[The outline was borrowed from John MacArthur’s Hebrews commentary.]
A business man well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.” “I have a better idea,” replied Twain. “You could stay in Boston and keep them” [SermonIllustrations.com (Faith and Works)].
James 2:14-20, The Message:
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed is rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do for them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
James 2:20—“Faith without works is dead.”
Many people today have the wrong idea that they can add Christ to their lives without subtracting sin.
Salvation does not only involve a CHANGE IN BELIEF; it also involves a CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR.
If you really believe in God, there will be evidence of it in the way you live, in the things you say, and in the things you do.
John MacArthur writes,
Satan has continually tried to confused and mislead people, including God’s people, about faith and works. If possible, he will convince a person that he can be saved by doing certain good works. If this strategy works, the person will be lost to God. If a person trusts in God and is saved, Satan then tries to convince him of one of two extremes—that he must do good works to keep his salvation (legalism) or that, now that he is saved by faith, he can forget about good works (license). From Genesis to Revelation, however, the Bible is clear that a person is saved only by faith, and that when he is saved, good works should follow as a result [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, pp. 317-318].
Read through Hebrews 11 and you will see that every one of heaven’s heroes demonstrated their faith by their works.
ABEL had faith. How did he show it? BY PRESENTING TO GOD THE PROPER SACRIFICE.
ENOCH had faith. How did he show it? BY WALKING WITH GOD.
And NOAH had faith. How did he show it? BY PREPARING THE ARK.
Abel illustrates the WORSHIP of faith.
Enoch illustrates the WALK of faith.
And Noah, perhaps more than any other person in history, illustrates the WORK of faith— OBEDIENCE.
Sermon Text: Hebrews 11:7
Three things in Hebrews 11:7 give proof that Noah’s faith was genuine:
1. HE RESPONDED TO GOD’S WORD;
2. HE REBUKED THE WORLD;
3. HE RECEIVED GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
I. NOAH RESPONDED TO GOD’S WORD (Hebrews 11:7a).
“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. . . .”
Genesis 6:5-13, 17
Noah responded to God’s Word BY FAITH. “By faith Noah . . . prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” By faith Noah obeyed God’s word.
TRUST AND OBEDIENCE ARE INSEPARABLE. As we like to sing, there is no other way than “to trust and obey.”
A. Noah obeyed God without questioning Him.
The verse tells us that God warned Noah “of things not seen as yet.” What had Noah not seen? Rain!
Genesis 2:6—“. . . the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. . . . But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”
Hebrews 11:1—“. . . faith is . . . the evidence [conviction] of things not seen.”
One of the greatest practical acts of faith in all history was Noah’s cutting down the first gopher tree for wood to make the ark [MacArthur, p. 319].
Luke 5:1-5
Verse 5—“. . . nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
B. Noah obeyed God without procrastinating.
Surely Satan suggested to Noah more than once that he had plenty of time to build the ark “later.” One hundred and twenty years gives a great deal of opportunity for procrastination. But Noah did not make excuses or procrastinate; he simply built the ark, just as he was called to do.
Procrastination is my sin.
It brings we naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it.
In fact, I will . . . tomorrow.
[SermonIllustrations.com (Procrastination).
C. Noah obeyed God though it was costly.
A. W. Pink—“Faith expresses itself in that which costs its possessor something!” [Gleanings in Genesis, p. 85.]
How did Noah’s obedience cost him? Ridicule from others. Time. Hard work.
A. W. Pink—“What is it costing you to express your faith? A faith that does not issue in that which is costly is not worth much” [Ibid.].
THE LORD HAS ARKS FOR EVERY BELIEVER TO BUILD.
Vance Havner said,
God is faithful, and He expects His people to be faithful. . . .
What terrible times we have in our churches trying to keep people faithful in attendance and loyalty! How we reward and picnic and coax and tantalize church members into doing things they don’t want to do but which they would do if they loved God! The only service that counts is faithful service.
True faith shows up in faithfulness. Not everyone can sing or preach, but all can be faithful [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 292].
II. NOAH REBUKED THE WORLD (Hebrews 11:7b).
“. . . by the which he condemned the world. . . .”
A. Noah preached with his LIPS.
In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called “a preacher of righteousness.”
God called Noah to preach while he built. The preaching was probably more difficult that the building. Hard jobs are always easier to deal with than hard people.
And Noah definitely preached to a difficult crowd! The times in which Noah lived were among the most evil and corrupt in history.
Genesis 6:5—“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.”
Noah’s job was to warn the people of his time that God would soon judge them because of their wickedness and unbelief. Our task is the same.
Several years ago a man and his wife were found frozen to death in their car. A blizzard had dumped tons of snow in the area, burying their vehicle. Before she died, the woman scribbled a note on a piece of paper and stuffed it in the glove compartment. The note read: “I don’t want to die this way.” Tragically, less than six feet from their icy grave was a stranded bus, whose festive passengers remained warm throughout the night [SermonIllustrations.com (salvation)].
Ezekiel 3:18-19—“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; BUT HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THINE HAND. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
WE ARE NOT CALLED TO BE SUCCESSFUL, BUT FAITHFUL.
Noah’s 120 years of preaching did not bring him any converts, but he was faithful.
B. Noah preached with his LIFE.
Against that wicked, cruel, and dark world, Noah’s life and testimony shined in glistening condemnation. Black never seems so black as when white is put beside it. The man of faith rebukes the world just by his living, even if he never utters a word of reproach.
Does your life produce that same kind of effect?
Perhaps the saddest lesson from Noah’s day is that men have not changed in their attitude toward God since then, and will not change until the Lord returns.
Matthew 24:37-39—“But as the day of Noe 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, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
If God doesn’t destroy our world, He’ll have to apologize to the people of Noah’s day.
III. NOAH RECEIVED GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Hebrews 11:7c).
“. . . and became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
All who believe in God are righteous, not always in PRACTICE but always in POSITION.
The Father sees us as He sees the Son, holy and righteous, because by faith we are in the Son.
Jeremiah 23:6—“. . . this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Romans 5:19—“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
2 Corinthians 5:21—“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Philippians 3:9—“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
The ark is a beautiful picture of the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.
1. The ark was a DIVINE PROVISION.
Genesis 6:13-14a—“And 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. . . .”
Before the Flood came the means of escape existed in the mind of God.
Before sin came into the world the way of salvation existed in the mind of God.
Acts 2:23—Peter proclaimed that Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. . . .”
2. The ark was COVERED WITH PITCH.
Genesis 6:14—Thou “shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
The Hebrew word of “pitch” is not the common one for “pitch,” which is zetteth, but is kapher, which is translated seventy times in the Old Testament “to make atonement.” The simple meaning of kapher is “to cover.” Atonement was made by the blood which provided a covering for sin [from A. W. Pink, Gleanings in Genesis, p. 108].
Leviticus 17:11—“The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
The pitch kept the waters of judgement from entering the ark just as Christ’s atoning blood keeps judgement from the sinner.
3. Into the ark MAN WAS INVITED TO COME.
Genesis 7:1—“And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. . . .”
Notice that the Lord did not say “Go into the ark,” but “Come.”
“Go” would have been a command. “Come” was a gracious invitation.
Isaiah 55:1—“Every one that thirsteth, COME ye to the waters. . . .”
John 7:37—“If any man thirst, let him COME unto me, and drink.”
Revelation 22:17—“And let him that is athirst COME. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
John 6:37—“. . . him that COMETH to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Matthew 11:28—“COME unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
5. The ark had ONLY ONE DOOR.
John 14:6—“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 10:9—“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. . . .”
Acts 4:12—“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
The fact that only eight people went into the ark means that only eight wanted to be saved on God’s terms.
6. The ark was a place of ABSOLUTE SECURITY.
Genesis 7:16—“. . . and the Lord shut him in.”
1 Peter 1:5—The believer is “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
As always, the Lord’s judgement was tempered by His mercy. He is never happy with judgement, no matter how deserved. Man’s wickedness and the fact that he would have to be judged so severely “grieved him at his heart” (Genesis 6:9).
God allowed 120 years for the people to be warned and to repent (6:3).
1 Peter 3:20—“. . . the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. . . .”
In other words, at the same time God was preparing JUDGEMENT He was also preparing a WAY OF ESCAPE.
2 Peter 3:9—The Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Those who perished in the flood had the same opportunity to be saved as Noah had. The difference between Noah and everyone around him was in their response to God’s word.
C. H. Spurgeon—“He who does not believe God will punish sin will not believe that he will pardon it through atoning blood.”
CONCLUSION
I conclude with a twofold challenge.
1. If you are unsaved, I urge you to flee for refuge in Christ.
RECEIVE GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. “Let’s god to them and say there is no God,” proposed on. Silence prevailed. Every demon knew that most people believe in a supreme being. “Let’s tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked,” offered another. That was turned down, because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. The meeting was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: “Tell them there is a God, there is a hell and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide the question. Let them neglect the Gospel, until it is too late.” All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinated on Christ, they usually never accept Him [SermonIllustrations.com (Salvation)].
2. If you are saved, I urge you to demonstrate reality of your salvation.
RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD with OBEDIENCE without QUESTIONING, without PROCRASTINATING, even though it might prove COSTLY.
REBUKE THE WORLD with your LIPS and with your LIFE.
Vance Havner said,
Our Lord never put discipleship in fine print in the contract. He called on us to forsake all, take up our cross, deny self, love him more than anything else. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, the personal property of Jesus Christ with no right to anything. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all” [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 818].
C. T. Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him” [Ibid. p. 821].
jonathanrmcleod@yahoo.com
