The Faith of Noah (Part 2)

Hebrews 11 and the Faith Heroes

I invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Hebrews, where we'll be beginning today. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. As most of you know, and I want to make my introduction as short as I can to move right into the text that we're going to be looking at.

We have been looking now at Hebrews chapter 11 for quite some time and we're using it as a springboard. To look at the various individuals that are talked about in this chapter, the great what we call faith heroes, the men and women who the Bible mentions as being examples to us of faith.

And today, of course, we are continuing with last week. I only finished a few verses in Genesis six because we're looking at the story of Noah. So I want to invite you to stand and we'll read this verse in Hebrews as the introduction to today's lesson.

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse seven 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.

Our father and our God, as we examine the text of Scripture this morning, as we spend time looking at the life of Noah and as we begin to look at Genesis six at the introduction to his life and who he was.

And the Bible calls him, Lord, a man who was a righteous man in his generation. Lord, let us remember, O God, your grace and mercy to him as you kept him from the flood. And we pray, O God, that we would see his faith as an example.

And Lord, God, as one that, though not perfect as an individual, did display a faith that we as believers in Jesus Christ seeking to be faithful can seek to emulate. I pray, Lord, as we examine this text of Scripture, that you would keep me from error, as is my prayer every time I step to preach the word.

I pray, O Lord, because I know my capacity for failure and I pray that you would keep me from error. I pray that you would keep the congregation's heart attentive to the word. And I pray, Lord, for your mercy upon us as we study the word together.

In Jesus name we pray and for his sake. Amen. Last week, we began to look at Genesis chapter six, because it is in Genesis chapter six that we find the stage being set for the story of Noah and the flood.

And as I said, and I will say probably every time as we're going through this, this is not a children's story. I think any time a pastor steps behind the pulpit and says, OK, today we're going to be preaching on Noah.

People's eyes tend to kind of glaze over. Oh, I know the story of Noah. I know what happened. And I was in pre-kindergarten Sunday school class when I first heard about Noah. So I know all about it. Well, there's so much of the story of Noah.

There's so much of the plot of the situation and the situation, particularly in regard to God's disfavor with mankind that is left out of the kindergarten story. It's left out of pre-k. And it's something that we as adults, believers seeking toward spiritual maturity ought to re-examine.

So that's what we've been doing. So, again, if you want to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter six, again, I want to not re-preach what I preached last week. But I just want to give you a very brief overview, because in the beginning of Genesis chapter six, it talks about man's multiplication on the face of the earth, how man began to multiply.

And it begins talking about how there was some form of intermarriage which brought about a race of particularly wicked individuals. And that the wickedness of mankind began to spread and that, as the text goes on to say, the heart of man was only, every intent of his heart was only evil continually.

That phrase is just burned into my mind because I think about looking at our world today and looking at so much of our world and what we see around the world is, by and large, people whose every thought and every action seems to be driven by a desire to do that which God has commanded not to do.

We have entire political and social movements in our land which are based around things that God has commanded we not do. Yet these groups are just so committed to being an affront to the nature and character of God.

They're so committed to looking God in the face and spitting upon him that it's hard not to say that our very own day sees the masses as being those who are only focused on evil continually. So it's easy to recognize the the plight of the earth as it was in the days of Noah, and it goes on to talk about how, when God looked upon the wickedness of man, that God was sorrowful because of man's wickedness.

And we talked last week about how that does not disregard disregard God's sovereignty, nor does it disregard God's knowledge of all things. But it does speak to his hatred of sin. We often don't like talking about God's hatred because we have been so convinced in our culture that God is only a God of love and God does not have the capacity for something like hate.

But what we must remember is that God does hate sin. He hates that which is an affront to his character. And what we see here is God choosing to cleanse the world of this sinful problem. Yet in verse eight, and this is where we ended last week, we have this wonderful verse of the Bible that says, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

That that word but is so important because the word but comes into those places that where we are at our lowest, the answer is but God has done something. If you think about it, when you look in the New Testament, we see that word but come up in many places.

You will see the Bible says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It goes on to talk about how sinful man is. And it says the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That word but is so important because it's showing God's work in the midst of our problem. And that's what we have here. Mankind is in a large sin problem. It's everywhere. It's rampant. There's a problem.

But one man found grace. And again, I talked last week about the word favor and how that word can also be translated as grace. Because, to be honest with you, there is no person in the world who deserves God's favor.

Thus, when we see the word favor and it's God to man favor from God to man, it is always unmerited favor. And the definition of unmerited favor is grace. And so then Noah found grace or favor in the eyes of the Lord.

And that's where we ended last week. And I want to begin this week looking at who Noah was and what he did. It says these are the generations of Noah. Verse nine. These are the generations of Noah. And it begins by giving us a character reference about the person of Noah.

It says Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Now, this is not the first time in the Bible that we see somebody walking with God. The last time we saw this is when we looked at the person of Enoch.

The Bible says Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. And later in the book of Hebrews, it says that what that meant, what that phrase meant is that because of Enoch's relationship with the Lord, Enoch was taken and did not die.

But instead he was translated. Another word might be raptured. He was taken up into heaven rather than having to die. That is how God had that relationship with Enoch. Enoch walked with God and God took him so that he did not die.

However, with Noah, there's a different situation. Noah also walks with God. But instead of God removing Noah from the earth, God is going to see Noah through the condition of the trial that God is going to bring on the world.

Noah is going to be used by God as an instrument in the hands of God. And sometimes I think we need to recognize the different ways in which God deals with people. Because sometimes God takes us out of a situation as he did with Enoch.

And sometimes what God walks with us through a situation as he's going to do with Noah. But if we are in Christ, God never leaves us alone. We always have the Lord with us. But I want to talk for a moment about this passage, because it says Noah was a righteous man.

And some people would use that and say that the Bible here contradicts itself. Because the Bible in Romans chapter three and in various other places, it says there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none who understands.

There is none who seeketh after God. So if we know the Bible says there is none righteous, which is a universal negative, there is none. Yet here it says Noah was righteous. How then do we understand?

Is the Bible here in error? Is the Bible here making a contradiction that cannot be understood? No. Because we have to understand what it means when the Bible calls someone righteous. When the Bible calls someone righteous, the Bible is declaring their righteousness based upon faith.

Because righteousness is something that God imputes to us. It is not something that we earn by works. You understand the difference if we say someone is righteous in and of themselves, that they have established a righteousness of their own and they are by virtue righteous because of their own inherent righteousness.

Then that would be opposed to scripture because scripture says there is none righteous. No, not one. Yet at the same time, if God by faith declares us righteous, which he does with all of us, when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says God declares us justified or he declares us righteous.

Righteousness is a declaration from God. It is not something we earn. It is something we receive from God. And this text clearly says Noah found favor in the eyes of God. He was graced by God. He was given the grace of God.

And as a result of that grace, here's the thing. Noah's righteousness was not the cause of God's grace. Noah's righteousness was the result of God's grace. You must understand that the righteousness of Noah is the result of God showing him favor.

And as such, he was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Now I want to talk about that word blameless, because that word is also important. The word blameless there, some people think that means to be sinless.

But beloved, I can tell you, Noah was not sinless. In fact, later on in the text of scripture, we're going to see him indulge in strong drink. And he's going to embarrass himself before his son. And as a result, his son is going to receive a curse as a result of that embarrassing situation.

So Noah wasn't to the point that he never, ever made a mistake. And that's what it means to be sinless. It means to never make a mistake. But what does it mean when we talk about someone who is blameless?

Well, I just want to quickly make a parallel to something. If you can hold your place in Genesis and you can turn to first Timothy three, I want to just show you something very quickly. And first Timothy chapter three, I'm sure most of you probably know this already.

But first Timothy chapter three gives the outline for the requirements for eldership, for the requirements for the pastorate. If you are seeking that, if God has placed it upon your heart to be a pastor, an elder within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is where you should go to first and ask yourself, do I fit these very powerful qualifications?

And it says in chapter three, verse one, the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Verse two, therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. Now, I just want to make a comparison in your mind to the concept of being above reproach and the concept when it talks about Noah and says Noah was blameless.

Above reproach does not mean perfect. It can't, because if above reproach meant to be perfect, none of us would be able to fit the qualification of being above reproach, not an elder in this church, because if it meant to be perfect, I could look and see all four of the elder, all three plus me.

And I know none of us would say that we are perfect. I can go to any church in America and I can find their elders or their pastor and I can say, are you perfect? And they would obviously say no. And I could go back to the beginning of the earliest church and I could find St. Peter, St. Peter himself was an elder.

He called himself an elder in his own writings. He was an elder. And was he perfect? No, in fact, he was called out by Paul for a mistake that he made well after he had become a leader in the church. The difference between being perfect.

And being above reproach is easy to understand because we know we're not perfect. So what then does it mean to be above reproach? And I would add the word blameless is synonymous with this phrase. What does it mean to be blameless?

It is simply this, that the man who comes before the people of God to proclaim the word of God is not to have in his life anything that the church could very easily and readily call him out in regard to his sin.

If there was something in my life, if there was something in Jack Bunning's life or Byron Starkweather's life or Richard Taylor's life that could easily be counted, this is sin. This is something that you have refused to repent of.

And at that moment, we continue to refuse. We would yet then be not above reproach. Doesn't mean that we're perfect and I've sinned and I fight a battle with sin daily. And if you were honest, you would agree that you do the same thing.

I've always used the analogy of the coat rack. I say that a pastor is to be a flagpole and not a coat rack. Flagpole, you can't hang anything on, but a coat rack, you can come up and hang all kinds of stuff on.

And if a pastor has sins and sins and sins sticking out and you could come up and hang something on him. Well, then he doesn't qualify. The same could be said for Noah. There's no a perfect no, but he qualified as a man to be called blameless and his generation.

He was blameless among those people that had become so desperately wicked that their hearts not only did not seek for God, but sought for the very things that were in opposition to God. And here we see Noah among his generations as the only one who could rightfully be called blameless.

Thus, we are back in Genesis six now and we look at verse 10. And it says,. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now, whether or not we realize that those three men are going to become the ancestors of the entire human race, you realize that that everyone in here is either a Shemite, a Hamite or a Japhethite.

Now, I have done some reading and according to some scholars, the belief is that Japheth was the ancestor of the people that had fair skin. In fact, there are some who argue that Japheth meant fair skinned one or a fair one.

And as such, if that's the case, if he was the person who spawned the Caucasian race, then we are all Japhethites, if that's the case. But I, of course, I would not stand and debate such a thing as such would be very difficult.

At best, it would be very difficult to prove. However, at the same time, we can't argue the fact that all of us are either a Shemite, a Hamite or Japhethite because after this, after this and we're all Noahites, by the way, we all are descendants of Noah and Noah was a descendant of Adam.

So we all can trace our lineage, at least back through one of the sons of Noah to Noah and then back to Adam. It's clear in the text of scripture that no one else survived the flood. So this is where we are.

And then in verse 11, it goes on. And now we're going to begin seeing the scenario play itself out. It says now 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.

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. This is the point at which Noah receives the message from God that God is going to destroy the earth because of sin.

We can scarcely imagine what it would be like to receive a message from God audibly. And even more, what it would be like to receive a message from God of impending doom, and you can imagine how much it must have taken Noah aback to understand that not only is God going to destroy the world, but that he and his family are going to be the only ones who are going to be saved from the judgment.

And so God goes on to the commands, he says in verse 14. Make yourself this is the command of God to Noah, make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Now, gopher wood, we don't know exactly what it is. Some people conjecture and say that it was cypress.

But I think I read that in the same book about the Japhethites. I think a lot of this is pure speculation. We don't know what gopher wood was exactly. We know that there are cypress trees in the area, but we don't know that those same trees were in the area before the flood.

After the flood, everything changed. So to try to make an argument about the pre-flood wood is somewhat superfluous. But it says go and make an ark of gopher wood, says make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch, make it watertight is what that is.

And then it says this is how you are to make it. The length of the ark would be 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits. 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. Now, a cubit is approximately 18 inches long, which would make the ark a very, very large vessel. This is no canoe that God is asking Noah to build. This ship was the length of one and one half football fields, and it was as high as a four story building.

And interestingly enough, this is the exact this is exactly six times longer than it was. Let me say that again. It was exactly six times longer than it was wide. And that same ratio is still used today for modern shipbuilders.

So it's interesting that the way that God told him to build it was, well, of course, it's God. It's going to be the right way, but it's in accord with what we understand about how ships are supposed to be built and built and to be seaworthy.

And the interesting thing is it's most likely that this was told to Noah to build a long way away from any body of water. He didn't say build it right next to the to the ocean or to the sea and then roll it out into the sea on large logs, which is how they often build ships.

They'll build ships near the sea and then they'll use logs to take the ship out into the water. Well, that's not what God is saying to Noah here. He says simply build it. Why? Because the water is going to come to you.

The water is going to come to where the ark is because the water is going to come everywhere. They didn't have to bring it to the water. God was going to bring the water to them. And then in verse 17, it says, For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh and which is the breath of life under heaven.

Everything that is on the earth shall die, 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. Imagine. I will establish my covenant with you, though the whole world dies, you will be saved from this judgment.

Beloved, I've heard it said often. By people, well, I have a hard time believing that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven because there's so many people out there who don't believe in Jesus Christ, does that mean they're all going to go to hell?

Well, let me ask you this question. When God told Noah to build the ark and Noah built the ark and he saved them, was he unjust in sending the wicked punishment and saving only those in the family of Noah?

No, he was not unjust. Likewise, God is not unjust when he says only those who are in Christ will be saved. Do not miss the justice of God because it rides right alongside the love of God. The love of God is what saves people from judgment.

But the justice of God is what pours out his wrath upon those. Upon whom it is deserved. So we see here, it says everything that is on the earth shall die. And you can I really I try to read the Bible.

I try to read these situations, understanding this is a real person in real time and a real place. And I think people forget that sometimes again, we read stories as if they're stories. But you've got to think about Noah in this situation.

You've got to think about what Noah's thinking. Think about his situation, imagine what's going on through his mind, everyone in the world except you and your kids is about to die. It's a sobering thought.

If God opened the heavens and told you that, imagine. The weight upon your heart, why me, why now? In verse 19, it says, and of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring to. And this, of course, is the great where we learn about God choosing to save two of all the animals, it says you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.

They shall be male and female of the birds, according to their kinds and the animals, according to their kinds of every creeping thing on the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.

Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Again, an act of grace. Though God is about to bring. Ultimate destruction on the earth, he says, now bring two of each kind of animal later, we'll see that there are seven of some that are going to be used in the clean animals for sacrifice.

But he says at this point, he's just talking about the two bring two of every kind. Why two of every kind? Why male and female? Well, the answer is obvious for procreative purposes. Once this is over.

God is going to replenish the earth. Somebody asked one time, how could God fit or how can Noah fit big ole elephants and big ole giraffes and big ole this and big ole that in the ark? What makes you think he brought big ole elephants and big ole giraffes and big ole anything?

What makes you think he didn't bring babies? Interesting question. All it says is bring a male and a female. And if he brought a little baby elephant, which is still pretty big, it would certainly take up a lot less space, eat a lot less food.

It's not as ridiculous as perhaps some of the scientific community might make it sound. Now, the key verse, at least for our lesson today, the key verse is verse 22. Noah did all this. He did all that God commanded.

You know, that's a simple statement, but it really it really marks out a profound truth in the text because Noah said yes to a task that was of monumental size and historical significance. Noah was told by God, go and build something that likely up until that time, nothing had ever been built of that size and magnitude by a single family.

And he says, go and build this thing. In fact, there's a literary redundancy here. He says, Noah, in verse 22, there's a there's a redundant statement. Noah did all or Noah says Noah did this. He did all that God commanded him.

You see, it's saying it twice. It's bringing emphasis to the fact that Noah obeyed God. The redundancy is there to underscore his obedience. He obeyed God's word and he obeyed it to the letter. Beloved, we fight today about obeying God's word.

We fight with each other over the simplest, silliest arguments about whether or not we should obey God's word on this or obey God's word on that. How would you respond if God said. Go and make a ship the size of any ocean liner you've ever seen, just you and your three children.

And go and build it out of wood, and I'm telling you, they have craftsman power tools. There was no Bob Vila, there was no this old arc. There was just Noah and his sons and what was apparently a plethora of gopher wood and pitch, they said, and build it.

And the Bible just makes this simple. Verse 22 is so short because it just says. No, it did this all that God said, no, it did. Beloved, if you consider the monumental nature of the task. And that Noah simply trusted God and move forward in faith, that's why he's included in Hebrews 11.

That's why he's included in that great faith chapter, because God gave Noah a monumental task and Noah said, here I am, Lord, I'll do it. No problem. Let's get it going. But. Beloved, God has given us a monumental task, he's given us a monumental task in following his son, Jesus Christ, he's given us a monumental task in seeking that every day that we live, we live in accordance with the faith that we have in his son.

And he has given us the task to come together, to be the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to love one another as Christ has loved us, to build one another up, to use our spiritual gifts for the mutual edification of the body and be the church.

But yet so often we say, oh, well, I don't know if I really want to participate. Oh, well, I don't know if I really want to live for Christ today. Oh, well, I'll do that tomorrow. Look at yourself through the eyes.

Of Noah. When he stood and he said to God, yes, I will. How can we then look to God and say. God, I'll wait till tomorrow, it's a sad thing, but it's how often we face those things that God has commanded us to do.

I encourage you this week to meditate upon Noah's faith, the type of faith that would build a boat when there was yet no water to lift it, the type of faith that would gather animals and food when there was yet no rain to threaten them.

The type of faith that hears the word of God and simply says, yes, Lord, I am yours to command. For it is that type of faith that should mark us all as followers of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, as we come to the conclusion of the message today and we look at the faith of Noah as an example of the faith that we should have as we live for our savior and Lord Jesus Christ in this world, we pray, Lord, as we come now to the time in the service wherein we look within and we inspect ourselves and we compare what we have said or what we have heard.

To where our hearts are, I pray, Lord, that if there are those whose hearts have been stirred, that you by your Holy Spirit would continue to move and use this message as you would see fit. And I pray, God, for those who are seeking to become a part of this church, Lord God, that you would use their gifts and their talents and all that they are bringing, Lord, to build your body and that the body would mutually build them.

And Lord God, in all things and in all ways, that we would seek your glory in these things that we are doing. In Jesus name we pray and for his sake. Amen.