tonight's message, the faith
of Noah. But I would like to begin by
reading a passage from James chapter two, if you would turn
there. James chapter two. Verse 14. What does it profit my brethren?
Though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works, can faith
save him? Look in verse 17. Even so, faith,
if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Verse 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Verse 24. You see then how that
by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Verse 26. For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Now I'm sure all of us, when
we've read that passage of scripture, have asked ourselves this question,
what does that mean? Perhaps we've even been frightened
by it. What does that mean? How does that line up with Paul's
conclusion Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Now those two statements seem
to be opposed to one another on the surface. James' statement
of faith without works is dead. And Paul's conclusion that faith
is, true faith is without works. It looks to Christ alone. Now some have thought Paul is
speaking of our justification before God, but James is speaking
of our justification before men. Before God, it's only faith.
But to prove that I have faith, I'm going to have to work to
prove that to men. Is that what James is saying?
No. No. Unequivocally, no. Now, I want to be a good example
to you. And I know you want to be a good
example to me. I have no doubt about that. I want our lives
to honor the Lord and be an encouragement one to another. As far as that
goes in this thing of preaching, there are three things that are
necessary for me to listen to a preacher. Number one, he's
got to have the message. If he doesn't have the message,
I don't want to hear him. Number two, He's got to live what he
believes. If he doesn't, I don't care if
he claims to have the message. I don't really want to listen
to it. If he doesn't live what he believes. And number three,
that man must have my best interests at heart. If I'm just a number
to him, a part of his ministry, I'm not really interested in
listening to him. I want that man to have my best
interest at heart. I want him to want me to know
the Lord. Now, as I said, I want to be
a good example to you in every way, but I'm not really trying
to prove to you whether or not I have faith. Actually, it's
irrelevant. It's irrelevant. This is not saying I'm indifferent
about what you think, but I'm not trying to prove to you that
I have faith. I'm attempting to preach the
word of God. And that's all I care about, is preaching the word
of God. Noah tells us what this means,
faith without works, What proved Noah believed God?
He built the ark. That is what faith and works
means. Noah proved he believed God by
this simple fact that he built the ark. If he would have failed
to build the ark, that would prove that he did not have faith,
wouldn't it? Turn with me to Revelation chapter
14. Hold your finger there and turn
to Revelation 14. Verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. Best day of my life's gonna be
the day of my death. Blessed are the dead that die in the
Lord. Henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may have rest from their labors. Now among the reasons
why I look forward to dying is because I'm gonna have rest from
my labors. That's not talking about rest
from the toils of studying and preaching. That's talking about
the labor every believer deals with with this thing called sin. I won't be a sinner anymore. I'll be perfectly conformed to
the image of his son. Now look what he says next. And
their works, everybody that enters into heaven, without exception,
and their works do follow them. Notice the works don't come out
front as the cause of salvation. The works don't walk along the
side as a ground of assurance. I can't look at my works and
think, well, I must be saved because look at my works. No,
I'm to look to Christ only. But they do come behind every
believer. There is going to be evidence
that he really believed what he said he believed. And Noah
is a beautiful example of that. Noah built the ark. To most of what goes on under
the name of Christianity, Noah is a children's Bible story.
You've seen pictures of Noah popping his head out, and the
giraffe, and the elephant, and the lion, and all the different
animals in the ark. It is a children's Bible story.
But the Lord spake of the days of Noah as a time during history. Let me quote Luke 17, 26 and
27. These are the words of the Lord.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in
the days of the son of man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day Noah
entered into the ark. And the flood came and destroyed
them all. Those days were much like today. Everybody was getting along in
life, doing everything they could, and then the flood came. The
day Noah went into the ark, it began to rain. The flood came,
and everyone was destroyed. Now, Peter refers to Noah in
both of his epistles. Let's read these together. Let's
turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 20, which sometimes were
disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah while the ark was preparing. Now, I believe that it was 120
years in preparing because God said, I'll not always strive
with men, but I'm going to give them 120 years. And during that
time, Noah built the ark, which sometimes were disobedient. And
once the long suffering God waited in the days of Dole while the
ark is preparing was preparing. We're in few and don't miss this. How many millions of people were
in the world at this time? I've heard all kinds of different
estimates, but I don't know. I'm sure there were millions.
This took 2,000 years for this to take place. How many people
were saved? Eight. In all the world, eight
people were saved. Look in 2 Peter 2. Peter refers to this time in
verse five, speaking of God, that he spared not the old world,
that world before the flood, but saved Noah, the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of
the ungodly. Now he's called a preacher of
righteousness. Now I have heard preachers deal
with this. You need to live righteously.
God's going to bring the flood. You better straighten up. You
better leave righteously. Is that the righteousness Noah
was a preacher of? No. He's talking about the same
righteousness that he became heir of in our texts, the righteousness
of faith, the righteousness provided for every believer in the gospel.
He was a preacher of righteousness. He told how God can be just. Now listen to this. He told how
God can be just and take somebody like me or you who are sinful. That's the truth, isn't it? With
regard to me and with you. He can be just and take somebody
like me or you who are sinful and make it till we never sinned
before. That's what justification is.
If I'm justified before God, that means I stand before God
as one who has never sinned. Oh, I find that attractive, don't
you? To stand before God, perfectly righteousness, as one who has
never sinned. Now that's what the whole Bible
is about. how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Now,
don't ever look at that as, well, I've already know that. Always
be amazed at the glorious truth of how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Now, turn back to Genesis 6,
where the story of Noah begins. Genesis 6. Noah was the son of Lamech. You
can read about that in the end of chapter five, but let's pick
up reading in verse one of chapter six. And it came to pass when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were
born unto them. that the sons of God saw that
the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them
wives of all which they chose." Now, there was a distinction
made between men in verse 26 of chapter 4. And to Seth, to
him also, there was born a son, and they called his name Enos. Then men began to call upon the
name of the Lord." That was the distinction between believers
and unbelievers. Some called upon the name of
the Lord, some didn't. Now at this time, the sons of
God, those who called upon the name of the Lord, saw the daughters
of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives, all
of which they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit,
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh,
yet his day shall be 120 years. I'm not gonna strive, but for
another 120 years. Now, there were giants in the
earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of
God came in unto the daughters of men, and they built children
to them that became mighty men, which were of old men of renown.
And here's where this went, and God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You know, the whole Bible is
understood in that context. That's me and you. Every imagination
of the thoughts, not even talking about the deeds right now, Just
talk about what goes on in the mind. Every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only. Do you hear that word? Only. Evil. That's a strong word. Continually
non-stop. That is what God saw. Verse six, and he repented the
Lord that he'd made man on the earth and it grieved him at his
heart. He was grieved. Uh, can the Lord
be grieved? Yeah. Yeah. When he saw this
sin, when he saw this rebellion, when he saw this unbelief, when
he saw this wickedness, he was grieved. You know, I think of
the scripture where it says to believers, grieve not the Holy
Spirit, whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption. Can
a believer grieve the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. And the Lord was
grieved. at what he saw, and the Lord
said, verse seven, I will destroy man whom I've created from the
face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I've made
them. But, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was described in verse five,
he was one of those people, but, here's the difference, but God.
But Noah found grace. Oh, what a glorious thing to
think. But Todd found grace. Put your name in there. But Noah
found grace. That's true of every believer.
But Noah, not of anybody else. But Noah found grace. In the eyes of the Lord, verse
nine, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations. Do you know that describes every
believer? If God saved me, he justified
me. And I am perfect before him.
Somebody says they were just holier back then. No, they weren't.
This is what every believer is. Because of the work of Christ,
they are just and perfect in God's sight. He doesn't say relatively
just or sort of perfect. No, just and perfect in the very
sight of God. Believer, that is you in the
sight of God because of Christ's work for you. And Noah walked
with God. Look in chapter seven, verse
one. And the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into
the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Now, if God sees you as righteous,
there's only one reason, you're righteous. How God sees is how
it is. That's how he saw Noah, and that's
how he saw every other believer. Now go back to Hebrews chapter
11. Now hold your finger on Genesis
chapter six, because we're gonna come back there in a moment. Hebrews chapter 11. By faith, verse eight, I mean
verse seven. By faith. Now, what faith? Same faith he's been talking
about throughout this book. The just shall live by faith. Don't miss that, the justified. How do they live? By faith, not
by works, by faith. by believing the gospel, the
same faith he'd been talking about. And this was an intelligent
act of faith. When it says by faith, Noah being
warned of God, he wasn't blind faith. He was doing what God
told him to do. God gave him precisely what he was going to
do. So faith is intelligent. And I hope you know that by intelligent,
I'm not talking about a high IQ. I'm talking about, you hear
what God says, you believe it, you act on it. It was an intelligent
faith, it wasn't a blind faith. It was an intelligent faith.
God gave him some specific instructions. And he was doing what he was
doing in obedience to what God said, God told him what would
take place, and what he was to do. Now turn back to Genesis
chapter six for a moment. By faith, Noah did this. Verse 12, or verse 11. And the earth also was corrupt
before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God
looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah,
the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled
with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with
the earth. Now look at what God tells him
to do. Make thee an ark. of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this
is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the
ark shall be three hundred cubits, four hundred fifty feet, a football
field and a half. The breadth of it fifty cubits,
seventy-five feet. The height of it 30 cubits, 45
feet. A window shalt thou make to the
ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above. And the door
of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I,
even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all
flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven. And everything
that's in the earth shall die, but with thee, shall I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons
and thy wife and thy son's wife with thee, and of every living
thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the
ark to keep them alive with thee, and it shall be male and female.
A thousand after their kind, of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing after their kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all
the food that's eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and
it shall be food for thee and for them. Thus Noah did according
to all that God commanded him." Now he had 120 years to build
this ark. I've listened to every message I can on it. Some people
think that he had to hire people to help him build such a thing. Well, the Bible never says that.
But this ark, what a sight it must have been on dry land. A football field and a half long,
75 feet wide, 45 feet tall. Now Peter said it was the long-suffering
of God that waited while Noah prepared the ark. And let me
say this about Noah's faith. He knew the Lord he believed.
You know, the key to faith is knowing the Lord. If you know
Him, you will believe Him. Everyone who knows Him exercises
saving faith. Everyone that knows Him believes
Him. You cannot believe an unrevealed
Christ. Now, if and when he reveals himself,
you will believe, and I love in our text, by faith, Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, speaking of that flood,
moved with fear. Now, this word, fear, is not
the word that's generally translated fear in the New Testament. It's
only used twice in the New Testament, and the word is literally reverential
awe. I like that word. That is every
believers. attitude toward God. Without exception, they all have
an attitude of reverential awe. He had reverential awe as he
moved to do what God told him to do. Now, by faith, Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, In the context, it was the flood. It was the flood. Now, in Genesis
chapter 2, verses 5 and 6, we read, as of yet, there was no
rain on the earth. The whole earth, a mist came
up from the earth to water all the plants. No one had ever seen
rain. God warned him that a flood was
coming, it was going to rain, the earth
was going to open up, and the world was going to be destroyed,
and you're going to build an ark. Now an ark doesn't have
like that one up 75 with a bow and a stern and all that kind
of stuff. That's an unfair representation. It was a barge. It was shaped
like a box. It was a floating vessel and
nothing more. It was given to float on the water when God opened
up the earth to have the water come out. And he was warned by
God. God told him what he was going to do, but he hadn't seen
it yet. Faith has to do with that which it doesn't see. I can't see that I stand before
God having never sinned. I can't see that. I believe it. That's what faith
is. It's believing. It's the evidence
of things not seen. I can't see my justification
before God, but I believe that we walk by faith and not by sight. When God told him what to do,
he moved with the fear of reverence for God because he believed what
God said and he prepared this ark. Now let's talk just a few
moments about the act of faith in preparing this ark. What an
act of faith. He'd never seen rain. He prepared this huge ark on
dry land. I've heard people say it was
in a desert. Well, the Bible doesn't say that. I don't know
about that, but I do know it was in dry land. He might not
have even known what a boat was for. He'd never seen a flood.
He'd never seen rain. And you think of the size of
this thing, 450 feet long, a football and a half field wide long. That's huge. That's as big as
many military vessels. I guarantee you, at that time,
it was the biggest thing ever built. And I guarantee you, everybody
from around came to look at this thing. They were impressed. They'd
never seen anything like this. What are you doing, Noah? I'm
building an ark. Why? Because God said he's gonna
flood the earth because of our sin, and the only place of safety
is in this ark. How's that gonna happen? It's
gonna rain. What's rain? Well, the rain's
gonna bring a flood. What's a flood? They didn't understand
any of this. We always think of everybody
ridiculing him. Maybe they did. Maybe they said,
no, you're the biggest fool I've ever seen to build something
like this. Why would you do this on the dry land? And you say
it's going to flood? Maybe they said things like that
to him. Maybe they ridiculed him. But I guarantee you, everybody
was impressed with this ark. This was the biggest structure
by far that they had ever seen, that had ever been built in the
world. Now, Noah said, and again, we're
told that Noah's a preacher of righteousness, and we're not
told one thing he said, actually, but I think it went something
like this. God's gonna flood the earth because of our sin. Everybody's gonna be drowned.
There's safety in this ark. If you're in this ark, you'll
be saved. And you know what? Not one person
believed him. Now there was a time when all
the animals, I like the, you know, the scripture says the
animals came to him. He didn't have to go round them up. The
animals came to him, and I love thinking about all the animals
coming willingly, being moved by God to come into the ark.
They're his animals. He can make them do whatever
he wants, just like he can make anything do what he wants. He's God. And
I love to think of these animals marching in, Noah and his sons
and their wives and his wife watching them walk in. There
they go. I mean, I don't know how long
that took, and I can't imagine all those animals in the ark,
but there they were. And they had plenty of food.
He was to gather up food to last for a year because they were
to stay in that ark for an entire year. But finally, they all get
in. Not a drop of rain had fallen
as of yet. God shut the door. The Lord shut him in, the scripture
says. And the rain began to fall. And
the fountains of the deep were opened up. And can you imagine
what the people were thinking when they saw the water rise
to their knees, to their waist, to their chest? I'm sure they
were all trying to get to higher ground. But the scripture says
that the water covered the entire earth. The highest mountain peak,
it was 15 cubits higher than that. And the whole earth Drowned. Now, the Ark is a beautiful type
of Christ. First, it was mighty big. There's
room for you. There's room for you. And the scripture says it was
covered outside and inside with pitch. Now that word pitch is
the same word as atonement, but it was a black tarry substance. You covered the outside and the
inside. Now listen to this. What keeps
the wrath of God from everybody in the ark? The pitch. The atonement
of Christ kept anyone, I guarantee you not a drop of water. Not
a drop. It was covered with pitch. That
keeps the wrath of God. And what kept Him on the inside?
It was on the inside also. What is it that keeps me and
you on the inside? The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not the law. All the law does
is scare us. All the law does is make us resent
God. All the law does is create fear,
the fear of unbelief. You see, law never produced love.
It never has, it never will. Oh, but the atonement of Christ,
that produces love to the Lord, kept on the inside by the pitch. There was one door into the ark,
only one. There was one window and the
only way you could look was up. Christ said, I am the door. We
look up, we don't look at circumstances, we look up looking to Him. Now all in the ark were saved. All in Christ are saved. All outside of the ark were destroyed
under the judgment of God. Now, you'll notice in this scripture,
turn back to Hebrews 11, verse seven, By faith Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, reverential
all, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he
condemned the world. Now what's that all about? Preparing
this ark and building this ark through that act, he condemned
the world. How is that? Well, I understand
it like this. If you wanted to be in the ark
with Noah and his family, you would have been welcomed. I have
no doubt about that. Somebody says, I want in that
ark. He said, there's room for you. Anybody who wants to come
into the ark, they'll be saved. If you come to Christ, you will
be saved. If you are in Christ, you will
be saved. If you believe on Christ, you
will be, you are saved. I mean, that ark was big and
I'm sure Noah wasn't saying, you can't come in, you can't
come in. The door was open for a long time until the Lord shut
it. Anybody that wanted to come in could have came in, but nobody
wanted to. They didn't believe his message. So building that arc actually
condemned the world. You could have come in if you
wanted to, but you didn't want to. That is the difference. Now, if I'm saved, it's all God's
fault. If I'm not saved, it's all my
fault. Every bit of it. But our text
also says this, and this is what we're going to close with. By
faith, Abraham, I mean, by faith, Noah, verse seven, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with awe, reverential
fear of God. He prepared an ark, just like
God told him to, according to the exact dimensions, took him
120 years to do it, to the saving of his house. By the witch he
condemned the world, but notice this last line, and he became
heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Now don't miss this
word, he became heir. How'd he become heir? Because
of somebody else's will. That's the only way you can become
heir. is if God wills you to be an
heir. And the only way you can be an
heir of anything is if someone determines that you are going
to be that heir. He became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith. Now, there are only two kinds
of righteousness. In reality, there's only one
righteousness, but in our minds, there's two. First, there's our
own righteousness. You know what the scripture says
about our righteousness? Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. Do you believe that? Our righteousnesses any righteousness
that comes from me. You remember that parable? The
Lord gave to certain who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. That is self-righteousness. And the other righteousness is
in reality the only righteousness the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
the merits of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. Christ's righteousness is the
righteousness of God. It was God himself in the person
of his son who worked out this perfect obedience to God's law. Now, the first two chapters of
Romans, Paul is proving to everybody, both Jews and Gentiles, that
there is none righteous, that all are under sin. Look in Romans
chapter three. I'm gonna read some scriptures
without making a lot of comments on them. Romans chapter three. Verse nine, what then? Are we
better than they, us Jews? Are we better than the Gentiles?
No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both
Jew and Gentile, that they are all under sin. As it's written, there's none
righteous. No, not one. There's none that understands.
There's none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Verse 19, now we know that what
things, whoever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped. Now what's it mean
to have your mouth stopped? It means you quit trying to justify
yourself. It means you quit trying to vindicate yourself. That means
you quit trying to make excuses. That means you stand guilty before
God. Mouth stopped. Now we know that what things,
whoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, by any works that I produce, there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. That's all the law does. Brings the knowledge of sin,
but. Aren't you thankful for the butts
in the scripture, but now the righteousness of God without
the law, without my personal obedience to the law. is manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. It's what the Old
Testament scriptures have always taught. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now notice the
word of. It doesn't say by faith in Christ.
It says by the faith of Christ. There's the righteousness of
God, the faith of Christ, his faithfulness, his obedience to
God. And it's unto all and upon all
them that believe. For there's no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified. Remember what that word means? Standing before God, having never
sinned. I love that. Being justified
freely, not because of something you or I have contributed, freely. By His grace, through the redemption,
the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, whom God set forth
or foreordained to be a propitiation, a sin-removing sacrifice, through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness, not just His
mercy, not just His grace, but His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that's the righteousness of faith,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Where is boasting then? What
can you take credit for? It's excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the uncircumcision through faith. They're saved the same way, they're
justified the same way. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. We honor the law. He became heir of the righteousness. which is of faith. Now there's
the righteousness of works, and there is the righteousness of
faith. The righteousness of works is
filthy rags. The righteousness of faith is
the very righteousness of Jesus Christ given to everyone who
looks to him only, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else
as all of their salvation. the righteousness. Noah became
heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Let's pray. Lord, how we give thanks for
the righteousness of faith. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that we might be just like Noah. By faith, Noah being warned
of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear. Lord, give us
the same faith he had. Enable us to be like he was preachers
of righteousness to everyone around us, preaching the gospel
according to your will. How we thank you for the ark,
how we thank you for our ark, Christ, how we thank you for
the safety, the salvation, and the security that's in him. Bless
this word for Christ's sake, in his name we pray, amen.