“The Faith of Noah”

(Hebrews 11:7)

Introduction: The author, remember, is giving to us examples of how faith can and has
changed the lives of those who possessed it, and how it also became the means by which
they were found pleasing to God. Abel trusted the Lord’s word and obeyed it. He looked
beyond the sacrifice he brought, to Christ, and was therefore accepted by God. But Cain
was rejected, because he didn’t come in the way of faith, the only way to God, but in his
own way. Enoch walked in the ways of the Lord. The Lord even gave him the grace to
prophecy of the second coming of the Messiah, all the way back, almost at the very
beginning of the world, and even used him as a picture of what would happen to all true
believers when He came. “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him”
(Gen. 5:24). “For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to
God” (Heb. 11:5). Tonight, we will look at a third example of the life of faith in the life of
Noah.

I. First, let’s consider who Noah was and the times in which he lived.
A. Noah was one of those believers who lived before the Flood.
1. We call them Antediluvians, which means “before the deluge.” Noah and his
family were the only ones preserved through the Flood.
2. Enoch was the seventh from Adam, if you include Adam. And that makes Noah
the tenth.
a. We read in Genesis 5, “And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the
father of Methuselah” (v. 21). Incidentally, Methuselah’s name literally
translated means, “man of the dart.” It has been suggested that it can be
translated, “when he dies, it will be sent.” This would mean that Methuselah’s
name was a prophecy of the coming judgment of God, for it was in the very
year that Methuselah died that the Flood came. And, if this is true, then it also
shows us of the patience of God, for what is Methuselah known for in
Scripture? He is known for being the man who lived longer than any other.
b. We read further in Genesis, “And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-
seven years, and became the father of Lamech. . . . And Lamech lived one
hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called
his name Noah, saying, ‘This one shall give us rest from our work and from the
toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed” (vv. 25,
28-29).
(i) Lamech died before his father Methuselah, five years before the Flood. So
he was not alive at the time of the Flood. Methuselah probably was not
either. This means that these men may have been godly. Certainly the Lord
preserved the true religion in at least one family. Once they were dead, and
it was time to enter into the ark, the Lord said that Noah was the only
righteous man living (Gen. 7:1).
(ii) Notice also what it was that Lamech said about Noah, “This one shall give
us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground
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which the Lord has cursed.” It may be that Lamech thought that Noah
would be the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Eve about the coming
seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. Even in those
days there was the expectation of the coming Messiah.

c. And why was there such a strong desire to see Him come? It was because of
the situation of all men at that time.

B. Let’s look secondly at the circumstances of Noah at the time of the building of the
ark.
1. Moses tells us that corruption had become widespread.
a. He writes in Genesis 6, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on
the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw
that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves,
whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with
man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one
hundred and twenty years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and
also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and
they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men
of renown. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually” (vv. 1-5).
b. Now I’ve mentioned this before, but since that time others have come in, so I
will repeat what I believe was going on here. The sons of God mentioned here
are not the angels, as is taught in some churches, for angels do not have bodies,
neither are they married or given in marriage. Nor are these demon-possessed
men. There is really nothing which would lead us to this conclusion. Rather,
these are the sons of Seth, the godly line. They were intermarrying with the
ungodly line of Cain, and children were being born to them. They were the
men of renown. They were giants, men of great stature, men who were fierce
warriors.
c. And what was the result? Moses continues, “And the Lord was sorry that He
had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (v. 6). The KJV
says that God repented. But we know from Scripture that the Lord does not
repent or change His mind. What we need to see here is that the Lord had
known from all eternity that this was going to happen. He knew it because He
had planned it. It didn’t take Him by surprise. But this is the response of
God’s most holy nature to the very unholy nature of man. It is grief over sin.
d. And so what did God decide to do? Moses writes, “And the Lord said, ‘I will
blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to
animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have
made them’” (v. 7). The world had become so wicked that it threatened to cut
off the godly seed of Seth. To preserve this line, the line through which the
Messiah would come, He determined -- really in eternity -- to blot out man and
the rest of the creation which had become polluted. He would destroy them all
and make a fresh beginning, although still in a fallen world.
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e. But at that time there was only one descendent of Seth that was found faithful.
And his name was Noah. Moses writes, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of
the Lord” (v. 8).

II. But now let us consider why it was that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
A. Our text this evening tells us, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not
yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he
condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to
faith.”
1. The author has already told us that without faith it is impossible to please God (v.
6). Noah, therefore, must have had faith, the same faith in the same Messiah that
Abel and Enoch had.
a. Now Enoch has already been taken by the Lord some 65 years earlier, and Seth
some 13 years earlier, while Adam had died long before.
b. But doubtless Enos, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech knew
the true religion and taught Noah. There were many others alive at that time,
but only these are mentioned for they were the godly line, and it was through
these that the Messiah was to come.
c. We also learn that Noah was accustomed to sacrificing to the Lord, and knew
the difference between clean and unclean animals. He must have known what
his fathers knew. And of course with the promise made to Eve and the
prophecy given through Enoch, along with what the sacrifices pictured, he had
all that the Lord had revealed concerning the coming One at that time.
d. And Noah believed. He believed in the coming seed of the woman, by the
grace of God. And because he did, he found favor in God’s eyes.

2. And because Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, the Lord told him what He
was about to do, and what it was that Noah should do to save himself and his
household. Noah believed these things as well.
a. Moses continues, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth
was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was
corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to
Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with
violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the
earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with
rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch’” (Gen. 6:11-14).
b. Furthermore, the Lord said, “‘And behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of
water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from
under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. But I will establish
My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark-- you and your sons and
your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all
flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with
you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the
animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind,
two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive. And as for you, take
for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it
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shall be for food for you and for them.’ Thus Noah did; according to all that
God had commanded him, so he did” (vv. 17-22).
c. God was bringing a flood to destroy the world. But He was going to save His
faithful servant, and -- notice this principle being interjected very early on --
He was going to save his household, as well. When God deals with man in
covenant, that covenant embraces his whole household.

3. Now Noah had never seen a flood of this magnitude. But when God warned him
about what He was about to do, Noah feared the Lord, he believed that what God
said He was going to do, he acknowledged that God’s judgment was just, and he
did what it was that the Lord had told him to do.
a. Now I don’t believe that what the author means by “things not yet seen,” refers
to rain. I believe that Noah had seen rain and knew what it was.
(i) Genesis 2:5-6 is used to show that before the flood of Noah’s day, there
was no rain. But I don’t think that this was the case.
(ii) Mark Futato has made a very convincing case that Genesis 2:5 describes a
two-fold problem, for which verses 6-7 give a two-fold solution.
(iii) Verse 5 reads, “Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no
plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon
the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground.”
(iv) The two-fold problem was that there were no plants, such as grow
spontaneously after a rain, and there were no fields of cultivated plants,
because there was no rain, and because there was no man to do the
cultivating. There were trees, fruit trees, and plants of just about every
other kind, for the Lord had created them on day three. What was lacking
were these two kinds of plants, because the conditions did not exist yet for
them to grow.
(v) And so the Lord resolved the problem in verses 6-7. “But a mist used to
rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the
Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
(vi) Now if verse 6 is correct as it is translated here, it seems to contradict
what was said in verse 5: there was no shrub of the field, because there was
no rain. But there was a mist which watered the ground. If the ground was
watered, then why was there no shrub?
(vii) Dr. Futato has found evidence in the language to translate the passage
this way: “And so the Lord sent rain upon the earth to water the whole
surface of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust from the
ground.” The two-fold solution to the two-fold problem was to send rain to
make the shrubs sprout and grow, and to make a man to cultivate the
standing fields of grain.
(viii) If this is right, then Noah would have seen rain. But what he had not
seen was a flood of such magnitude as to destroy the whole earth.

b. But even though he had not seen it, he believed God, built the ark, which must
have taken many many years, and must have been accompanied by the ridicule
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and harassing of those who lived around him, entered into it with his family,
and was saved from the judgment of the Lord.

4. The author says that when Noah did this, “He condemned the world.”
a. Literally, it means that “he passed judgment on the world.”
b. He doubtlessly had told them that the flood was coming. He showed that he
believed it by building the ark.
c. But that ark showed that God was sparing one man and his family from His
judgment by which He was destroying the rest of the world. If Noah had not
built the ark, it might not be as plain that this is what the Lord was doing.
d. And had they believed the Lord, they might have been saved as well. But the
fact that they didn’t, and that they showed that they didn’t by not preparing,
revealed more clearly their wicked hearts. For those who are the Lord’s
believe His words, enough to act upon them.

5. Finally, through this, Noah became an heir of the righteousness which is

according to faith.
a. James writes, “Someone may well say, ‘You have faith, and I have works;
show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my
works’” (2:18). “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
without works is dead” (v. 26). If a person really believes something, he will
act upon it. If he does not believe it, his life will show it.
b. Noah showed that he really believed what God said. Through his obedience to
the Lord, his faith reached its goal. What James wrote concerning Abraham,
equally applies here, “You see that faith was working with his works, and as a
result of the works, faith was perfected” (v. 22).
c. And because Noah truly trusted in the Lord, he became an heir of the
righteousness which the Lord supplies through the Messiah. He was not saved
by his works, he only showed that his faith was genuine by his works.
d. The lesson for us is clear. If we really believe God’s Word, we will act upon it
as well, and show that we have genuine faith. We will trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Messiah who has come. We will do so even though we cannot see
Him. We will believe His Word and live according to it. We will do so even
if we have to face the ridicule of the world. When we do, the reason why the
Lord gave us faith will be perfected. It will have reached its goal: to make us
think, speak and act like Christ. This is why the Lord saved us in the first
place, that we might be like His Son. May He then fulfill His work in us.
Believe in the Lord. Obey His Word. And show yourselves to be true
believers. Amen.