The Character and Faith of Noah
Prologue: Genesis 1-11 • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
The time that proceeded that flood was troublesome to say the least. Mankind had become corrupt and wicked in every conceivable way. v.11 of our text tells us that the earth was corrupt and full of violence. No one, was living a holy and godly life. Couple that with v.5 in the same chapter which tells us that every thought and intent of man was continually corrupt and you get a clear picture of just how bleak the pre-flood world had become. Notice, the indictment from God wasn't just against a few individuals, but against all of mankind. Every person was immoral, lawless and godless. Everyone had turned their backs on God and were living for their own desires and pleasures. Everyone that is, with the exception of a man named Noah. In fact, of the billions of people on the earth at that time, Only Noah and his family still believed and followed God. Noah was a man of great character and a man of great faith. Both are on display here in the text before us this morning and I propose to you today that the world in which we live today needs men like Noah. Men with Great character and faith. Let’s examine the passage before us this morning.
1.) The character of Noah. (v.9-10)
1.) The character of Noah. (v.9-10)
The peculiar quality, or the sum of qualities, by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others; the stamp impressed by nature, education, or habit; that which a person or thing really is; nature; disposition.Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality. Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the life
Noah Porter, Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021).
The character of Noah stood head and shoulders above the rest of the world.
A.) He was just man. -This has a two fold meaning.
To be counted as righteous before God. To be justified or declared righteous.
A man is only counted as righteous before God by believing in the promised Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Noah believed the promise of God, he believed God would send a promised seed, the Savior, into the world to save people from their sin.
Noah was saved by grace through faith in the coming savior, the same way we are saved today.
God took Noah’s belief and counted or declared it as righteousness.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
To live a righteous life and treat others in an upright, honest and virtuous way.
Noah lived a just and righteous life before God and before man. In other words, Noah lived out his profession.
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
B.) He was perfect. (Blameless.)
This does not mean that Noah was a sinless man but it means that Noah was a moral man who lived a life of purity, integrity and honesty before others. He life matched his profession. Others could sling mud, but it wouldn't stick.
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
C.) He walked with God.
Noah is the second man in scripture said to have walked with God. The other was his ancestor Enoch. This means he lived a life totally dedicated to God and lived in daily communion with God.
D.) He was a good and godly father.
Noah’s life lived in communion and service to His Lord had an influence on his family. This can be seen by the fact that Noah’s three sons and their wives survived the flood with him. This means that they also must have live holy and righteous lives like their dad.
Noah sets a profound example for Father’s to follow today in rearing our children. We must raise them to know God and to follow after him with all their hearts.
9 Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
2.) The faith of Noah. (v.13-22)
2.) The faith of Noah. (v.13-22)
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Noah was not just a man of high moral character, he was a man of great Faith in God. The task that God called on Noah to complete was unbelievable, and yet, Noah did just that, he believed God.
A.) Noah’s faith in God’s Word produced obedience. (v.13-17)
God revealed to Noah that he was going to put an end to mankind because they had become so violently sinful and corrupt. The God gave Noah the command to build an Ark (a giant boat) in the middle of nowhere.
Not just any boat, a both that was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high with one window (essentially a sky light) , one door, and three decks. It had to be made of gopher (Cypress) wood, rooms for the humans and stalls for animals. It had to be waterproofed with tar inside and out. The stocked with enough food to keep himself, his family and all of those animals alive for an unspecified amount of time.
Oh and he needed to build this monstrosity because God was going to flood the earth and kill everyone and everything in it that wasn't on the boat.
God’s calling placed upon Noah had to have been one of the most difficult a man could ever receive, one that would require complete faith and dependence on God.
Can you imagine the emotional shock that Noah must have felt? How inadequate to the task he must have thought he was? The ridicule and scorn he knew he would receive? The enormous financial cost and physical burden this would be?
Noah was just asked by God to believe the unbelievable, to do the incredible, to accept God’s Word at face value and that is exactly what Noah did.
Application: This is the kind of faith that all believers should strive to have. We must believe God’s Word, no matter how incredible it may seem. May we be as Noah, with an unwavering faith to trust and obey God’s Word no matter the cost.
B.) Noah’s faith in God’s promise of Salvation (v.18-22)
Noah had to have been just absolutely shaken to the core with God’s pronouncement of Judgement. This wasn’t going to affect some far off distant land, but Noahs friends, neighbors, co workers, fellow citizens etc. were going to be destroyed. The images that flashed across Noah’s mind must have been terrifying.
God gave Noah a promise that he and his family would be safe, but Noah had to have faith in God in order to believe that promise.
In v.18 God tells Noah that his covenant would now rest in Noah. The covenant of a promised seed to come. Noah could rest in God’s promise and know that he and his family would be saved.
Noah had to believe God enough to not only build the ark but then to get into the ark. Noah had to place his faith completely in God and his word in order to enter into salvation from the flood.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
The ark that God commanded Noah to build is the clearest picture we have in the old testament of the gospel. Noah’s ark was more than just a boat, it was an ark of Salvation for mankind.
The entire earth was under the wrath of God, but God provided a way of salvation in the form of an ark. Today the entire earth is under the wrath of God waiting to be poured out and the only way of escape is through a cross.
The ark had only one door through which Noah and his family could enter for safety. Today there is but one way that leads to God. Only one door that leads to the safety and security of God’s salvation. The way and the Door is the Lord Jesus Christ.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The ark had to be water proofed inside and out with pitch. The Hebrew word is “kopher” which means to cover or to ransom. Its the same word for atonement. The pitch sealed the ark and made it secure from the destruction and judgment that was coming upon the earth. Today that covering and atonement is found only in the blood of Christ which covers us and washes us clean.
11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Friend, we must all face the judgement of God one day and give an account for our lives upon the earth. That judgment is sure, its coming, there is nothing to be done to stop it. Our only hope is to run into the ark of safety, through the door of Christ and be covered by the blood.
The Door Of Salvation
By: Ken Ham
Did you know there's a very special door?
It leads to heaven for rich or poor.
There's no charge at all, the entry is free.
But heaven is where you'll want to be.
Now there's only one door, yes only one,
and it's there for all, for anyone.
You can't go through the door alone,
and it all has to do with a great big stone.
Our ancestor Adam with God did walk,
but Adam and Eve heard the Devil talk.
God clear word they did not obey,
now we're all sinners because of that day.
Now because of this problem of our sin,
heaven's door just won't let you in.
Unless your sin is all taken away,
outside of heaven you'll have to stay.
Because of sin our bodies will die,
we can't stop that as hard as we try.
Bones are a lot like a tent where we live,
but a home in heaven God wants to give.
But heaven's a place where there's no sin,
the door to heaven won't let sinners in.
Unless our sin is totally taken away,
we can't go to heaven forever to stay.
Now just over 4000 years ago,
man's goodness hit an all-time low.
Only Noah and his family would God word obey,
a flood would come to judge sin in that day.
Noah belt and Ark as God told him to do,
it was for the land animals and his own family too.
Through one door to the Ark, they had to go,
to escape the judgment as the waters did flow.
Now the ark is a picture for me and for you,
a picture of something that God would then do.
It was promised way back when Adam did sin,
God promised an arc for us to go in.
God's son came to earth to save us from our sin,
so the door to heaven will now let us in.
He died on a cross and was placed in a grave,
but how could that from our sin now save?
He was placed in a grave,
with a stone in the way,
people thought that graves where he'd stay.
But angels moved that stone right away.
He rose from the dead what a glorious day!
The door to the grave was opened up wide,
Jesus certainly didn't stay long inside.
He paid the price for all of our sin,
now to heaven, he wants us all to go in.
Jesus is the door for you and for me,
the door to heaven that has no fee.
It's a free gift for all of us to receive,
to all of those who repent and believe.
Jesus said “I am the door” to enter in,
He paid the penalty for our sin.
Please come to him and go through the door,
heaven's waiting for you, whether rich or poor.
Remember God had Noah build an ark with one door,
to save his family when the rain did pour.
That door is a picture of what Jesus did do,
he's really an ark for me and for you.
Noah and his family through the door went in,
when God judged the world because of our sin.
We need to go through a doorway to, Jesus is that door for me and for you.
Please receive the gift that Jesus offers all,
for entrance to heaven, so please don't stall.
Receive that gift and don't try to delay,
yes, Jesus Christ is the only way.