain judgment but it's also faith in something hopeful which is deliverance from that judgment do you believe so that's something of God's warning to Noah and to us how did Noah respond to that warning and even before how did he respond first of all why Noah why are we talking about Noah today we'll just take a little step back for a minute here like Enoch before him and we read about Enoch briefly here in Hebrews 11 like Enoch before him Noah walked with God he was pleasing to God it was said of Enoch that he walked with God and as Hebrews tells us that he was pleasing to God same of the Lord why well I've just reversed something there first of all

Noah was righteous Genesis 6 9 Noah was a righteous man blameless in his generation Noah walked with God that's what Genesis tells us about Noah to begin with he was a righteous man who was blamed within his generation and he walked with God he was pleasing to God but if you go back a verse Genesis 6 8 was God pleased with Noah because he was righteous or was Noah righteous because God was pleased with him yes Noah's faithful righteousness in a corrupt generation was only due to the grace of God because God showed him favor but God was also pleased with that strong faith in the face of severe opposition and temptation and so in a world in need of a desperate start a fresh start Noah was God's handpicked servant to accomplish just that he was a righteous man in his day so how did he respond to the warning from

God well with reverent fear with holy fear we could say he took heed here in verse 7 Noah being warned! by God concerning events is yet unseen in reverent fear we say he took heed in holy fear given Noah's righteous life that we're told about it seems he must have had some prior knowledge of God before God appeared to him and warned him about the flood and so while that warning would have been hard to believe because it regarded things unseen it seems that Noah already had a disposition to walk with God and to fear him and to obey him and to believe him and when he heard this warning then he took heed and what did that reverent fear produce well it produced obedience the way Genesis puts it it is very short the short version is he built the ark what was Noah's response he built the ark Genesis 6 22!

Noah did this he did all that God commanded him how did he built the ark he took heed with reverent fear and he built it slightly longer answer is that he built the ark over the course of maybe 50 to 75 years depending on how you do the math and some estimating maybe 70 years is a good round number to go with so as long as many of us are on the earth it took Noah about that long to build the ark and we don't have detailed information about those 70 whatever however many years I would like to know a lot about that how did he do it did he hire some guys to help him like what did that look like were there days when he chucked his hammer and wanted to quit like I would have done what was the there was a lot of things that we don't know you can guess it was filled with planning and hard labor you can guess that there were periods of doubt and wavering you can guess that there was likely at least ridicule if not active opposition the reason one of the reasons we think that besides sort of the obvious you're building this gigantic ark without a piece of water to float it in so you think maybe there's ridicule at that level we sort of assume maybe that was going on but 2 Peter 2 5 tells us something very interesting about

Noah says if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly notice what Peter there calls Noah he calls him a herald of righteousness you know what a herald is it's a preacher coming up on Christmas we sing harp the herald angels sing don't just sing through that we don't even know what a herald angel is what does that mean it's an announcer angel it's a proclaimer angel it's one who preaches Noah was a herald he was a preacher he was a proclaimer of righteousness now think about that in the context that we've just talked about a time when everyone thought and did evil all the time and here is a preacher of the opposite of evil a preacher of righteousness and darkness hates the light and so you can imagine that as he built this ark without any water to float it in and preached a message that they hated to hear you can imagine that they pushed back a little bit or maybe a lot you can imagine that they made fun of him you can imagine that perhaps they persecuted him again we don't have the details but think of the ridicule and how hard it would have been to continue this work in the face of that opposition but build he did and preach he did and he did it by faith it may have been hard for him to believe that there was a flood coming and that this box could save them from it but by faith he built his response was obedience and reverent fear he took heed and he obeyed that's this ark will save you

Noah says I believe it and he builds the ark that's the short version of our first two points God's warning and Noah's response now based on what we did with our first point where I ask you if you believe God's warnings what do you think I'm going to do now I'm going to ask you if you've taken heed to those warnings if you have obeyed I wonder if your response is similar to Noah besides believing the warnings of God which understand that you could do that you could believe that God's warnings are true that there is a hell that it is forever and still not take heed not come to the ark not trust in Christ so have you responded in faith to the warnings of!

God entrusted in Christ our ark to save you as the ark saved Noah and his family God saved them through the ark do you have a reverent fear of the mighty holy God you see God's warnings come to pass without fail he warned about the flood and the flood came and everyone except Noah and his family were lost God warned about the exile the people were carried into exile many people since have rejected God and his son Jesus and they have departed this life for eternal suffering in the next God's warnings come true so do you not only believe that hell is real and that it is forever that the warning is true but have you actually heeded!

the warning and fled to the only refuge listen to what Jesus said about this Matthew 24 37 to 39 for as were the days of Noah Jesus knew about Noah for as were the days of Noah so will be the coming of the Son of Man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away so will be the coming of the Son Jesus comes or will you be like the people in Noah's day unprepared because you haven't heeded the warning and it's not as though you've just heard one warning you've heard it repeatedly it's been six years since I've been pastor of Grace Fellowship Church but I know the men who are pastors and I know that they are faithful to your souls and

I know that they warn you about the wrath to come I know that they tell you that the way of sin is the way of death I know that they tell you that the only way of salvation is in Christ I know that unless you are a first time visitor here that you have been warned again and again and again I love the story of Noah because it shows!

one who he! the! He will you do the same will you come and trust in the Savior Jesus what about you who have trusted in Christ to be your salvation what about your faith right you've heeded the warning you've come to Christ much like the Hebrews had what about your faith is it persistently!

obedient like that of Noah you can imagine a scenario where Noah! He starts building the ark starts well but then the opposition mounts people are mocking him ridiculing him people are persecuting him people don't like what he's doing and so they push back against it you can imagine a scenario where Noah's faith falters and he throws in the hammer and he quits it's what the Hebrews were in danger of doing but Noah didn't do that that's not the one the reality is that he persevered by faith to the end does your faith do that is it persistently obedient does your faith waver when you face opposition does your obedience to God's commands falter when that obedience seems so out of step with the rest of the world when you're swimming upstream against the flow of culture we talked about that some in Sunday school we may not be called

Christ centered life in a very fallen world is just as counter cultural as building an ark and preaching righteousness was in Noah's day when all there was was wickedness all the time that was very counter cultural it was upstream against the culture he must have received ridicule for it guess what we live in an age like that and following this book and living our lives according to it will be very against the stream and it will be difficult to persevere so regardless of what you think of our governments and what they will do with respect to people of faith in places of worship and classifying our views of sexuality as hate speech society and culture are already embracing a view it's not only contrary to ours it views our beliefs about such things as not just antiquated but as hateful and bigoted which could not be farther than the truth from the truth we love those people we want them to know the truth which is why we refuse to compromise on that truth because to do so would be to ignore the warnings that

God gives us in his holy word and so we are going to be swimming! against the stream we are doing that it may come from government and culture and what will we do will we hold fast and do the equivalent of building an ark and faithfulness or will we buckle under the pressure will we continue to love the people of God and associate with them even when they are hauled off to prison if it comes to that even when they are killed!

Will we stand with them and say that's my faith too! God warned and Noah heeded the warning and obeyed and we must do the same the last thing I want to talk about is the fruit of faith before I do that I want to make an observation on something that the author of Hebrews does not say Noah's time after the flood after they're out of the ark was not not really very good not a very good example Noah started a vineyard he got drunk on the fruit of the vine he did some shameful things and what I want us to notice is that people of faith are not perfect people and let's be careful how we think of other believers who have sinned and sinned badly remember how

Hebrews speaks of Noah and of David what do we say we say David is the man after God's own heart but there was the thing with Bathsheba we always remember the bad along with the good mark on that we shouldn't do that and the author of Hebrews very easily could have done that with Noah and with David Noah is a great man of faith but there was this episode!

the! It was really ugly is really shameful make sure you don't do that but that's not his goal here and he's not afraid to simply point out their great faith without bringing up some of the baggage that comes with Noah with David good I think we should be quick to see and encourage the good in others as well when you think of your brother or your sister in Christ is it automatically negative because you can't let go of something bad that they have done in their life dwell on their faith instead of their sin or maybe apply it to yourself maybe something from your own past!

some past sin! for which you have sought and received forgiveness from God and from whoever you sinned against maybe something keeps causing you guilt and you keep calling it to mind well God has forgiven you you have faith and your past sin does not change that reality I appreciate the way that Hebrews looks back at some of these figures and doesn't feel necessary doesn't feel it's needed to call to mind all of their flaws don't feel like it's necessary to think about every horrible thing that you know that they have done view them as God does as clothed in the righteousness of Christ that new creation our new identity that we worshipped concerning this morning be careful how you think of others lastly the fruit of faith so God's warning Abraham's obedience by faith and then the fruit of!

by faith Noah condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith he condemned the world his witness his testimony showed the foolishness of not heeding God's warning his faith stood in contrast to the wicked unbelief of the people in his day and age his righteousness highlighted their evil his preaching and their rejection of that word condemned!

them Noah by his faith condemned! because of righteous Noah the man of faith they had no excuse no out no one to blame except themselves Noah by faith condemned the world around him that was in such a state of rebellion us too when we live by faith we call attention to the wickedness and faithlessness around us and so in a manner of speaking the reality of our faith condemns that faithlessness of the world around us your light exposes the darkness and that darkness when it continues in darkness is condemned Noah by faith condemned the world but he was also an heir of righteousness by faith Noah didn't earn his standing with God he was an heir he inherited it he received it by faith God said to Noah as he told him to the end of the ark in Genesis 7 1 for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation and so Noah for all of his obedience and all of his persistent obedience and his righteousness flowing from his faith his obedience was not what earned him favor with

God he was an heir he inherited! his righteous standing before God 8 and 9 if ever there was a righteous man who claimed righteousness Paul the fairest he was it he talks about how he could have claimed that righteous standing but he says indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith that's what Noah had he became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith now that faith is never alone it's always accompanied!

by obedience and good works which testify to the reality of faith and are pleasing to God but we're not saved by those good works we're saved by faith in Christ we too people who have faith in Christ are heirs of the righteousness that is by faith not by works though our faith certainly will work and those works will demonstrate the reality of our faith if you say I have faith but you live the life of an unbeliever your faith has no credibility!

I'm a believer I'm a follower of Jesus and you don't live like it you live like everybody else in the world your faith has no credibility you're not a believer if Noah had said oh I believe you Lord when he heard the warning but he didn't build the ark his faith wouldn't have been genuine and the commentators help point that out but building the ark didn't save him faith in God's way of salvation did so friends if you have no works to show for your faith there's no reason to believe that your faith is genuine let me say that again if you have no works to show for your faith no fruit then there's no reason to believe that your faith is genuine that's the beauty of Noah's faith by faith he obeyed!

It's very clear that his faith you claim to have faith you must obey as well all who have faith obey we could work that out in all sorts of ways what will that obedient life look like we're not going to take a lot of time to do that but Jesus boiled it down to two commands you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart you love your neighbor as yourself is there fruit of that in your life do you love God does it show in the way you love his word and you love to talk to him you love to worship with him or worship him you love to worship with his people and you love his people and you show compassion and kindness to them and you love those who are in darkness and tell them about the!

Jesus there be all sorts righteous obedience that doesn't mean his righteousness saved him his righteous obedience was by faith and the faithful God God saves and we are heirs so what do you think of when you hear the name Noah I hope that you think of persistently obedient faith in the face of significant opposition hope you think of faith that endures to the end even when others are telling you you are a fool for believing I know that's more than one word association but I hope when you think of Noah that you will think of faith and I hope you don't just think of that generically and just leave it with no but I hope that you think specifically about your own faith not in an ark to save you from a physical flood but of

God's wrath Christ compared Christ himself compared his second coming to what happened in the days of Noah it's much like our day isn't it people are eating drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and then a flood came and swept them away are you ready for that flood Noah's faith was secure and he went into that ark trusting!

God and our faith must be secure in Christ as well may God give us grace to stand firm to the end do you believe the warnings about a hell that you cannot see do you believe the promises about a Christ that you cannot see we should and we must and I pray that you will come to Christ in faith today get in the ark I know there's no box for you to climb!

I see the warnings I see that I deserve the wrath of God but I also see this cross where you died and what the Bible tells me and what that preacher is telling me from the Bible is that when Jesus died there he was taking that flood of God's wrath in the place of sinners well I'm a sinner and I don't want to face the flood of!

wrath I embrace the Savior Jesus so will you save me I don't even fully understand what that means but will you save me from my sin I deserve judgment and I see that Jesus has taken it please make that mine that's getting in the ark you see your unbelief is as damning to you today as that of the people of Noah's day was to them They didn't believe you see the flood is this beautiful story of salvation Noah and his family being saved in the ark the flip side of that is the horrifying reality of judgment on those who were outside the ark and didn't have faith there's this beautiful savior Jesus it's a wonderful story but the other side of that is the again horrifying reality for those who are not trusting in

Christ those warnings that wrath that hell that foreverness of it that is all coming for those who are not in Christ!

too in Christ so he goes on looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God that's our savior Noah testifies to the reality that faith in that savior faith in the unseen is not in vain may we hold fast to that faith may we also like Noah be heralds of righteousness to our world around us that desperately needs to know the savior they too need faith in the unseen!

Savior of the world the Lord Jesus Christ may we embrace him may we persevere in that! may we be glad to tell others about him let's pray together father we thank you for the ark of salvation that you have provided for us in Christ we pray that we would persevere in our faith in Christ that we would not turn aside or grow weary even in the face of great opposition we pray for those that don't know you that have never trusted in Christ that they would and the savior Jesus and find deliverance salvation from their sins do this great work not because we deserve it but because we have a great savior Jesus do it for his sake and we pray in his name amen I don't have a closing hymn but I do have a word of benediction and blessing from the word of God and then we'll be dismissed and

God our father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word amen and we're dismissed Thank you.