I want you to turn to Hebrews
chapter 11 for our text, but turn back to Genesis 6 and put
your Bible mark there. We're going to be looking at
several passages in Genesis 6, 7, and 8. Hebrews chapter 11 and 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."
That is one marvelous declaration of faith. I want to talk to you
tonight about Noah's faith. He is here held before us as
an example of faith in Christ. His name Noah means rest or resting
place. And here we're told that Noah
found rest for his soul by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
let me first show you how it is that Noah came to have this
faith. Back in Genesis chapter 6, We're
told that the whole earth had become corrupt. The world was
lost, cursed of God, and sentenced to suffer the wrath of God. Because
of man's sin and apostasy against the Lord God, God was justly
angry with all the people of the earth. But in wrath, He remembered
mercy. And we're told that Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord in verse 8. Now, understand the
significance of this. This was not an age where there
was a great scarcity of men, as those who even think about
giving any credibility to the Genesis account of things would
have us to believe many times. Oh, no. The earth was heavily,
heavily populated. You start comparing the generations
just of the peoples whose names are mentioned in the scriptures.
The ages in which they lived and the number of people, number
of offspring they had. And keep multiplying their offspring.
And you'll find out this earth was very heavily populated at
the time of the flood. But Noah alone found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Noah alone. All men deserved
God's wrath, but one man was chosen. All were condemned, justly
condemned, but one man was justified. All went astray from God, but
one was sought, found, and called by God's grace. All were lost. But one was saved. All men were
unbelievers, but to one man God granted faith. Noah found grace. Not merit, but grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The scripture does not tell us
that Noah distinguished himself from the rest of mankind. He
did not. But rather the grace of God distinguished
him from all other men. And this plainly shows us that
even in the worst of times, there is a remnant, even if it is a
very small remnant, there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. There always has been and there
always shall be until time shall be no more. Noah's faith, like
yours and mine, was the gift and operation of God Almighty.
It was not something that Noah conjured up in himself. It was
not something that Noah decided to exercise. It was not some
latent power in Noah's personality that he decided finally to give
vent to. Oh, no, no. Noah believed God
because God granted to him the gift of faith By the revelation
of himself in Noah's heart. His faith was the result of God's
revelation. The result of God's word given
to Noah. It was the result of God's purpose
of grace toward Noah. Look in Genesis chapter 6 verse
13. Now I want you to hear this,
understand it. Faith, true faith, not religious faith, not creedal
faith, not historic faith, not faith in faith, but true faith.
True faith is not some kind of a mysterious leap in the dark,
just grabbing hold of something and trying to hang on. Faith
arises from built upon and believes the revelation of God in his
word. Faith is no more and no less
than believing God. Unbelief is no more and no less
than calling God a liar. That's how the scriptures describe
it. Look here in Genesis chapter 6 verse 13. God said to Noah,
that's where faith begins, God spoke. 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 shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Verse 18.
But God continued speaking. With thee will I establish my
covenant. I'm going to destroy the whole
world. This whole world's going to hell right soon. 120 years
and it's over. But with thee will I establish
my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with
thee. Verse 22. Thus did Noah. Thus did Noah, according to all
that God commanded him, so did he. That is, he believed God. That's what we're told in Hebrews
11 7. He was moved with fear and by faith he prepared an ark
to the saving of his house. He acted on what God revealed
that he believed. Noah's faith is held before us
then as an example of how it is that sinners are saved by
faith. Saved by grace, yes, and saved
by faith. Faith being that by which sinners
experience the grace of God and the goodness of God in Jesus
Christ. We're told a picture is worth
a thousand words. Well, here's a picture of faith,
and it's worth a whole lot more words than I can ever give to
it. May God give us grace to see that which is here revealed.
The only way sinners can obtain God's salvation, that salvation
which is in Jesus Christ, who is our ark of refuge, our ark
of salvation, our ark of deliverance, is by faith. As Noah entered
into the ark, so believers by faith enter into Jesus Christ,
believing on the Son of God. Now I hold Noah then, as the
scriptures do here before us, as an example to emulate. And
I want to show you seven things about Noah's faith. And you can
just look in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 7. My outline will
be right in the sentences, or the phrases of the sentence there
in Hebrews 11, 7. First, we're told that Noah was
warned of God of things not seen as yet. Now let me just read
to you a portion of Genesis 6. You don't need to turn back there
if you don't already have your hand there. Verse 1. 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, that is those who
called themselves the sons of God, those who were the children
of They're forebearers who professed faith in Christ, those who claim
to be the children of God and heirs of promise, who claim to
walk in the path of Enoch. The sons of God saw the daughters
of men, the unbelieving, the reprobate, the heathen, that
they were fair to look upon. And they took them wives of all
which they chose. Now, I realize that there's a
lot of gobbledygook written about most of scripture, but some things
are just ridiculous. If you have one of those Bibles
with funny notes in it, you'll find suggestions that these sons
of God were angels who came down and cohabited with women on earth
and created a race of monsters in the earth. That's not what
I was talking about at all. I was talking about light walking
with darkness. He's talking about those who
claim to be God's children uniting with those who are opposed to
God. They saw the daughters of men that they were fair to look
upon and they took them wives of all which they chose. Forget
what God says. Forget what God requires. Forget
what the scriptures reveal. Forget the warnings of God. Forget
those warnings that clearly were passed along from generation
to generation, as exemplified later in Abraham, who made his
servants swear, don't you, don't you take one of these children
for my daughter-in-law. Oh no, you go back to my people
and find our wife and my son Isaac. And the Lord God said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. Verse 7 of Genesis
6, the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the earth. from the face of the earth, both
man and beast, and the creeping things and the fowls of the air,
for it repenteth me that I have made them. Obviously God doesn't
change. We understand that. We know that.
God's immutable. But He acts often like He changes. And He deals with men in different
ways and so He speaks of repenting when He turns and deals with
men according to their sins and deals with men in judgment because
of His wrath burning against them. Noah's faith was in response
to this word from God. It was the response of his heart
to that which God revealed to him. God told Noah plainly that
his Holy Spirit would not always strive with man. That his long
suffering is but for an appointed season. Here he says specifically
for 120 years. And after those appointed days
were over, God would cease to deal with men in any mercy at
all. The Word of God comes, Noah preached
to his generation, and by the preaching of the Word, by the
declaration of Noah, by God speaking through his servant, the Spirit
of God spoke to men, and strives with men, and calls upon men
through the Word, and man says, NO! God said, it won't last long. It won't last long. Hear me now. God Almighty gave warning, and
God Almighty yet gives warnings. Our days on this earth are numbered. We would be wise to number them
ourselves. Today is the day of salvation. There are so many ramifications
to that statement. This is the day the Lord has
made for us. This is it. This is the day when
God speaks to us. This is the day when God deals
with us in mercy. This is the day when God is pleased
to use us. This is the day God's given to
our hands. We have the Word of God in our
hands. Noah had the word spoken directly
to him apparently. Perhaps it was a word given to
him by his forebear in it. Perhaps it was the word passed
on from generation to generation. Either way, God spoke to Noah.
God's given you his word right here. What mercy. God forgive me for not taking
more advantage of it. And in his word, he warns us
plainly that this day is for appointed time. And when this
appointed time is over, mercy and grace are over. That's it. That's it. Folks can talk about
purgatory. They can talk about a future
judgment. They can talk about all the nonsense
they want to talk about. This is the day. And after this
judgment. God sends warning after warning
after warning. As a preacher of the gospel,
it is my responsibility to serve you and all to whom God gives
me the privilege of preaching the gospel, to warn them of wrath
to come, to warn with clarity, to warn with urgency. If the
trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to
battle? The picture of the watchman is set before us in the Old Testament
scriptures. And the Lord God says that the
watchman, if the watchman doesn't give warning, that's his responsibility. And if he doesn't do it, then
that man's as dead as the rest of the city. And their blood,
God requires of his hands. But if the watchman warns, and
the people don't pay any attention, The watchman's free of their
blood. He has declared the word of God. God helping me, I'm determined
to be free from the blood of all men. How often God warns and warns
and warns in his providence. We drove out Sunday afternoon.
Most of you saw the accident out here. I couldn't help but
to think. I just couldn't help but to think,
that right by the door, the place where God's worship, ignoring
God, ignoring His Word, ignoring His Son, ignoring His Gospel,
and meet God right now. Oh, how God speaks in his providence. If we just had sense enough to
hear. But we're like cattle. We're like cattle. Some of you
butchered cattle, slaughtered them. You go out, you get one,
you kill it, and the rest of them look up, hear the sound
of the gun, sniff a little bit, and go right back to grazing.
Pay absolutely no attention. Absolutely no attention. God
speaks, but men ignore his word. Not Noah. Noah being warned of
God, we're told, secondly, was moved with fear. Now I looked
at that a good bit today. What on earth does that mean?
The passage is talking about faith. Perhaps it speaks of Noah
being moved with fear of reverence for God, but that doesn't fit
the context of what's being said. Surely it's not talking about
Noah being moved with terror, being terrified, afraid of God,
because the passage is talking about faith. It's not that at
all. What's it talking about? David is telling us Noah was
moved with fear for his family. His sons and daughters, daughters-in-law,
his grandchildren, his wife, his neighbors, those rebels around
him who had no idea what was about to fall on them because
they wouldn't hear. Noah was not one of those prophets
like some I hear preach. They say, well, I'm just here
to tell you what God said. It doesn't matter whether you
believe it or not. Oh, no. Noah cared. But didn't God tell
him who was going to be saved? Yes, sir. That didn't keep him
from caring. But didn't God tell him there
were just eight souls going into the ark? Yes, sir. He told him
for sure they were going to. That didn't keep him from caring.
He was moved with fear. Fear for those who were about
to perish under the wrath of God so diligently as he labors
building the ark for 120 years. He warns men, judgment is coming. The wrath of God will fall on
you. Had Noah been like most in our
day, he would have worked on the ark, you know, and put a
little steeple up and some stained glass windows in the thing, and
made everything real pretty and attractive. And he had said,
now, fellas, we know we haven't done good. And God's going to
somehow deal with this, but now God's merciful. And God's love. And a good God, you know, wouldn't
send anybody to hell. We must have misunderstood what
he said. You know a good God wouldn't send anybody to hell.
Oh no. Noah was not a senseless rebel. Because he believed God, he was
moved with fear. Third thing. Because he cared. That's it, Lindsay. Because he
cared. He prepared an ark. He heard God speak. He believed
it. And he was moved with fear, and so Noah prepared an ark.
Look in Genesis 6. Genesis chapter 6, verse 14. God said, make thee an ark. Make
it just like this. Make an arc of gopher wood, room
shalt thou make in the arc, and shalt pitch it with in and without
with pitch. Put this sly and pitch on it. Keep any water from getting in,
keep anything from getting out. Pitch it on the inside and on
the out. Verse 16, a window shalt thou make in the ark, and in
a cubit shalt thou finish it above. And the door, the door
of the ark, shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower
and second and third stories shalt thou make it. Verse 21,
And thou shalt, and take thou unto thee of all food that is
eaten. And thou shalt gather it to thee,
and it shall be for food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah,
according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Now you know,
of course, this ark is a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our salvation in Him. The Ark was built by God's design,
according to God's purpose, exactly as God intended. The Ark was
a strong and mighty ship. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
a strong and mighty Savior who came here according to God's
purpose to save His people. The Ark was roomy. There was
plenty of room in the Ark for everybody who went in there.
Somehow you get the picture at the same time. They crowded up
on the Ark like one of these cabins on a cruise ship, you
know, the real economy rate down there in the belly of that thing
were just kind of scrunched together. No, no. Wasn't it a crowd in
here? There's plenty of room in the ark. I'm telling you there's
plenty of room in Christ. Plenty of room. There's yet room
in Him. Plenty of room in the Savior.
The ark, however, had just one door. One door by which all who
came in must enter. Whether you're talking about
the mice who entered in or the giraffe who entered in, all entered
by the same door. And they didn't climb upstairs
to get in the door, they walked up a ramp. They ascended to the
door, not by degrees, but they ascended to the door according
to God's purpose on a plank without exposing their own self-righteousness,
but rather they walked through the door believing on the Son
of God. That's how we approach God. The
Ark had everything that Noah and his family needed to survive
the whole ordeal. Everything. You can get wrapped
up and try to speculate on what all they took in, how they took
care of things. Somehow my mind just doesn't
work that way. I can just picture Noah sitting down to a big beefsteak
and corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy and bread, feasting,
and doing it every day, and doing it three times a day, and never
waning for anything. Why? Because God provided everything
in the ark. Will you hear me? Oh, Don Fortner,
hear yourself. Everything I need Christ is. And I'm not just talking about
spiritual, I'm talking about everything. Everything. Everything
I need day by day, hour by hour, year by year, for this lifetime
and for eternity! Jesus Christ is and Jesus Christ
provides. Everything's in Him. Now I gotta look here. God don't
let me look there. I need to look over there. God
don't let me look over there. But there. Everything's in Him. In Him. This ark took all the storm of
God's wrath. All of it. You see, you and I
must endure the wrath of God. We must bear the wrath of God. We must suffer the consequence
of our sins. There's no escaping that. God
must and shall punish our sins, either in us personally or in
us representatively. And Noah, when he and his family
entered into the ark, they did not escape the flood. They just
went through it. They did not escape the flood,
they just didn't experience it. They did not escape the flood,
just no water fell on them. They were in the ark and all
the flood of God's wrath fell on the ark and beat on the ark
and absorbed itself in the ark. And nothing touched Noah. And
so it is with Jesus Christ our substitute. We went yonder to
the place called Mount Calvary. And 2,000 years ago, God Almighty
vented His full wrath on this sinner. So that all hell was poured out
on me at one time. And it never touched me. Because the Son of God bore it
all. Bore it all. And I bore it in
Him. The ark was covered with pitch within and without. It might be a stretch. I've been
told it is, but it's a good stretch. The word pitch is exactly the
same word in its root as the word atonement. It's covering.
Covering. And the pitch was ordered of
God because when Jesus Christ is made of God unto us, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, He is all that
to us because our sins have been atoned, covered from God Almighty. Now, if they're covered from
God, that means they're not. But the word atonement is used
to speak of that covering by which we, through the blood of
Christ, are made one with God and given peace with Him. All
for whom the ark was made, every one of them, every one of them
entered into the ark and came out safe on the other side. And
I'm telling you, every sinner for whom Jesus Christ was made
of God to be a covenant surety is in Him and shall at last be
saved by Him. All who entered, all who came
in, every one of them were saved. Now wait a minute, both of those
can't be so. I don't understand why not. I can't fathom why anybody's
having trouble with that. You can't tell us that Jesus
Christ is a Savior for a specific number of people and yet anybody
who enters into Him and believes on Him will be saved by Him.
Well, I certainly can. I just did. I just did. Anybody. But the ark won't hold
but so many. It wasn't designed to hold but
so many. It wasn't intended to hold but so many. It was built
for eight souls. How many entered in? Everybody
who wanted to. Everybody who had a notion that
somehow if they would escape the wrath of God, they must enter
into that ark, they must be saved in that ark, every one of them
went into the ark. Every one of them. Every one
of them. Nobody was shut out who wanted to come in. And no
one shall be shut out of Christ who wants to enter into Him by
faith. Fourthly, now look at this. The Holy Spirit tells us here
in Hebrews 11, 7, Noah saved his house. What a word. He prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. Boy, how do you understand that?
Well, just take it any way you want to. You can understand it
that way. But physically, he saved them. Spiritually, those
who were saved by God's grace were saved by Noah's instrumentality. Symbolically, he saved them. Take it any way you want to.
So a preacher, how can you say that? Salvations of the Lord,
we know that. We know that no man can save
life either physically or spiritually except God himself, much less
save another. But God tells us that Noah saved
his house. That means Noah was the instrument
God used for the saving of his household. letting that sink in real good. That's our responsibility, yours
and mine. It's the responsibility of all
parents, especially of fathers. I told Bill, for you who are
at the wedding, Sunday, you've heard me say it many, or Saturday
rather, you've heard me say it many times, The responsibility
of this house is yours. Like it or no, that's the way
God made it. That's the way it is. How on
earth did Noah save his family? He entered into the ark himself.
And he took his sons and daughters by his word, by his example,
by his hand, and led them into the ark. God called Noah, he
said, come thou and all thy house into the ark. And Noah brought him in. He went into the ark. We're told
in Genesis 7, Noah went in. Noah went in. And in order to
go into that ark, this is what he had to do. As he gets to the door, And looks
over this whole vast creation. And looks into the eyes of people dear to him. He said goodbye forever. That's what it is. Our Lord said,
come back to me, you forsake everything. And if you don't,
you haven't come after me." And the Lord shut him in. They went
in as God commanded him, and the Lord shut them in. So we
must enter the ark of Christ Jesus by faith. Forsaking all
other arks, enter in. I fear that many stop
at the threshold and look into the ark and take a good peek
and they look around and they say, boy, that's a nice place
to be. Y'all having fun in there? That's a good place to be. But
never enter in. Some hear about the ark. Oh,
they're tickled to death they've heard about the ark, but they
never enter in. They study the ark, find out what gopher wood
is, find out what the pitch is, find out the size of the window,
find out the dimensions, measure out what space it takes for every
animal, and they can give it to you in such precise detail
you believe they know what they're talking about. But they never
enter in. There are many who stand back
and admire the ark. Oh, look at that! Look at that! But they
never enter in. They might even stand outside
and defend the ark. But there's only salvation by
entering into the ark. Entering in. It is not looking
at Christ, or hearing about Christ, or admiring Christ, or talking
about Christ, or defending Christ, that's saving to your soul, but
entering into Christ. Fifthly, when Noah entered into
the ark, he condemned the world. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. Let
me show you what it's talking about. When Noah entered into the ark
by his act of faith, he condemned those who believed not. When
he entered into the ark, he declared that everyone outside the ark
was condemned. And nobody takes lightly to that. But what do folks do? Why, they
just ignore it. They just ignore it. Here folks talk about, well,
this must be the last time because as it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be. Let me show you how it was in
the days of Noah. It's exactly the way it is now. Verse 37. As the days of Noah were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking
and marrying and giving in marriage. Well, that's just what men do,
isn't it? There's nothing evil about eating
and drinking, nothing evil about getting married or a man or wife
giving themselves to one another in marriage. Well, what's he
talking about then? That's all they live for. That's
all they live for. That's all they live for. Totally
oblivious to God. Totally oblivious to their souls. Totally oblivious to their responsibilities. Totally oblivious to eternity. And they did so till the day
that Noah entered into the ark. And knew not till the flood came
and it took them away. Oh my God, Noah was right. Sixth, Noah became heir of righteousness. He became an heir of that righteousness
represented in the ark. The righteousness of God in Christ.
Everlasting righteousness, free grace righteousness, imputed
righteousness. And one last thing. All that
Noah did and all that he obtained, he did and he obtained by faith. Noah believed God. That's all. Boy, how can you explain a man
doing such a thing? How can you explain a man? acting
contrary to everything history teaches. How can you explain
a man acting contrary to everything men have ever experienced? How
can you explain a man building an ark out in the desert where
it never rained? Never rained. I mean never even
had a drop of dew. Never rained. How can you explain
a man telling folks that the world is going to be overcome
with a flood and they got to get in that ark? How is he going
to explain it? That fellow's lost his mind.
He's popped a cork. Look at that fool. Look at him. What a waste. Oh, how he's wasted
his time and energy. Look what he's doing to his family.
Look what he's depriving his family of. Bobby Estes and Noah believed
God. That's all. He believed what God said about
his sin and judgment. He believed what God said concerning
salvation by the ark. He believed God's promise of
grace. God said you build this ark. You come into the ark. I'll
shut you in. I'll make a covenant with you. And you know what he did? He
did it! He did it! Because he believed
God. Now let me send you home with
two very practical, practical things to consider. I'm moved with fear for you. For our sons and daughters, I'm
moved with fear. For this generation that knows
not God, I am moved with fear. And so I urge you to weigh heavily
this question. Are you in the ark? When the flood of God's wrath
falls, and it shall, will you be found in the ark, Christ Jesus? And having considered that, God give me grace to take this
second question home. when my family meets me at the
bar of God as they shall." My family. My family. Oh yeah, we're going to meet
face to face forever with full awareness. When my family meets me at the
bar of God Will they thank God for my influence in their lives
by His grace? Or will my eternally damned family gnash their teeth forever upon
my eternally damned soul? God give me grace not to forget
the water. Amen.