I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse
7, we read these words, by faith, Noah, you remember Noah, the
one who built the ark, 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." I've entitled
this message, The Faith of Noah. Now, before I go into the faith
of Noah, I would like to read a passage from James 2. In verse 14, James asks this
question, what does the prophet, my brethren, the old man, say
he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? He says in verse 17, even so
faith, if it hath not works is dead. being alone. And then we read in verse 20,
but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? And then we read in verse 24
of the same chapter in James chapter two, you see how that
by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now, have you ever thought about
those scriptures? If you've read the Bible, I'm
sure you have. And if you ever thought, what
do they mean? Is this in conflict with Paul when he says we're
justified by grace without works? And yet, James comes along with
these words. What does that mean? Perhaps
you've even been frightened by that. Now, some have said that
Paul is speaking of justification before God, but James is speaking
of justification before men. It's my works that prove to you
whether or not I am justified before God. Is that what James
means? No, not at all. Now, I want to be a good example
to you. But if you do not believe that
I don't have faith because of the way I conduct myself, I can
still have faith. And while I want to leave a good
example for you, my great desire is to be justified before God,
whether you or anybody else sees it or not. That is not what James
is saying. James is saying that wherever
there is faith, there will be an evidence. What is the evidence
that Noah believed God? He built the ark. If he would
have refused to build the ark, he would have demonstrated by
that that he did not have faith in the living God. But when God
told him, To build that ark, the scripture says, he moved
with fear. And that's a reverential awe.
He knew God. He moved with fear and prepared
this ark to the saving of his house. That is what proved his
faith was real. There's a passage in Revelation
14, 13 that says, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Yea, saith the spirit that they
may have rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Everyone that enters heaven,
there is going to be works, evidence that they really believed what
they said they believed. Noah is a great example of that. He built the ark. Now, to most
people, Noah is nothing more than a children's Bible story. You've seen the pictures with
Noah with his head out of the ark with a giraffe and a lion,
and they look at it as a children's Bible story. Now, the Lord spoke
of this as a literal event. He spoke of the days of Noah,
the time when he lived, and he said in Luke 17, verses 26 and
27, and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it 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 in the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. The Lord speaks of this as a
literal historical event. Peter refers to this in 1 Peter
3, when he says in verse 20, Which sometimes were disobedient,
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was being prepared, wherein few, that is, eight souls,
were saved by water. Now, I don't know how many millions
of people lived at that time when God sent the flood, but
we read in this passage of Scripture, there were only eight people
in all of the world saved. Now, that's God's Word. Somebody
says that's not very many. I know, but that's what God says.
Eight people in that ark. And Peter mentions him as a preacher
of righteousness. And so much has been said about
Noah's preaching and many would think, well, yes, Noah preached
righteous living. If you don't straighten up and
fly right and live righteously, you're going to be destroyed
by a flood. That is really not what is meant
by the preaching of righteousness on Noah's part. He was preaching
the only way of righteousness, the righteousness of Christ as
the only ground of acceptance. This ark pictures Christ. If
you're in Him, you're saved. If you're not, you are lost.
He preached the only way God could be just and justify the
ungodly. When he was said to be a preacher
of righteousness, it's not talking about him condemning people for
the way they were living. It's talking about him presenting
the only way of acceptance before God. Now, this story with regard
to Noah actually begins in Genesis 6, verse 5. We read, And God saw, this is the days
of Noah, 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. Now, do you get the picture?
God looked at men, this is 2000 years after creation, the creation
of Adam. God looked at men and he saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And this was talking about every
man he looked upon. Here's how bad it was. Every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And my dear friends, it's no
different today than it was then. This is what God sees when he
sees the heart of every natural man, only evil, nonstop. And it repented the Lord that
he made man on the earth and it grieved him in his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created 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've made
them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, Noah was just as bad as
everyone else described in verse five. That was him by nature.
It's not like he was better than these people, but Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God made a difference with Noah. Look in chapter seven, verse
one of Genesis. 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 this is how God made a difference
with Noah. He saw him as righteous. And
I know why he saw him as righteous. Because he had the very righteousness
of Jesus Christ as his personal righteousness before God. He
was somebody that Christ would die for and put away their sins
and be made the very righteousness of God in him. Now, our text begins with these
words, by faith, Noah. being warned of God as things
not have yet seen. Now this is the same faith spoken
of when we read, the just shall live by faith. Now Noah had an
intelligent faith, and by that I'm not talking about IQ, I'm
talking about he knew God and he believed what God says. It
wasn't an act of blind faith when he started building that
ark. He did what God told him to do. He believed that what God said
would take place, would take place. God told him, I'm gonna
flood the earth. And I think in this remarkable
story, Noah's given 120 years to build that ark. Now think about that. Did he
hire people to help? Bible doesn't say it, maybe he
did, but he was given 120 years to build that huge ark. And Peter tells us it was the
long-suffering of God that waited while Noah prepared the ark. Now, Noah did what he did by
faith. He knew the Lord, and he believed
what he said. That's what faith is. It's a
knowledge of God. I mean knowing Him. I'm not talking
about knowing about Him. I'm talking about knowing Him.
And if you know him, you will believe what he said. Now, Noah being warned of God
of things not seen as yet. Now, what that is talking about
is the coming flood. Genesis 2, verses five and six
points out that before the flood, there was no rain. A mist came
up. from the earth, and the earth
was watered by this mist. Noah had never seen rain. Noah
had never experienced a flood. I dare say Noah didn't even know
what a boat was. When the Lord told him to build
this ark, he'd never seen a rain come down to flood the earth,
but he was warned by God with regard to what God was going
to do. Faith has to do with things not
seen. God told him of this judgment
that would take place. And he, like I said, he gave
him 120 years to build the ark. And the judgment was going to
happen then. Now, Noah didn't see this. but he believed God. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. So when God told him to build
the ark, the scripture says he moved with fear. And that is
not a slavish fear, that's the fear of reverence and the fear
of all. He believed what God said and
he prepared the ark. Now what an act of faith that
was. He'd never seen rain. He prepared this huge ark on
dry land. I've heard people say it was
a desert. Well, the Bible doesn't say that, but it could have been.
And this ark was 450 feet long. That's a football field and a
half long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, three stories. And I read where it would take
at least 15,000 tons of wood to build a structure like this.
And can you imagine Noah spending these 120 years in the construction
of this project on dry land? People would come by and say,
Noah, what are you doing? I'm building an ark. What's an
ark? It's a vessel that's going to
float when God sends rain on this earth as a judgment. What's
rain? I can imagine all the questions,
and they probably thought, this man's crazy. What is he doing? I'm sure they were impressed
with the structure. You know, this structure was
like a barge, like a shoebox. I know that the representation
they have in northern Kentucky of the ark, it has a bow and
a stern, but that's not the ark. It was a floating vessel, not
a sailing vessel, a floating vessel. And I suppose everybody
in that region came to look at that ark and were impressed with
it. Look at that. But not one person
believed Noah's warning. I have no doubt that Noah told
people when they would come and watch him build the ark, what
are you doing that for? God is going to send rain on the earth,
the fountains of the deep are going to be opened up, there's
going to be a flood, and the only place of safety is in this
ark. If you come in this ark, you
will be saved. If you don't, you will not."
Now, they were impressed with the ark, but not one person believed
Noah's message. Now, God begins before the rain
to draw the animals in. Noah didn't go out and round
them up. They were moved by God to come into that ark. And when
Noah and his family and all the animals went in the ark, there
was no rain as of yet. Then God shut the door and it
began to rain. Noah went in by faith. He had
not seen the rain yet. But it began to rain. How do
you think those people felt who saw no need to come into the
ark now? There was now no way of entrance into it. Now this
ark is actually a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Large,
huge, plenty of room. And my dear friend, there's room
for anyone who comes to Christ. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. I don't care how sinful you are.
I don't care how lost you are. If you come to Christ, there
is room for you. This ark was huge. And all you needed was in the
ark. They didn't go fishing during
this time. All the food that was needed,
everything you needed, was found in the ark. Everything you need
is in Christ. Everything God requires of you
is found in Christ. If you're in Christ, you have
all that God requires. And this ark was pitched within
and without with pitch. Now that word pitch, that black
tarry substance, it was covered on the outside and on the inside
with this pitch. And that is the same word that
atonement comes from. The atonement of Christ, that's
the shedding of His blood to put away sin. God is just. God is holy. He can't accept
sin. He would cease to be God if He
could just let a sinner come into His presence and accept
Him. But He gave His Son to be the substitute for sinners. God
did this. He gave His Son. And the sins
of God's elect were placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He became
guilty of them. God's wrath came down upon Him.
He shed His precious blood, and by His precious blood there was
the atonement for sin, the putting away of sin. Everybody He died
for, their sin is paid for. God's satisfied with them. Now,
in that ark, what kept the wrath of God out? of the ark, the pitch. The ark was covered with this
black, tarry substance. No water could come within the
ark. And it was pitched on the inside with this pitch. What
is it that keeps a believer on the inside? Is it fear of punishment? Fear of the law? No, it's seeing
the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
only produces love to God and desire to follow Him. The ark had one door, only one. Christ said, I am the door. He
is the door of entrance into heaven. He's in the door of entrance
to salvation. You can't be saved unless you
come by the door. There are no other doors. There was one window, only one
way to look, and that was up to look to Christ. All in this
ark were saved. All outside of the ark drowned. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, moved with fear." Now, in the passage in Hebrews,
let me get back to it. I want to read the whole thing. 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 witch, he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Now this scripture says in the
building of this ark, he condemned the world. Now what does that
mean? During the construction process
of this ark, he condemned the world. Now there has been much
speculation about Noah's preaching during those 120 years, and perhaps
the ridicule he experienced. People saying, are you crazy?
But by this action of condemning the world, this is what I understand.
He let everybody know If you want to be in the ark, there's
room for you. I'm not holding anybody out.
If you come into the ark, you will be saved. You will be welcomed. Now listen to this. The gospel
is not for everybody, but it's for anybody. It's for anybody
who will come. Christ didn't die for everybody.
He died for the elect. There's no question that the
Bible teaches that. But does that keep people out?
No, it brings people in. And there is mercy, there is
grace for anybody who comes. The Lord said in John 6, verse
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. You come, you'll be saved. Now the door is going to be closed
at one point, and once that God shuts Noah in, it will not be
opened again until the flood's over. But right now, the door
of mercy is open. Come to Christ and He will not
cast you out. And if I'm not saved, I have
no one to blame but myself. It's because I refused to come. I trusted my own works rather
than the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, salvation's of the
Lord. If you're saved, it's all the Lord's fault. And if you
or I are damned, it's all our fault. It's all our responsibility. Now notice it says he became,
in our text, it says, by the which he condemned the world,
this building of the ark, saving of his house, by the which he
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which
is by faith. Now don't miss this word. He
became heir. Had he become heir? Let's say
your parents are wealthy and you're an only child and they
have millions and they die and all of a sudden I come up to
you and say I'm an heir also. I have a right to this inheritance
as well. You'd put a stop to that, wouldn't
you? Because no, you're the heir. Somebody does not just make themselves
heir. Now, if you're an heir, it's
because God determined for you to be an heir. He made you an
heir. And what is that inheritance?
He says, heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Now here's what every believer
is an heir of, the righteousness which is by faith. Now there are two kinds of righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ, which is the righteousness of
faith, and human righteousness. But let me say something about
human righteousness. Isaiah says this in Isaiah 64,
6, our righteousnesses, are as filthy rags. So much for human righteousness.
In reality, there's no such thing. We call it righteousness, but
it's whitewashed sin and nothing more. As a matter of fact, do
you know it's your righteousness, your filthy righteousness that
you trust that'll keep you out of heaven? It's not your sin.
Your sin won't keep you out of heaven. It'll cause you to come
to Christ if you ever see it and find mercy. But it's your
righteousness that keeps you from coming to Christ. You think
you're good enough. I think that's the way we all are by nature.
Self-righteous. We're like the Pharisee in the
temple. God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. I'm not an extortioner or unjust
or like this publican. Oh, self-righteousness. It's
what will keep a man out of heaven. and then there's the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Now, that's the righteousness
that Noah became the heir of. Now, how does that work? I'd
like to close by reading a passage of scripture from Romans chapter
three, beginning in verse 10. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no, not, One, that includes you and I. There's none
that understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good, no, not one. Then in verse 19 of the same
chapter, now we know that what things whoever the law saith
that saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Now, if you ever see, and if
I ever see, my sin, my mouth will be stopped. I will justify
God in sending me to hell. I'll be getting exactly what
I deserve. I won't be coming up with excuses.
My mouth will be stopped." Then Paul says, therefore, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. By your actions, by the things
you do, you cannot, I cannot be justified. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. All the law does, all the 10
commandments do is expose to us that all we've done is broken
them. We're sinful. But now, the righteousness of
God. With half the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe." Now, the righteousness of God
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, His perfect obedience
and law-keeping. When He lived 33 years, He was
then nailed to a cross. My sin became his sin, the sins
of the elect became his, he put them away, and his righteousness
is given to every one of them without exception, and every
believer is nothing less than the very righteousness of God
in Jesus Christ. Now that is the righteousness
that Noah became heir to. That is the righteousness which
is of faith. And if you trust Jesus Christ
as your only righteousness before God, you have this same righteousness
that Noah did. We have this message on DVD and
CD, and if you look at the website for our church, you can get a
copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying that God will be pleased to make
Himself known to you. That's our prayer. To receive
a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request
to todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.