Hebrews chapter 11, faith, believing
God's word. That's what this faith is all
about. Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, now faith is the substance,
it's the assurance of things hoped for. We believe God's word. When he says, all that the father
has given to me shall come to me, we believe it. We believe
that we may be one of his because he's called us to hear his word
and to believe his word. Paul goes on in his letter to
the Hebrews to tell us of these different ones, these brothers
and sisters who died in Christ before Paul, who had gone on
to be with the Lord. We've read about, by faith, Abel
had offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. By faith, Enoch was
translated that he should not seek death. And then here in
verse seven, we're gonna look at this again, because there's
so much here. So much here in verse seven. that we could go on for ages
just looking at this one verse, but we're just gonna be part
B today. But wait a minute, that's another
part we're looking at. We're just gonna look at, we're
gonna look at this, but it's just the one part, the second
part. Let's read this together, shall
we? Hebrews chapter 11, verse seven, by faith Noah, now catch
this, being warned of God, Now I want to stop there for just
a moment because I want to go back to Hebrews chapter 1 and
read what it says back there in Hebrews chapter 1. God, who
in sundry times, in diverse manners, spake in times past unto the
father by the prophet. Our great prophet spoke to Noah
himself. The prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ,
spoke to Noah. And he warned, he was warned
of God, the things not seen as yet. What was he warned of? He
was warned a struggle was coming. He was warned that there was
a flood going to come, and it was the most ridiculous warning
that anybody would have thought of, because what do you mean
it's going to rain? Well, what do you mean you want me to build
a box that's going to float? Why would it float? He was warned
of God. just as he speaks to you and
I today, but today, as it says there in Hebrews chapter one,
chapter one verse two, happened these last days, spoken unto
us by his son. Folks, this is the word. This
is the word that was spoken of in John chapter one. In the beginning
was the word. What was the word? The word was
about the Lord Jesus Christ. From beginning to end. The word
is Christ himself. He spoke to Noah, and out of
fear, out of reverential fear, Noah prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. God told him, prepare this ark,
I'm gonna bring a flood, I'm gonna destroy all flood on the
earth, but I'm gonna save you and your family, I'm gonna have
you take your family into the ark, and I'm gonna save you by
that ark. Okay, okay. We're gonna go do
it. We're gonna do what the Lord
said because I believe. He prepared an ark to the saving
of his house by the which he condemned the world. He condemned
the world. He knew that the world was full
of lies. And the only truth was then the
word of God. And he condemned the world. I
remember my mom used to ask, why do you always have to tell
talk up the storm about the other religion. Why do you always have
to point your finger at the world? Did you see what it said right
there? He condemned the world. Did you know he was a preacher
of righteousness? He went about preaching the same
message that today, that you have no righteousness of your
own? That without the righteousness of Christ, you're going to hell?
He condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which
is by faith. Do you notice he didn't say he
was saved by grace, he was saved by faith, he said through faith,
by faith. It does say by faith. Okay, we
just got lost in what I was saying. We can cut that part out in the
end. He became heir of the righteousness
which is by faith. Hebrews 11, verse 7. Long ago,
a man by the name of Martin Luther wrote these words. He said, if
you want to interpret the word of God well and competently,
set Christ before you, for he is the man to whom it all applies,
every bit of it. Edmund Clown, he said something
kind of similar to that. He said, he said this, he said,
we do not find Christ in the Old Testament. We do not find
Christ in the Old Testament. by spotting accidental references
or similarities here and there. He is the center, the structure
of the whole history of the Old Testament. So we considered last
week by faith Noah. God the Holy Spirit is showing
us how that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. He is showing us how that without
faith it is impossible to believe God. The example he selects and
holds before us in the seventh verse is Noah, and the basis
for that faith is this. The basis of Noah's faith was
the Word of God. By faith, Noah being warned of
God of the things not yet seen, not seen as yet. So in other
words, faith must have a foundation. It must have a reason. It must
have something to have faith in. It's the basis, the foundation
of it. And the foundation of all truth,
faith is what? The Word of God. How often have
you heard me stand before you and say, you want truth in this
world? Then read this. Because everything outside of
this is mixed with the tainted flesh of men and can be lied
about. Is it any surprise to us that
Governments all over the world for thousands of years have been
lying to the people? Is it any surprise to those of
us who know the truth of God's Word that we can't find truth
in anything else in this world? Noah's foundation was the same
foundation you and I have and that is the saving faith of God's
Word. In Romans 10, 17, we have words
to confirm that. It says, so then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Noah believed because
God spoke. That's what we read in verse
one there. And he believed when God spoke. Though it was contrary
to all reason, all experience, all the signs at that time, God
warned him of things that had not yet been seen, the universal
flood, Though it did never rain, the building of an ark, though
no ship had ever needed to be built, the saving of himself
and all the creatures in the ark, the destruction of all who
were not in that ark." What? God's gonna kill everything?
No one believes that's gonna happen. That's the basis of faith. We believe God's Word. I've had
more people come to me and say, John, I just don't know that
I'm seeing it. I just don't... I said, well, why? Why do you feel it? Well, I can't
get my mind to stop doing this. Is it not true, John, that thoughts
are the same as doing the deeds? Yes, it is. Well, I just can't
get my mind to stop doing these things. And I have to remind
him, neither could Paul. And any man who tells you he
can is a flat out liar. How do we know we're saved? I ask you this. Do you believe
God? Quit looking at yourself. Quit
looking at what it is about you. Do you believe God? Did he put
away the sin of his people or not? It says in scripture he
did. I know it's hard for us to see
when we look at ourselves in the mirror every morning. I know
it's hard for us to understand when we think about what we're
doing in this class. Oh, I hate what I do. So did
Paul. So does every one of God's people. We all hate what we do. That's
why we need a Savior. Don't we? Don't we? Help us to remember that about
each other. Help me to remember that you're
sitting right there where you are this morning thinking, I
hate what I do! Thank God there's a faith! Oh,
there's faith. There's evidence of faith as
we read there in verse one of chapter 11. Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The evidence of Noah's faith
was his reverence for and the obedience to the Lord God Almighty. He moved with fear. He prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. Noah feared God. He had reverential
fear. He knew the majesticness of God
and that everything he said is true. And God gave him the faith
to believe that when the rains were going to come, They were
gonna come. We have the same faith that when
the Lord says, I'm gonna return, He is gonna return. I love talking
about faith. Faith doesn't save, but I can't
be saved unless I have it. And I quote, I'll tell you, that's
the only assurance that I have, is that I believe Him. And because
I believe Him, I try. I try as hard as I can. Even though I fail, I'm still
trying. Even though I have these thoughts
that I hate to go through my mind, I'm still trying. You know
why the Lord said, forgive your one who offends you, your brother,
70 times 70? He forgives me way more. His reverence for the Lord has
caused him to obey the Lord's word. Without delay, before our
first Braindrop ever failed, Noah began preparing an ark just
exactly how the Lord had told him to do it. His object in doing
so was that he and his family might be saved from the wrath
to come according to the promise of God. And like James, Noah
showed his faith by his works. Faith believes the word of God
and acts upon it. Show me a man who believes God
and I'll show you a man reverence of God and obeys Him to the best
of his ability. There's fruit. There's fruit
in believing God. Did you know that? There's fruit
in having faith in God. The fruit of Noah's faith was
justification. He was justified in the sight
of God. Because he believed God's Word. Because God gave him the gift
of faith. Isn't that wonderful how that
works? You see how that completely went around? You could draw circles
in a picture on a piece of paper and see it just go. Justify Pharaoh,
why? Because he believed, why? Because
God gave him. See how it continues right around
the glory? Keep going to who? Not Noah,
not God. All the glory goes to God, doesn't
it? All the glory goes to his son, the Lord Jesus. As a preacher
of righteousness, He declared a certain condemnation. It says
he condemned the world. He declared a certain condemnation
of all who would not believe him. And by his actions, he both
reproved the unbelieving and aggravated their guilt. And at
the same time, Noah himself became the heir of righteousness, which
is by faith. Neither his faith nor his obedience
made him righteous, but by faith he received the righteousness
of God. And what is the righteousness
of God? It's in his son, the Lord Jesus. And if you're in
his son, you have received the righteousness of God in his son,
the Lord Jesus, you have justification and eternal life. Will you or
will you not believe God? There's a storm of wrath coming.
God's gonna punish sin, but he has made a way for sinners. You
know the words already John 3 John chapter 3, what do we read there?
And I want to read just I want to read more than just verse
16 Let's read John 3 14 through 16 where it says and as Moses
lifted up the serpent the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world, he
so loved all of his people throughout all time, in all nations, in
all times, he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever." And there it is. Whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So there's
fruit. There's fruit of the faith. By his obedience to God as a
sinner's substitute, by his life of righteousness, speaking of
Christ, and by his sin-atoning death, Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, has become the ark of deliverance for God to let for
you and I. He's the ark of our deliverance.
If we're in Him, we're above all things in the world. Yeah,
I've shared with some of you, there may be some of you who
haven't heard of this before, but if you take the world, and it's
round, I don't care what all those slanderers say, it's round.
If you take the world, and you cover it with water, the water's
self-leveling, is it not? If you put a bucket on the edge
like this, the water will be like this sideways, because it's
self-leveling. If you take a round world, you
fill it all the way completely to the top of the water, you
put a box on top of that water, what's the highest point in the
world? Christ. Our Ark. Our Salvation. We raise Him up above everything,
even in the flood of this world. Isn't that wonderful? I love
seeing that. I can close my eyes and just
picture that every time and get a big ol' smile on my face. Question
is, will we enter in by faith? Will you trust the Son of God
and be saved? Grace was granted. It said, but
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, in Genesis chapter
6, verse 8. And the cause of Noah's salvation
was God's sovereign grace. The scripture does not say that
the Lord found grace in the eyes of Noah. No, it says Noah found
grace in the eyes of food. of the Lord. Because God, from
eternity, had set his eye of grace upon Noah, the Lord God
found a way to be gracious to him. God found a way to save
Noah, just as he figured, found a way to save all of his people.
And the ark was divined by God, not Noah. Noah alone was chosen
as the object of God's grace, because he was chosen of God.
Noah was eventually delivered from the wrath of God, and the
Lord God established his covenant, preserved his seed, and accomplished
his purpose in Noah. So here's the means of salvation.
The means of salvation was that ark. Noah and his family were
saved by the flood in a ship called an ark, which God commanded
him to build. It saved those who were in it
from the violent wrath, the vengeance, and the angry God. Remember,
that's why God came and brought the flood in the first place.
He was angry with man. He looked upon the earth and
all he saw were vile, sinful men. Every heart was wicked. That included Noah. Did you know
that? And as there was but one ark in the days of Noah, there
is but one way of salvation today. And here it is. There is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Jesus Christ. Amen. Because Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, he was given a blessing, he was given
faith. He believed God. Believing God, he acted upon
God's revelation, he was being warned of God. Every act of faith
is the response of the believing heart to God's word. Let me show that to you. I'll
turn over to Romans chapter 10 for just a moment. We'll close
with these thoughts. In Romans chapter 10, one verse, verse
17, we saw that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. All that Noah did, and all that
he obtained, he did and obtained it by faith. Noah believed God,
he believed God's word concerning sin, he believed God's word according
to judgment, he believed God in stating of by the ark and
the promise of grace to all who enter into it. Amen.