Noah's Faith

Noah’s Faith

Text: Hebrews 11:7, Gen. 6

Intro:

This has been a rough week for the church. We have had to say good-bye both Andrea and Bro. Bush. It is always heard to lose a loved one, but to lose two within just a few days can be devastating. It is times like this that we look to God and wonder if He really does know what it going on down here? Does He care that we are hurting? Couldn’t He have let us recover the loss of one loved one before taking another? Probably, we could just boil our questions down to one word – “Why?”

I’ve heard that word spoken several times this week. I’ve heard it spoken by not only by grieving family and friends, but I’ve heard it in the fathoms of my own heart. As your pastor, I want to be able to give you the answer and so I have pounded on heaven’s door pleading for an answer. The answer I received was the story of Noah.

I. Trust in the Personhood of God

Genesis chapter 6 tells of that world where everyone was doing wicked. Hate and violence were everywhere. People had rejected God, His teachings, His love. God had decided that He was going to destroy all of mankind. Satan had so corrupted the entirety of the human race that He did not feel like it was worth redeeming.

Things must have been really bad. It is hard to destroy something you have made. When you have put time and effort into something, you wish to preserve it. But a strange thing happened, as God was taking a final inventory of the immorality of man, God noticed Noah. No, God had not forgotten Noah – not even for a moment. What the author of Genesis wanted us to see was that though the world had gotten to the point that it should be destroyed, God could not do it because there was yet a righteous man left.

It is hard for us to understand God. In fact, we can’t. He is so far higher and greater than us that He exceeds the scope of our imaginations. We cannot understand the One who inhabits eternity. We cannot understand the One who comprehends and knows all things. If our parents did not live to please the Lord, sometimes we grow up with a warped sense of who God is. We may fear that God will abandon us, hurt us, or just doesn’t care. God knows this and so He tries to show Who He is throughout Scripture using images we would understand.

Genesis – Creator & promised Redeemer

Exodus – the Passover Lamb

Leviticus – High Priest

Numbers – water in the desert

Deuteronomy – He becomes the curse for us

Joshua – Commander of the army of the Lord

Judges – delivers us from injustice

Ruth – our Kinsman-Redeemer

1 Samuel – all in one, He is the Prophet/Priest/King

2 Samuel – King of grace & love

1 Kings – a Ruler greater than Solomon

2 Kings – the powerful prophet

1 Chronicles – Son of David that is coming to rule

2 Chronicles – the King who reigns eternally

Ezra – Priest proclaiming freedom

Nehemiah – the One who restores what is broken down

Esther – Protector of his people

Job – Mediator between God and man

Psalms – our song in the morning and in the night

Proverbs – our wisdom

Ecclesiastes – our meaning for life

Song of Solomon – Author of faithful love

Isaiah – Suffering Servant

Jeremiah – the weeping Messiah

Lamentations – He assumes God’s wrath for us

Ezekiel – Son of Man

Daniel – the stranger in the fire with us

Hosea – faithful husband even when we run away

Joel – He is sending His Spirit to His people

Amos – delivers justice to the oppressed

Obadiah – Judge of those who do evil

Jonah – the greatest missionary

Micah – He casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness

Nahum – proclaims future world peace we cannot even imagine

Habakkuk – crushes injustice

Zephaniah – the Warrior who saves

Haggai – restores our worship

Zechariah – prophesies a Messiah pierced for us

Malachi – sun of righteousness who brings healing

Matthew – the Messiah who is King

Mark – the Messiah who is a Servant

Luke – the Messiah who is a Deliverer

John – the Messiah who is a God in the flesh

Acts – the Spirit who dwells in His people

Romans – the righteousness of God

1 Corinthians – the power and love of God

2 Corinthians – He is the down payment of what’s to come

Galatians – He is our very life

Ephesians – the unity of our church