Let us turn to God's Word again
and directing you to the passage we were considering last Thursday
in Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 and I'll read verses
6 and 7 But without faith it is impossible to please him for
he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the sailing of his house, by the which he condemned
the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith. Well, last time we were looking
at that sixth verse and I sought to say something in particular
with regards to him who is the object of prayer and therefore
the object of that praying faith that we seek to exercise when
we come to address our petitions and our supplications and thanksgivings
unto God. We thought of God who is the
great object. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. and those two words he is the
verb to be in the third person we say he is what would God say
as he speaks of himself speaking in the first person of course
he says I am I am that I am this is the one that we address in
our prayers then it is Jehovah And we sought to say out that
in fact in praying we are favored to discover something more of
the fullness of all that God is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
and through Christ we have access. It says, pulled by one spirit
unto the Father. Or there is the mediation of
the Son, there is that ministry of the Holy Ghost, the spirit
of grace and of supplications, and there is that blessed meeting
with the Father, how we call upon God as our Father, which
art in heaven. And I mean, said something then
with regards to the object of our praying, the object of our
faith, we have to come believing that God is and that he is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I want us now just
to move on to the next verse and consider this example of
faith that we have. Of course we have a great catalogue
of the faithful here in this 11th chapter, but just turning
for a little while to say something with regards to the faith of
Noah, one of the so great cloud of witnesses that the Apostle
goes on to mention at the beginning of the following twelfth chapter.
By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith. So last time we were considering
praying faith and what we have here of course in this seventh
verse is saving faith and justifying faith and as we consider these
words for a brief while before we turn again to the Lord in
prayer I want to do with some three headings first of all to
consider that this faith that we have mentioned, the faith
of Noah, was saving faith. And we're told quite explicitly
here in the middle of the verse, he prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. He prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. Now, what was this man by nature,
Noah, Well, he was, of course, by nature a sinner. We read of the period wherein
he was living, those years just previous to the universal flood,
and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in all the earth,
and every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil
continually. And how the You might notice
in your Bible, if you have margins, that there's a reference to the
pregnancy and the force, really, of the language that is being
used there in Genesis 6-5, because the Hebrew words for imagination
has the idea of purposes and desires. The wickedness was great. Every imagination, all his purposes,
all his desires, everything about man was evil. continually and
that's the generation that Noah belonged to and as all in that
day he was one born dead in trespasses and sins each and every one of
us are born of course in that sad condition the consequence
of the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve we have partaken
of a fallen nature so did Noah all of sin and come short of
the glory of God. And we know that even after he
had experienced the blessing of salvation, how God had taken
him and preserved his life and that of his wife and his sons
and their daughters. But even after that, in Genesis
chapter 9, we find Noah in a drunken stupor. Drunkenness is a sin. The wise man tells us in the
Proverbs, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever
is deceived thereby is not wise. Noah was deceived by his strong
drink, he was not a wise man. And of course when we come to
the New Testament even, we have that tremendous catalogue of
sins in 2nd Corinthians, rather 1st Corinthians. And there in
1st Corinthians chapter 6, at verse 9 following, all these
terrible sins and amongst them drunkenness. Know ye not, says
the Apostle, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived, or remember
strong drink is a deceiver. neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Well, Noah
evidently was a sinner. But as the Apostle says to these
Corinthians, such were some of you, but you are washed, but
you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And that 11th verse
certainly applies to Noah. Because Noah, though by nature
a sinner, by grace he was a saint. as we read there in Genesis 6.8,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Or we read of that
wicked generation to which he belongs. The wickedness of man, great
in all the earth, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Peter also makes reference to
Noah. How the New Testament bears its
testament to the historicity of the Old Testament and the
antediluvian world, and that flood that God did indeed visit
upon the whole of his creation. Peter says there in 2 Peter 2.5,
God spared not the old world, but saved Noah. But God saved
Noah. And now, here we're told concerning
this man, he knew something of the fear of God. And it moved
him. It moved him. Moved with fear,
it says. He prepared an ark for the saving
of his soul. What was his fear? Well, this
was not some slavish fear that he had. There is such a thing,
of course. There is a fear that is associated
with demons. When James rebukes Satan in the
New Testament Church, he says, they believe us there is one
God, they do us well. The devils also believe and tremble.
Devils believe, they don't deny. they acknowledge God even in
the ministry of the Lord Jesus we see it so clearly there in
the synagogue at Capernaum as the Lord would perform a miracle
what does the or the demons really the man was possessed let us
alone what have we to do with thou Jesus of Nazareth art thou
come to destroy us I know thee who thou art the Holy One of
God That was not the fear that this
man Noah had. Moved with fear, he prepares
an ark to the saving of his soul. This was filial fear. This was filial fear. It was
that fear that's associated with wisdom. The fear of the Lord,
the beginning of wisdom. the fear of the Lord, the beginning
of knowledge. Where there is that fear, it's
not just that the person in possession of such filial fear dreads the
consequences of his sin. That might be the case where
there's slavish fear. It only has to do with the results,
the reward of sins. We make such very fearful, but
filial fear It doesn't just hate the consequence, it hates the
sin itself. And that was the fear of this
man. It was that true fear of the
Lord. By the fear of the Lord, men
depart from evil. In his day was not no one apart
from all the multitude round about him. He has his fear of
the Lord, an unctuous light to all that's right. That's what he possesses, an
unctuous light to all that's right, a bar to all that's wrong,
says the hymn writer. And so, we're told here at the
beginning of the text, by faith Noah being warned of God, of
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark, to
the saving of his house. And that we read on in that seventh
chapter of Genesis we would have seen how in due course he enters
the ark and the Lord we're told shot him in. Shot him in, he's
secure, he's safe. Saved from all that terrible
judgment that God visited upon the wicked world. His faith was
very much saving faith but his faith in the second place
is also clearly a justifying faith because we're told the
end of the text he became heir of the righteousness which is
by faith the righteousness which is by faith that's justifying
faith we read those words at the beginning of chapter 7 in
Genesis where God addresses the man and says, Thee have I seen
righteous. God sees him as a righteous man. Again, we read the words earlier
in chapter 6 at verse 9, Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generation, and Noah walked with God. And again there in
that particular verse, we see that the word perfect as the
alternative rendering of upright or righteous. Noah was a just
man and upright or righteous in his generation. He was justified by faith. That's
what it means. He was justified by faith. But
notice, and we must be clear with regards to the doctrine
of justification by faith, It was not his faith that justified
him. It wasn't his faith. Faith is
but the instrument. He was justified by the object
of that faith, and the object of that faith, of course, is
the Lord Jesus and His righteousness. That's what justified him. That's why it's declared there
quite clearly he was a just man, a justified man and perfect,
upright, righteous in his generation and he walked with God, he walked
by faith and not by sight. He was clearly in possession
of that justifying faith and isn't that very much the faith
of Abraham? Because Abraham, he said before
us, is the great pattern of justifying faith. We see it very clearly
in what the apostle says when he speaks of Abraham there in
Romans chapter 4. In Romans chapter 4. Verse 3, What saith the Scripture,
Abram believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. It is evident that his faith
is not to be equated with works and rewards. to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness." And then, when we come to the
end of that chapter, we see quite clearly that it was the object
of the faith that was his righteousness. Verse 20, "...he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able also to perform. Therefore it was
imputed to him for righteousness." It was the promise that was imputed
to him for righteousness. The promise, historically of
course, was the son that was to be born, the seed, Isaac. But in Galatians we see quite
clearly that the true seed of Abraham is Christ, of whom Isaac
was the type. And that was the righteousness
that justified Abraham. And here in the following chapter, as
we've said, the Apostle speaks of this great
cloud of witnesses and there are many witnesses not just those
that are spoken of in this 11th chapter there's Abraham's faith,
justifying faith there's Noah's faith which was justifying faith
and there's also the faith of a man like Job Remember how Job
is described to us at the beginning of that book, perfect, upright,
one that feared God, understood evil. The description is very
similar to what we read concerning Noah, a just man and perfect,
upright in his generation. So too was Job. And Job certainly had no righteousness
of his own he acknowledges as much when we come to the end
of that book in the 42nd chapter I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear and earmine I seeth thee wherefore I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes he's abhorrent in his own eyes
he feels himself to be a sinner, he has no righteousness of his
own, how is he then perfect and upright well it's the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ he has faith in Christ I know that my
Redeemer liveth in Christ and in the latter days he shall stand
upon the earth his was a justifying faith and
likewise the faith of David, David had justifying faith He
saw no righteousness in himself. He was convinced of his sins.
He cries out, doesn't he, against thee, the only by sin and undeceivable
in thy sight. And we have a very graphic description
of how he views himself in the language of the 38th Psalm. This is David's psalm to bring
to remembrance. He never forgot these things.
And what does David say concerning self? Verse 3, There is no soundness
in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there any rest
in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over mine head as an heavy burden that you heavy for me. My wounds
stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled,
I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, for
my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness
in my flesh." That's his confession of his sinnership. But David
knew a righteousness and he speaks of it, doesn't he, in the 71st
Psalm, when he's an ancient man, an old man. I will go in the
strength of the Lord God, he says. I will make mention of
thy righteousness, even of thine only. My tongue shall talk of
thy righteousness all the day long. And isn't he mentioned
there in that fourth chapter of Romans, mentioning in association with Abraham, who is the great
patron of justifying faith. If we'd have carried on reading,
we'd have read through to verse 5, but verse 6, even as David
also, describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying then the words of Psalm
32, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sin whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin." Job has a justifying faith so
too does David and then Daniel also in the Old Testament he confesses what he is There in that 10th chapter at
verse 8, my comeliness was turned in me into corruption and I retained
no strength. All his comeliness was corruption. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags, says the prophet Isaiah. And Daniel says the same. But then it's Daniel who also
makes a tremendous statement concerning the Messiah and the
work of the Messiah. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is what Daniel boasts in
there, not a righteousness of his own. No, it's that faith
that centers in the righteousness of another, even the Christ who
was to come. And then, just one example in
the New Testament, there's Paul of course. there's Paul and how
he learnt his sinnership and he confessed it. He was once
a Pharisee, he was the son of a Pharisee and there in Philippians
3 he speaks of righteousness touching the righteousness which
is of the law, a Pharisee, he says. And then he goes on touching
the righteousness which is of the law, blameless. And that's
how he thought in his Pharisaic days. But then, when he understood
the true nature of the Lord of God, the spiritual nature of
the Lord of God, as he says in Romans 7, it's then that the
commandment came. and how it came to him and he
has to confess it I know that in me that is in my flesh there
dwelleth no good thing he felt himself to be such a wretched
man who couldn't help himself or couldn't save himself and so he also has that saving
face and that justifying face and his great desire, as he expresses
it there in Philippians 3, to be found in him, that is, in
Christ, not having mine own righteousness, he says, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. So we have all these various
witnesses, and amongst them we have this man, Noah. He condemned the worlds, and
became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." And what
does Peter say concerning this man? He says that Noah was a
preacher of righteousness. That was the message that he
proclaimed to all that world. All the days he was in the building
of the ark, he was a preacher of righteousness. And how many believe the message? How few, we should rather say,
it was just himself and his own family that were to enter into
the Ark and to be preserved. But he was a preacher of righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ, that great truth that was of
course rediscovered at the time of the Protestant Reformation,
was shown so clearly to Luther in his monkish So, and he realized
then that this is the article by which the church stands or
for. Here is the mark of real Christianity. Faith. And what is this faith?
Well, it's praying faith as we were saying last time from verse
6, but that praying faith is also saving faith and justifying
faith. And then the third thing I say
with regards to what we're told concerning Noah here. It's a
supernatural faith. It's a supernatural faith. It's
not something that any man can ever produce himself. We know
it's the gift of God. By faith, Noah being warned of
God, it says, of things not seen as yet. He's moved with fear. And he
prepares the ark. This isn't natural faith. This isn't just the faith of
a man who's a theist. The fool says there's no God. But many would acknowledge God.
But who is the God that they acknowledge? Is it the God of
scripture? Is it the God of their own imagination? Where does Noah's
faith rest? It rests in the Word of God.
Now we see that in the history that we have there in Genesis
and we read the words there in chapter 6 God said unto Noah
the end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled
with violence through them and behold I will destroy them with
the earth make thee an ark of gopher wood room shall I make
in the ark and shall pitch it within and without with pitch
and so he receives all this instruction and then we're told at the end
of that chapter thus did Noah according to all that God commanded
him so did he he has faith in the word of God he believes the
word of God and he acts upon that word that the Lord God had
given him This is true faith that believes God and rests in
what God says. And that's quite clear from what
we're told at the beginning. He's warned of God of things
not seen as yet. And we have that definition,
don't we, at the beginning of the chapter. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith doesn't have to do with
tangible things that we can touch and handle, it has to do with
what God says, and it's a resting and a trusting in the Word of
God. And that's the faith of this
man, it is therefore saving faith and justifying faith. It is that
faith that's of the operation of God. And there in Colossians
2.12 Paul goes on to say, it's faith of the operation of God,
who raised him, that is the Lord Jesus from the dead. It's the same sort of faith,
or the same sort of power that is required in that faith, that
was there in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead.
He says, doesn't he, Thy dead men shall live, together with
my dead body shall they arise. It's faith that has union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we said, it's the gift
of God, as well as the operation of God. By grace are ye saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Paul says we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And so
we see that this This justification is associated with sanctification,
his workmanship, created unto good works, which God himself has appointed
and ordained. And so we see how James can declare
that faith, if it hath not works, is alone. There is a place wherein we'll
see the evidence of that faith that is truly saving and justifying
and supernatural. By their fruit ye shall know
them. I will show thee my faith by my works, says John. And we see it, do we not, even
in Noah. What is the thing that he does?
He hears the word of God. and he obeys the word of God
and if we have the same faith as this man we will hear God's
words and delight in his words embracing precepts as well as
promises and doing those things that the Lord himself commands
us God grant then that we might know something of this this faith
of which we have such a remarkable example in the case of Noah. May the Lord bless his word to
us. Let us now sing our second praise,
the hymn 685. The tune is Lloyd 172. It speaks of course of Noah and
his faith and how the Lord secured his safety there in the
Ark. When Noah, with his favoured
few, was ordered to embark, eight human souls, a little crew, entered
on board his Ark. 685, June 172.