Hebrews 11:7
We cannot overemphasize the importance of faith. Here are four things to lay on your heart about Noah, a champion of faith:
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Noah Believed the Warning
Noah was warned of something he had never seen, but he had the Word of God. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith is not a leap in the dark; it is a step into God’s light.
The faith Noah received resulted in fear. “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7a).
Fear sees God’s power, holiness, and justice. Faith sees God’s lovingkindness, grace, and mercy. The fear of God is not a cringing dread of God—it is love on its knees. Noah was a man of faith because he feared the Lord.
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Noah Achieved the Work
Having heard from God, Noah got busy. “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20) God told Noah to build an ark, and Noah obeyed.
What we believe, we live by. Don’t say that you have faith if you do not obey—and you must obey even when you don’t understand.
If you work without faith, that is presumption. If you have faith without work, that is pretense. It is not what you preach, but what you practice that makes you a true believer in Christ. Noah was a man of faith, and therefore he prepared an ark to save his family.
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Noah Saw the Wickedness
Don’t say that you cannot have faith today because of the problems in society. Think of the ungodly world in which Noah lived:
There was secular philosophy. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
There were social plagues. “God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:12).
There was sexual perversion. Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27).
Yet, in all of this, Noah lived and preached.
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Noah Received the Blessing
“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” (Hebrews 11:7).
Just before the flood, “The LORD said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation’” (Genesis 7:1). Then God shut the door. (See Genesis 7:16.)
The ark was sealed on the inside and outside with pitch. (See Genesis 6:14.) The same word for pitch is also translated as atonement in the Old Testament. God put atonement on the outside and the inside, and not one drop of water could come through.
The ark is a picture of what will happen when you come to Christ. (See 1 Peter 3:18-22.) God shuts the door. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Not one drop of judgment can come to the child of God who is saved in Jesus.
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