Go with me if you would to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews 11. We're going to read one of the verses
that we'll consider to be a text this morning. Hebrews 11 verse 7. 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. Now there are two things I want
to point out before we begin. The first one is this. This verse
begins with the two words, by faith. And it ends with the two words,
by faith. The cause of everything that
is being said here is faith. And faith is one of the hardest
things in the scripture. There are a few subjects that
I believe rival faith, but faith is one of the hardest things
in the scripture for any person to get their mind around, including
believers. Right here. Every time we hear
the word faith, every time we see that word, every time, and
I'm speaking from experience right now, every time that word
enters our mind, the first reaction of the fleshly mind is me to God. Almost every time. The flesh naturally thinks that
faith is me to God. Me sending a belief. Me sending a trust. Me sending a look. And that's
not what faith is. That's not what faith is. Faith
is, and this is important. This is so important for the
message. Faith is God to me. That's what faith is. God to
me. If I am going to have any faith
at all, if I'm going to have any faith in the first place,
God has to give it to me. That's what Ephesians 2 says,
right? Once God gives it to me, when that faith goes to work,
He gives us something and it goes to work, when the performance
of that faith takes place, true faith says, not false faith,
Not lying faith, the fleshly faith that men have made up.
True God-given faith says, I can't do anything. That's what true
faith says. Nothing that originates with
me can help me. That's what true faith says.
This heart right here, and I'm not speaking on your behalf,
I'm talking about mine. This heart right here is so hard
it can't believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you'll be saved. Well, I got a little bit of a
problem right here. This heart is so hard it can't
believe. This flesh is so wicked it can't
trust. These eyes are so sinful they
can't look. They won't look. That is faith. Faith says my only hope is if
God will do something for me. That's what faith is. So here's
the first thing. The cause. Okay. By God to Noah. That's what that verse says.
By God to Noah, all of these things happened. That's the cause.
Now the second thing I want to point out is the result. The result of what God did for
Noah is he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. He became an heir. An heir is an inheritor. Somebody who inherits something. He became an inheritor of righteousness. That's the result. And if you
look with me at 2 Peter 2, go over just a few pages to 2 Peter
2. This the context of this chapter
right here is talking about God's judgment on sin. That's what's
being said here. But I want to show you something
in verse five. And this is the other verse we'll
consider to be a text. Verse five says God spared not
the old world. He sent a flood on the old world. And just take one second and
get your mind around that. It's estimated that there were
as many or more people on the earth then than there are today.
And God spared eight and started it over. Is that is that not? That's amazing, isn't it? All
right, so it says in verse five, God spared not the old world,
but it says he saved Noah. The eighth person. A preacher
of righteousness. That's what Noah was, a preacher
of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. Noah inherited righteousness,
and Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He preached what he inherited. And that makes sense to us, doesn't
it, as we read between these lines? He preached what he inherited,
and that's what a true preacher will preach, what he inherits. Now, I want to say two things
about that. Number one, if a man is going
to be a preacher of righteousness, he must first inherit righteousness. There are many preachers out
there who are not preachers of righteousness and the reason
is because they have never inherited righteousness. And that's sad
to me. That's so sad to me. The only
way that a man can be a preacher of righteousness is if he first
inherits righteousness. The second thing I want to say
about that is this. Every child of God is an inheritor and a
preacher of righteousness. Every child of God. Preacher
means heralder, proclaimer, confessor. And a child of God does not have
to stand in a pulpit to be a heralder of the righteousness of God.
So every child of God is an inheritor and a preacher of righteousness.
Now, I have a lot of twos this morning. I keep saying I have
two, I had two points, then I had two things to say. Now I have
two questions. The first one is, what is a preacher
of righteousness? What is a preacher of righteousness? What defines a preacher of righteousness? How can you tell if the preacher
that you are listening to is a preacher of righteousness?
The second question is, what is righteousness? If we God's people have inherited
righteousness, And if we herald and proclaim and confess righteousness,
what is righteousness? All right, first let's define
the preacher. Go back, if you would, to Hebrews 11. And hold your place right there. We're going to take two scriptures. I have a lot of twos. Two scriptures,
and we're going to, for the rest of this message, we're going
to flip back and forth, okay? So hold your place right here
in Hebrews 11 and go with me to Genesis 6. Genesis chapter 6. In order to
see what a preacher of righteousness is, we're going to look at Noah. God said Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. Between these two passages, this
is what God has to say about Noah. Genesis 6 verse 8, this
is the first thing he has to say. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. That's where it starts. That's
where it starts. If you hear a man stand up in
a pulpit, And his testimony is, I hit rock bottom and I was tired
of being in the gutter, so I gave my heart to Jesus and he saved
me. If you hear that, that is not
a preacher of righteousness. The Apostle Paul, who also was
a preacher of righteousness, he said, oh yeah, I was in the
gutter. I was in the gutter of the pew.
I was in the gutter of religion. He said, I was so self righteous. I was so caught up in the traditions
of my fathers. He said, but when it pleased
God. the same God who separated me
from my mother's womb, when it pleased Him in His good time,
according to His good will and purpose, He called me by His
grace, by His grace, and revealed His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the heathen. That is a preacher of righteousness. God's preacher of righteousness
proclaims This whole thing started with grace. That's another important
component. This whole thing started with
grace. I was lost and undone without
God's precious Son, but He reached down His hand for me. That's
what happened. Verse 8 says, Noah found grace. That does not mean Noah went
looking for it. The word found translates in
our concordance to cause to find, to cause to light upon, to cause
to encounter. Noah was caused to find grace. How did he find it? He was caused
to find grace. How did he find it? How does
any sinner find grace? Hold your place right here and
flip back to Hebrews 11. You tell me if you don't enter
into this and have something in common with this. How does
a sinner find grace? Hebrews 11 verse 7 says, By faith,
Noah being warned of God. He was warned of God. Grace came to Noah when he was
warned of God. That's how grace came to the
Apostle Paul. He was riding on his high horse
to Damascus. And Christ came and warned him. He knocked him off of his horse.
It was high noon, and he said, when I saw him, it was brighter
than the sun. It blinded him. And he said, why are you persecuting
me? He warned him. That's how grace
comes to every child of God. Isn't that God's grace? that as we're running right down
that path, he comes in and he goes, you'd better stop. Isn't that God's grace? Noah
was warned of God, of things not seen as yet, and that's why
he started warning. He was warned, therefore he warned. A preacher of righteousness,
this is how you can tell a preacher of righteousness. He's a preacher
of warning. Preacher of warning. For a hundred
years, Noah cried, the flood is coming. Every time he drove a nail with
every ping of the nail, it said the flood is coming. Don't you
think that got on people's nerves? What a thing to scoff at. Have you seen that silly monstrosity? It's never rained. And it's been going now for 99
years and 11 months and three weeks and six days. He said the flood is coming.
God's judgment is coming. His wrath is coming. Noah said
outside of his grace, we're going to die in our sins. Somebody will hear that and say,
well, my preacher doesn't say that. Well. Back in Genesis six, flip
back over to Genesis six, here's the next thing about Noah. Verse
nine says, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Last week we saw that Enoch walked
with God and we read Amos chapter 3 verse 3 which says can two
walk together except they be agreed? If two are going to walk
together they have to be in agreement. Enoch agreed with God. Noah agreed with God. How do
we know that? We'll go back to Hebrews 11. The next line in verse 7 says,
he moved with fear. He moved with fear. One of the most horrifying things
to me about religion is there is no fear in it. That's one
of the most horrifying things to me about religion. There is
no fear in it. There's no fear of standing before
God outside of Christ. No fear of that. There's no fear
and no reverence concerning his word. Men and women come before God
as they want. They do what they want. They
believe what they want. They preach what they want. but not an inheritor and a proclaimer
of righteousness. A preacher of righteousness is
a preacher who fears God. All of God's people proclaim
and confess. A preacher of righteousness fears
God's Word. He preaches in absolute agreement
with God's Word. Absolute agreement with it, he
says, whatever God has written, amen. Whatever he's written,
amen. A preacher of righteousness does
not fear man. He only fears God. He only fears God. You know,
somebody will say, and you'll hear this, if you tell this,
and we just talked about it a little bit in the Bible study, you go
out and tell that, you're going to offend people. Now, if you go out and tell that,
you're going to offend people. Here's the thing. If we don't,
we're going to offend God. A true preacher of righteousness
will not side with man. You're all right. I'm all right.
You're all right. You just keep on doing that good
thing you're doing, brother. A true preacher of righteousness
will not side with man. He will side with God. This is
what God says about us. And we side with God. The scripture
says let God be true and let this man right here be a liar.
And I side with that. I only want to declare what God
has written. Not anything I have to say about
it. Look with me again at Genesis 6. Verse 10 says, And Noah beget three sons, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. Alright, go back to Hebrews 11. The next line in verse 7 says,
He prepared an ark to the saving of His house. A preacher of righteousness
is a preacher of warning. He's a preacher of holy, reverent
fear. But He is a preacher of love.
He is a preacher of love. If you love somebody, you'll
tell them the truth. These these men who do not stand
up and tell people the truth. Love themselves and not the people
they preach to. They're trying to glorify themselves,
they're trying to get gain from others for themselves. If you
love somebody, you will tell them the truth. And Noah told
his family, we have one hope of salvation. One of these TV
evangelists was on the Oprah show. He had a national audience. He had the opportunity to tell
the truth to the whole country. And Oprah asked him, is there
only one way to get to God? That's the question she asked
him. Is there only one way to get to God? And this was his
answer. Well, he said, I believe Jesus is the only way to God.
And he missed it already because Jesus Christ is God. But he said,
I believe Jesus is the only way to get to God. But he said, I
believe there are a lot of ways to get to Jesus. Noah said there is one hope of
salvation. There is one hope. God said judgment
is coming. I know it doesn't look like it.
I know it hadn't rained, but God said judgment is coming. And dear family, it is coming. It is coming. And when it comes,
if we are not inside this ark, we are going to die. Do you know what causes one person
to tell another person that? Love. Love. We're going to keep flipping
here, but just quickly go with me to Romans 9. Hold your place
in these spots and look at Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 1 says, I say
the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh." He said, I could wish that I was cursed from Christ
so they might not be. Why? Love. Love. Look at Romans 10, verse
1 says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness." Now Noah was
an inheritor of righteousness and a preacher of righteousness.
And verse 3 says, they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. What
does that mean? That means they didn't get in
the ark. That's what it means. Instead,
they decided to turn over a new leaf. Instead, they decided to start
volunteering at the soup kitchen. Instead, they decided that they
needed to get their family in a church and get involved in
the programs. Every soul, when that judgment
came, every soul that had that leaf turned over died. This is the truth. Every soul
that was at that moment volunteering at the soup kitchen. Am I saying
it's a bad thing to volunteer at the soup kitchen? No. But
don't volunteer at the soup kitchen at the expense of worshipping,
not worshipping God and missing Christ. When He came back, every
soul that was there volunteering at the soup kitchen died Every soul that was in the middle
of a program at the big church died, even at the little church,
died. Every one of them. God did not
say that salvation is in church. He said it's in the ark. That ark is Jesus Christ. We ask the question, what is
righteousness? What is righteousness? Right
here, verse 4 says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness. Noah inherited Christ. Noah preached Christ. The whole time he built that
ark, he was telling the world, if a sinner wants to be saved,
He's going to have to stop playing church. That's the first thing. When the Apostle Paul would go
to a new city, he would first go into the synagogue. Religion was in the synagogue.
And that's the first thing I want to say, this is a this is a religious
place. If a person wants to be saved,
the first thing we're going to have to do is start doing is
stop playing church. Stop playing church. We're going to have to stop trying
to work our good works. We're going to have to throw
our leaves down, don't turn them over, throw them down. And we're
going to have to get in Christ. We're going to have to get in
Christ. What do I mean, stop playing church? I mean, we need
to stop playing church. This world is trying to be in
church. If that's all we're in, we're
going to die. If that's all we're in, we're going to die. Men and
women play church in religion. And men and women play church
where the gospel is preached. Being inside the building where
Christ is preached is not enough. We must be in Christ. We must be in Christ. Look at
Genesis again. This time chapter 7. Genesis
7. Verse 1 says, And the Lord said
unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. Verse 5 says, And Noah did according
to all that the Lord commanded him. Verse 7, And Noah went in
and his sons and his wife and his son's wives with him into
the ark. because of the waters of the
flood. Now flip back with me to Hebrews 11. The next line in verse 7 says, By the witch he condemned the
world. God said, Get in the ark. He
got in the ark and he told his family, Get in the ark. A preacher
of righteousness is a preacher of urgency. Don't put this off. Don't put
this off. Here I stand. I can do no other. But here I stand. If Gabe Stoniker
has yet to this day ever entered into Christ, Gabe Stoniker, do
it right now. Do it right now. I mean, right
now, don't put this off. Well, I'll do it tomorrow. I
promise I'll do it tomorrow. There may not be a tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. Get
in the arc. Don't just admire the arc. Mm
hmm. Don't just have a lot of respect
for the arc. Don't just fear the ark. Don't just stand at the door
of the ark. Get in the ark. Get in the ark. How? How does a sinner get in Christ
the ark? Here's the answer. By faith. By God to you. by God to you. It happens by the faith of God
to you. Go back with me to Genesis 7.
Verse 16 says, And they that went in, went in
male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and
the Lord shut him in. That's an important verse of
scripture. How did Noah get in the ark?
The Lord shut him in. Noah's flesh would not have gone
in. It would not have gone in. If
it was left up to Noah. Our brother read. Seven verses
before that. And it repented the Lord that
he made man. Every imagination was evil. If it was left up to
Noah, he never would have made it inside that ark. But Noah's
salvation started with grace. Grace. But God, by faith, by
God to Noah, by Noah realizing he couldn't do anything for himself. Well, I'm going to get in the
ark. Noah realized if God does not shut me into this thing,
I can't get in. God did something for him. God
chose him. God called him. God shut him
in. Right here in Genesis chapter
8 verse 1 says, And God remembered Noah. Chapter 9 verse 1 says,
And God blessed Noah. Chapter 9, verse 9 says, And
God made a covenant with Noah. He said, And I, behold, I establish
my covenant with you and with your seed after you. And go back one more time to
Hebrews 11. The last line of verse 7 says, And Noah became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith. Noah inherited Christ. God's righteousness. And he preached
Christ for the rest of his days. A true preacher of righteousness
will preach Christ. He will preach Christ. Nothing but Christ. Salvation
only being found in Christ. all of the remembering, all of
the blessing, all of the covenant keeping being in the hands of
Christ. He'll say Christ did every bit
of it. It is not up to us to do anything. Christ did every bit of it. And I'm going to leave you with
this. If God has chosen you and if God has called you to come
into Christ, The way that you're going to know that he has is
he is going to give you the ability to acknowledge and rest in every
bit of it being in his hands. When you tell sinners that their
salvation completely hinges on the will and purpose and work
of Christ, and they first hear, you mean I don't have a say in
the matter? You mean I can't do anything to sway it my way?
You mean I can't right my wrongs? You mean I can't? It's crushing. It brings fear. It brings anger. But if God ever gives us the
ability to acknowledge and rest in every ounce of it being in
Christ's hands, if he chooses to save me, I'm saved. If he
chooses not to save me, I'm damned. Well, Gabe, let me ask you this.
What if he doesn't choose you? Then I'm damned. If God ever gives us the ability
to acknowledge and rest in every ounce of it being in his hands,
then we're in the ark. We're in Christ. If God ever gives us the ability
to say my only hope is that God will do something for me, that's
my only hope, then we have inherited the righteousness that comes
by faith. I believe what he says. I believe
Christ is my only hope, and if we're in Christ, we're safe.
We're safe. God's judgment rained down. And
Noah and his family sat inside that ark, and they were listening
to the ark take all of that judgment for them. Last night, I'm not
sure what time, but a huge storm came through Kingsport, and it
woke me up. I would think it was around two
or three o'clock. And it woke me up, and I laid there listening
to it, and it was something. I heard the thunder, saw the
lightning out the window, And it was pouring. I mean, it was
pouring. I started thinking about what
I was about to preach in a few hours. Here I am laying there,
listening to all that beat on the roof of my house. And I'm
just laying there, pillow under my head. My wife is fine. My children are fine. There Noah
sits, his family. They sit inside that ark. And
that ark, can you imagine the sound of that water coming down? Can you imagine the sound of
the earth opening up? And there they sit, listening
to all that, and he looks around at his family and everybody's
safe. And that ark is suffering the beating, and suffering the
beating. And when it was all said and
done, Noah said to everybody who would listen from that point
on, I'm telling you from experience, the only reason we were saved
was the ark. That was the only reason. And
what I am saying this morning, I'm not giving a history lesson
of the past. I actually do have something
to say this morning. God's judgment is coming on this
earth one more time. Noah kept telling everybody God's
judgment is coming. He's going to send a flood. He's
going to send a flood. I saw a gorgeous rainbow driving in
today, huge rainbow. And I knew I was going to be
preaching on this. And that's the token God gave to say, I'll never
send a flood and destroy the earth again. And he's not going
to send a flood again, but he's going to send fire. Fire is coming to this earth.
Absolute total destruction is coming. And there's only one
hope of escape. There's only one hope of surviving
it. We must be in Christ. We must be in Christ. It is the only hope we have. If God has warned us in the heart,
If he's truly warned us, if he has put fear in us, if he has
graciously shown us that the only way of escape is Christ. Run to him. Don't move a muscle. Run to him in the heart and cry,
and I'm as serious as eternity. Those of you who have already
run to him, run again. Before this service is over,
I'm done. Before we leave this building, run right now in your
heart. Run up to the ark and cry, I
must be found inside you. You are my only hope. If God causes us to flee to Christ
and cry out for mercy, He will shut you in, Christ. And if God
causes us to cry and flee, it means he has shut you in, Christ. Only those who are shut in run
and cry. If he's given us that ability,
run, run. You'll be safe. I promise. All
right, let's all stand together.