Pastor Bryan Guinness
Hebrews 11:7
October 2, 2011
I’m doing a series of messages from Hebrews 11 called A Faith-Full Life. This chapter is full of the examples of great men and women of faith in the Bible. The word faith is used in this chapter 28 times in 40 verses and today I want to zero in one of those verses which speak of Noah and his faith.
Hebrews 11:7 – By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
There are four qualities of Noah’s Faith that are mentioned here:
1. His Faith Believed a Warning
God warned Noah that he would flood the earth and Noah simply believed God’s word of warning to him. Noah had never seen a flood. He didn’t know what it looked like. He didn’t have photos or pictures to show him how devastating floods can be. And yet, he believed the warning that God gave him. The Bible doesn’t tell us how God spoke to Noah. It may have been an audible voice. It may have been a vision of some sort or a dream in which God appeared to him. Although we can’t be sure of what form God’s word came to Noah, what we can be sure of is Noah’s response. He believed the warning. He believed God’s word.
The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word of God.
Romans 10:17 – Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
How does a person find faith today? It comes as a result of hearing God’s word. Faith is our response to God’s revelation. The only acceptable response that pleases God is the response of faith.
Hebrews 11:6 – And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
What do we notice about Noah’s faith? It resulted in a holy fear. (V.7)
Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of fear being linked to God. But, it is impossible to get away from this idea. Throughout the Bible, there is an inescapable connection between faith in God and the fear of God. Faith in God leads to the fear of God. When Noah believed God, he feared God.
Proverbs 14:2 – He whose walk is upright fears the LORD, but he whose ways are devious despises him.
The fear of God is foundational to faith. Fear in the right thing—God—is foundational to faith. However, when we put our fear in the wrong thing (man- what others think of us) then we become paralyzed in our faith and unfruitful. The fear of God is foundational to faith. If we say we have faith in God but our life shows no evidence of the fear of God, then we have a shallow faith. The fear of man destroys faith. Noah was a man of faith because he feared God.
2. His faith achieved Good Works
Having heard a word from God, Noah did something. He prepared an ark. His faith led to works.
James 2:17 – Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Saving faith always leads to good works.
Galatians 3:11 – The righteous shall live by faith.
The Biblical pattern is faith first, then works. Works can not save a person. No amount of good works can save your soul. Salvation isn’t a goal you work for. Rather, it’s a gift you receive.
Ephesians 2:8–9 – For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.
Salvation is a gift of God, and the way we receive that gift is through faith. But look what is described in the next verse:
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Once we receive the gift of salvation, God expects us to live a life of good works.
Nathan C. Schaeffer once said this: “At the close of life, the question will not be, ‘How much have you gotten?’ but ‘How much have you given?’ Not ‘How much have you won?’ but ‘How much have you done?’ Not ‘How much have you saved?’ but ‘How much have you sacrificed?’ It will be ‘How much have you loved and served,’ not ‘How much were you honored?’”
How about you? Are you giving away your life in service to others and to God? Are you using your time, talents, and money for the sake of Christ? Noah believed God and so did something. He built an ark and Hebrews 11:7 tells us that by doing so he saved his children. Noah’s works led to the salvation of others. I believe the same can be true of us today. When our faith is being consistently lived out in good works, it will have a positive effect on others.
A few years ago I came across a heart-warming story. It was about a man called Grandpa Nybakken. He worked as a carpenter and one day he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. He remembered putting them there that morning, so he drove back to the church. His search proved fruitless.
When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened: the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China!
The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six children. He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. “It’s not fair,” he told God as he drove home in frustration. “I’ve been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.”
Several months later the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday night at Grandpa’s small church in Chicago. The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. “But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top.”
The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: “Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.” The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.
(Reprinted from Live (July 30, 1989), © 1989 Cheryl Walterman Stewart.)
Here was a man using his time and talent to serve others, and by serving others, he was serving God, and the effect of his serving was more than he could have anticipated. Whenever we serve God he uses us in ways we might not expect, even when things don’t go as planned. So, Noah’s faith believed a warning. Noah’s faith then achieved good works. Thirdly:
3. His Faith overcame the wickedness surrounding him
“By his faith he condemned the world”. Why did Noah’s faith condemn the world? Because the generation in which he lived was wicked and evil. Genesis 6:11 says that “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” In 1 Peter we read that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” According to Genesis 6:5 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” That doesn’t mean he was sinless. Just read Genesis 9 and you’ll find out about his sins. When it says he was blameless it doesn’t mean he was sinless but rather what it means is that the consistent day-to-day pattern of his life was lived in obedience to God and his word, not in rebellion against God. Now, I want us to think for a minute about the generation in which Noah lived:
i) it was a day of secular philosophy
Genesis 6:5-6 – The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
This doesn’t mean that people didn’t do and think good things sometimes. But what it meant is that the default tendency was to do wrong. What it means is that the thoughts and ideas and philosophies of the day were permeated with a secular root. God was absent from peoples’ thoughts, beliefs, and philosophies. Does this sound like our day? It sounds like a description of the university campuses, or our public schools, or like your work place.
ii) It was a day of scientific progress.
How else could Noah build a boat that was as big as an ocean liner and could withstand the most terrible storm the world has ever known? How else could Cain build a city, according to Genesis 4:17? These people were smart.
iii) It was a day of social problems
Genesis 6:11–13 – Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Violence was wide-spread and normal. Doesn’t sound a whole lot different from things today. School shootings, terrorism, murders, and wars seem to make the news almost every day. Jesus, while he was teaching on one occasion, compared the days of Noah to the days just prior to his return:
Luke 17:26–28 – “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
In the days of Noah, people were living their lives independent of God, when suddenly the flood came. The circumstances will be the same just before Christ returns. People will be living independently from God, living their normal lives, eating, drinking, and marrying, when suddenly he will return.
I have looked at what Noah’s day was like because it was not all that unlike our own day. Noah faced a great deal of wickedness around him. Yet, he lived out his faith and overcome it. If he could do it, so can we.
Do you know the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer?
A thermometer merely tells what the temperature is in a particular area. If you thermometer reads 70F and you place it in a room that is 80F, then the thermometer will change to register whatever the room temperature is. A thermometer always adjusts to its environment. A thermostat however is different. It doesn’t adjust to the room temperature, it adjusts the room temperature. If the thermostat is set to 70F and the room is 80F, then the temperature of the room will eventually change to whatever the setting of the thermostat is.
We can either live our live as a thermostat or a thermometer. You can either blend in with the crowd or stand out from the crowd. You can either go with the crowd or change the crowd. Jesus calls us to become like thermostats.
4. His Faith Was Rewarded
“He became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith”
What reward did Noah receive for his faith? Righteousness. A right standing before God for all eternity. It was no different than Abraham:
Genesis 15:6 – He believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God credits righteousness to those who believe his word and trust in his promises.
How was Abraham and Noah saved? The same way you and I are today. By trusting completely in God’s grace to save you and not your own deeds. The difference between them and us is that they didn’t fully comprehend how God in his grace would save them. But we know now it is through the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ and faith in Him alone that saves. Jesus was God in human flesh. Though fully human he didn’t sin. By his life, he perfectly fulfilled God’s requirements of righteousness. And by his death, he perfectly paid the penalty that our sins deserve. The good news of the gospel is that when we put faith in Christ God credits righteousness to us.
Romans 3:22 – This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Whose righteousness do we receive? That of Jesus Christ. It gets applied to us. The reward of Noah’s faith was receiving the gift of righteousness. That is the reward of our faith too.
When the ark was complete, the Bible says that all the animals came to Noah. He didn’t need to go and find them. God brought them. And finally after the last one had entered, Noah and his family went into the ark. Then the Bible says that God shut the door. God was in charge of the door. The ark had been sealed inside and out with pitch, so that not one drop of water could get in. Only those in the ark were saved from the waters of judgment. The ark is a picture of Christ. When we come to Jesus and trust in him for eternal life, God shuts the door, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and not one bit of judgment can come to the child of God who is safe in Christ.
Are you in the ark? Are you Jesus? If you are not you can by admitting your sin, by believing that Christ died and rose again to make the payment for your sin, and then by inviting him into your life to be your Savior and Lord.
If you are in Christ, then is your faith being lived out like Noah’s faith?
1.His faith believed a warning.
2.His faith achieved good works.
3.His faith overcame the wickedness surrounding him.
Q] Does that describe your faith? If it does, then be encouraged, because
4. His faith was rewarded, and so will yours.
Latest Sermons
“Motherhood” - Pastor Bryan Guinness, Proverbs 14:1 May 13, 2012
Hebrews 11 – Part 7 – “Nurturing Faith in your Family” - Pastor Bryan Guinness, Hebrews 11:23 May 13, 2012
Hebrews 11 – Part 6 – “Faith…at the End of Life” - Pastor Bryan Guinness, Hebrews 11:20-22
“The Hope That Does Not Dissapoint” - Pastor Frank Humphrey, Romans 5:3-5
Overcoming – Part 10 – “Overcoming Addictions” - Pastor Bryan Guinness, Romans 6:11-14