September 28, 2025 • 33 mins
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SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
All right.
Here we are.
Hebrews chapter 11.
And you can, if you havesomething, you can hold your
place elsewhere will be Genesischapter 6.
Hebrews chapter 11.
Genesis chapter 6.
(00:30):
Perhaps you remember we are inHebrews chapter 11 today.
Passage known as the Hall ofFaith in many circles.
And we will step again into itshallowed halls.
A kind of who's who of faith.
(00:51):
Now that doesn't mean that thesepeople were perfect.
We'll see every single time justabout the uh the evidence that
they were not perfect, that theywere uh faulty human beings, but
uh they lived by faith.
We would notice as we werewalking into this museum of
sorts, perhaps on the door, wewould read the verse faith,
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there in verse one.
There's a substance of thingshoped for, the evidence of
things not seen.
Perhaps we would see verse twoon a plaque next to the door.
For by it, by faith, the eldersobtained good testimony.
Um, perhaps we would read theverse there, um, verse six, we
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covered last week.
But without faith, it'simpossible to please God.
For he who comes to God mustbelieve that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of those whodiligently seek him.
The whole idea of faith, thattrusting God is the thing that
pleases God for us to trust him.
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And we've seen examples of itthrough Abel there in the
beginning.
Uh, Abel in in verse 4, he was aman who worshipped by faith.
Now his life was cut short, buthis testimony goes on that he
pleased God through faith.
Now, Enoch, we saw last week, isan interesting fellow there in
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verse 5.
Uh, we see his exhibit there.
Um, that he walked with God backin Genesis chapter 5.
He walked with God and then hewas not because God took him.
Interesting uh thing we saw lastweek.
We move on uh to verse 7, andjust verse 7 today.
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It's Noah.
We see a well-known individual,it's Noah, the theme of many a
children's nursery, which isweird when you think about it.
Um, he has songs and children'spicture books and toys.
How many of us had Noah's Ark inthe bathtub?
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I did, I did, and um, and yettoday we will consider his life.
Now, first off, I want to kindof review something we looked at
last week, the world that Noahlived in.
Well, let's read verse 7,because that's our verse here in
Hebrews chapter 11.
We don't want to miss it.
By faith, Noah, being divinelywarned of things not yet seen,
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moved with godly fear, preparedan ark for the saving of his
household, by which he condemnedthe world and became heir of the
righteousness which is accordingto faith.
Noah, a man who lived by faith.
Now, again, a review uh what weconsidered last week.
They're in Genesis chapter six.
(03:51):
So you can hold your place inHebrews.
We'll be back from time to time.
But we go back to Genesis six,just it's important and valuable
for us to look at the account ofNoah.
Now, the people that the authorto the Hebrews is writing to,
they were Hebrews, they wouldhave known this backwards and
forwards.
So the author just mentions Noahand some things that exemplified
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his faith.
But the people would haveflashed back to Genesis chapter
six, um, seven, eight, and nine,really, is what we cover uh the
account of Noah's life.
But look at chapter six, verseone.
Now it came to pass, men beganto multiply on the face of the
earth.
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Um, one thing we notice aboutNoah's day is that it included
people.
Men begin to multiply.
Uh, that is probably aninteresting word.
It's different to add, uh,adding and multiplying are two
totally different things.
You get a much bigger numberwhen you start multiplying.
And because of the lifespan,right?
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Chapter five, we're all blownaway by 900-year-old people,
right?
In this account, people thatlived to 900 years and we're
still having children at 300,600 years old.
Man, uh, I don't know how theydid it, but they were different
people, right?
And they lived a long time andthey had lots of children, and
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men began to multiply on theface of the earth.
Um, the earth was filled withpeople.
Some conservative estimatespaint a population as large as
our population is today, maybeeven bigger.
So, in about 1,500 years worthof time, the population of Earth
is just hopping, right?
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And and yet, what about thesepeople?
Well, we read there in versesone through four, there was some
spiritual weirdness going on.
You can read lots of books onwhat this might have been, but
it seems like there was somedemonic stuff going on in verses
one through four.
But look at verse five.
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The Lord saw the wickedness ofman was great on earth, and
every intent of the thoughts ofhis heart was only evil
continually.
Verse 11 shows us that the earthwas corrupt, right?
So just put those two thingstogether to begin with, right?
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Every intent and thought of theheart is evil only.
So you've got a world filledwith people, and all of them are
just thinking about how to doevil.
Now we're all capable of this,but they were really good at it
until the world there in verse11 was corrupt.
Now, the idea and the thing youcan picture on this word corrupt
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is something that's rotten,right?
We've all we've all looked intothe refrigerator, and you know,
maybe we smelled something, wasa little foul, you know, and we
look and in the back there'sthat apple or whatever, you
know.
It's just rotten, rotten to thecore, right?
It's rotten.
And if you're a guy, you go,well, I hope that takes care of
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itself.
And you shut the door and youwalk away, you know, right?
But then rotten, you know, andit can churn your stomach a
little bit, but that's the wayGod saw the earth was corrupt,
totally rotten, like somethingleft in the back of your
refrigerator.
Uh, verse 11 also tells us thatthe earth was filled with
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violence.
Uh, that word filled there isoverfilled, overflowing with
violence.
So you can picture the world ofNoah's day, evil thoughts and
intents in their heartcontinually.
The world is rotten to the coreand overfilled with violence.
Our world is overfilled withviolence, our entertainment is
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violent, our news feeds arefilled with violence, right?
And and and this was Noah'sworld.
This was a world that Noah livedin.
Now, one more thing that wenotice is God's response in
verse 6.
Verse 6, and the Lord was sorrythat he had made man on the
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earth, and he was grieved in hisheart.
So here we we see God given somehuman qualities.
It's an anthropomorphism, whichis just fun to say.
Um, that God is given humanqualities of grieving and
sadness.
That God looked at the world andhe grieved.
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That world word grieve there isthe idea of a young wife
experiencing infidelity in theirmarriage, wife or husband
experiencing infidelity in themarriage.
And you just look at God's heartin this and just aches, just a
heaviness.
This is not the way it was meantto be.
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This is not the beauty that Iintended.
Look at this rottenness.
And God was grieved.
Now, the world is evil, we seethere.
In verse 7, God's determined tojudge the world, but verse 8
shines a little bit in this darkworld.
But Noah, but Noah found gracein the eyes of the Lord.
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In a world populated, overfilledwith violence, Noah found grace.
Um, now what brought about thisgrace?
Well, verse nine, next verse,this is the genealogy of Noah.
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Noah was a just man, perfect inhis generations, and Noah walked
with God.
So this is kind of a simple sideof what made what brought grace
in God's eyes when he looked atNoah.
He walked with God.
Noah had a relationship withGod.
Um, when the rest of the worldcould care less.
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I think that's important topoint out.
Now let's turn back to Hebrewschapter 11.
You save your place here inGenesis.
We'll still be jumping back, butHebrews chapter 11, verse 7,
let's try to go about it alittle more structured like.
First thing we see about Noah isthat he walked by faith and not
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by sight.
Look at verse 7.
Noah was divinely warned aboutthings not yet seen.
He was moved with godly fear,and he prepared an ark.
So this is the part we knowabout Noah.
God calls him to build an ark.
Let's go back now, flipping backto chapter 6, Genesis chapter 6.
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We see the call to build the arkin verse 13.
God said to Noah, The end of allflesh has come before me, for
the earth is filled withviolence through them, and
behold, I will destroy them withthe earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood, make rooms in the ark, and
cover it inside and out withpitch.
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This is how you shall make it.
The length of the ark shall bethree hundred cubits, its width
50 cubits, and its height, 30cubits.
So here you know the story.
God tells Noah to make an ark.
And this word ark um is onlyfound one other place in the Old
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Testament, and it's not the Arkof the Covenant, which is
surprising.
This word Ark is also found inthe book of Exodus, when Moses'
mother puts Moses in the river.
She puts him in a basket, putshim in an ark.
And so the best we can get fromthis is what was the ark?
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It was a floaty thing, right?
It was a floaty thing, but wesee here it was rather large.
God gives Noah the dimensionsthere in qubits, uh, biblical
measurement.
Essentially, we're looking at150 yards long, which is easy to
figure out in your head, right?
A football field and a halflong, uh, about 15 yards tall,
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about three stories total there.
But this is a big thing.
I think that's what we want toget out of this.
Something that's as long as afootball field and a half and
three stories tall, and Noah'smaking it in his backyard,
right?
God gives him uh this uh decreehere.
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I don't know, I couldn't thinkof a better word.
It gives him the plans for it.
Um, now it took, we gather fromGenesis 6, verse 3, it took him
120 years to build this.
Because in Genesis 6, 3, Godsays, man's years will be 120
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years.
Well, people lived longer thanthat following the flood, but we
get the idea here that Godstarts a timer when he gives
Noah the dimensions on the arkand he says, 120 years.
Now, picture that, right?
120 years.
Noah is building this ark.
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That's a big deal.
Um, and yet he really didn'thave all the reasoning as to
why.
Think about it.
God says, I'm gonna flood theearth.
And it's humorous to think aboutthis.
We can see Noah's side of thething, right?
God says, Well, Noah, I'msending a flood.
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It's gonna rain for a long timeand flood.
And Noah says, Okay, God, what'sa flood?
What's rain?
Right?
We get the idea from Genesis 2that it didn't work that way
before the flood, that therewasn't rain, that things were
irrigated through a mist thatkind of came up out of the
ground.
Uh, but it didn't work that way.
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So you put all these thingstogether, and Noah's given this
huge um, what am I looking for?
What word?
Commands?
I don't know.
This is this thing, God'ssaying, do it, build an ark.
120 years, you're gonna buildit.
Now, Noah didn't understand allof that, he just trusted God.
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And we don't know how God wasspeaking to Noah at that point.
Was it just an impression in hisheart?
Was it an audible voice?
We don't know, but he justtrusted God's word to him, and
that's the foundation of faith.
To trust and take God at hisword, to walk by faith and not
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by sight.
Um, it seemed a far-fetchedpromise.
Jesus tells us about the days ofNoah, that in the days of Noah,
people were eating and drinkingand marrying and giving in
marriage.
What does that mean?
Well, we know the world is evil,but what Jesus is saying there,
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it was life as usual.
People were going about normal,everyday life kind of things.
And Noah looked at this andsaid, But God said he's gonna
judge the world.
God said he's gonna flood theworld, and I need to build this
ark in spite of that.
He didn't see it, but he trustedGod.
And we walk by faith.
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2 Corinthians 5 7 says, we walkby faith and not by sight.
And in a lot of ways, I've beenlearning a little bit lately uh
about flight in aviation, right?
Braden has been going throughschool, he's got his private
pilot's license, and I'm justexcited.
But I learn a lot of stuff.
I learn a lot of stuff about uhhow you really fly a plane.
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I don't know how to do it, butbut the the second stage that
he's learned, now follow.
This is kind of interesting.
The the second stage is the IFRstage.
It's an instrument rating whereyou fly the plane using just
your instruments.
Um and and interesting, that'show most planes, most big
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commercial planes, are flown,are by instruments and not by
sight.
They have windows, but there'svery few times that they need to
use the windows.
Use it for like two secondsright before you land.
Uh, but other than that, you flythe plane mostly by using
instruments.
Um, and that's what they learn.
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So check it out.
You realize you can't trust whatyou see.
That's one of the things he'sbeen learning.
You can't trust what you see.
Most crashes that happen thataren't mechanical, that are
human error, are because peopleare trusting what they see.
Um, you know, the the crash,Buddy Hawley back in the 60s or
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whatever.
Uh, the pilot was trusting, I'mgoing up when he was going down
through the clouds.
And and and most of the timethat's when things go wrong, is
when you trust what you see andnot what you know on your
instruments.
Now, here's how it parallels,right?
God's word is an unfailinginstrument in our life.
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God's word of truth will alwaysbe true.
What we see and perceive inlife, not always true.
You ever notice what you feel isnot always true, right?
Yeah, you wake up one day andyou're like, I just feel really
bummed out today.
Well, why?
I don't know.
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I just do.
You know, it's like we can'ttrust our feelings.
We generally can't trust what wesee on the outside of things,
but we can trust God's word.
And that's what Noah was doinghere.
He was trusting the instrumentthat never fails of God's word
to him.
He trusted God's word more thanhis own eyes.
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That's important.
And even though he didn't seeit, he was divinely warned of
these things unseen, and hebuilt uh the ark.
Now, the next thing we see aboutNoah here in verse 7, always
verse 7, uh, back in sorry, inHebrews, we are flipping back
and forth a lot.
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That's okay.
The next thing we see here inverse 7 is that he was moved
with godly fear.
Godly fear.
King James here does say fearjust alone.
Uh, New King James tries to helpus out by putting uh the word
godly fear in there.
But but we might get the wrongidea from that word fear
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nowadays.
He was motivated by fear.
And we could simply put thatbeing motivated by fear is not a
great way to live your life.
It can just have a lot ofheartache involved in it, a lot
of stress involved in it.
Uh, Paul says, be anxious fornothing, but everything with
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prayer and supplication, make arequest known to God, and the
peace of God that passes allunderstanding will guard your
heart and your minds in ChristJesus.
Don't be anxious, don't liveyour life in fear.
But godly fear is probably morelike reverence.
So Noah had a reverence for God.
Noah, in walking with God, knewwho God was, his character.
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He saw that God was holy.
He looked at creation and he sawthat God was powerful.
He knew God's uh righteousnessand his perfection.
He knew God's character.
Um, he probably got to learnGod's love and kindness and
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patience with him in his life.
He knew all these things aboutGod, and it changed the way he
lived.
Um he knew what God was like andwhat God liked.
I think those are two veryimportant things that we need to
know about God.
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What he's like, loving, holy,righteous, and what he likes.
What he doesn't like, sin,right?
Um, all these things.
Uh, and God is perfectlybalanced and he's just perfect
in all of his ways.
Um, now, the fact that God isjust, that's one of the big
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qualities you see here inGenesis chapter six, right?
God is just.
Uh, that's not a very popularthing for us to see as God's
character nowadays.
We like the fact that God isloving and kind, patient.
We like those things a littlemore.
And we look at God as a judgesometimes, who is just ready to
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forgive, always ready toforgive.
Now he is because of Jesus, buthe's also just.
And we understand that a God whois loving but not just would not
be very good, right?
If he was just so loving that,you know, in in our minds, that
he let the murderers just goslide by.
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Well, you know, I know youkilled someone, but but it's
okay.
I'm loving, I forgive you.
If God didn't have justice inthose situations, there's no way
we could look at him and saythat he was good.
So Noah understood this balancedidea of God's loving kindness,
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but his righteous judgment.
And judgment was kind, the worldwasn't gonna slide by.
Now, it changed the way Noahlived.
Um, and he built an ark.
Now, notice here also in chapter11, verse 7, try to stay um
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organized here.
Um, he prepared the ark for thesaving of his household.
And this really stood out to me.
Noah's household.
Um, the longer I go on in life,um the less I feel concerned
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about having it all, right?
You know, there was a time backin the past where it's like, you
know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get amillion dollars.
That's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna earn a milliondollars, and you know, and and
whatnot.
Now that I'm older, more of mymotivation is I want to see my
family taken care of.
I don't know if that's justsomething that happens when you
hit 50 or something, but like, Ijust want to see my family taken
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care of.
I want to see my grandkids takencare of.
I want to see them okayphysically, financially, but
most of all spiritually.
I'm with John, right?
The apostle John, there later inhis life, I think it's in John
3.
He says, I have no greater joythan to know that my children
walk in truth.
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Man, nothing makes me happierthan to know that my kids follow
the Lord with all their heart.
And and I think as Noah went onin life, this is it.
He he made the ark for thesaving of his household.
Um and and in doing that, um, hereally showed them what God was
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like.
I mean, he saved themphysically, but he also gave
them this spiritual basis,right?
Um, back to Genesis chapter 7.
We're running out of time, butthat's okay.
We'll get there.
Genesis 7.
We see kind of the process, andyou ought to just kind of
picture this in verse 13.
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You can read the chaptersyourself, but in verse 13, just
picture this.
On the very same day, Noah andNoah's son, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth, and Noah's wife andthree wives of his son with
them, entered the ark.
So in verse 13, they entered theark.
Verse um 15, and they went intothe ark with Noah two by two,
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all the animals.
That's always nice to remember.
They went into the ark uh andwere were saved as well.
Verse 16.
Uh so those who entered, maleand female of all flesh, went in
as God commanded, and the Lordshut him in.
So picture it as Noah, hisfamily, and all the animals uh
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that were taken are in the ark,the door shuts, and God shuts
the door for him.
Now notice verse 21 as thewaters began to prevail there,
and all flesh died that moved onthe earth, birds and cattle and
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beasts, and every creeping thingthat creeps on earth, and every
man, all in whose nostrils wasthe breath of the spirit of
life, all that was on dry landdied.
Now, this is where we really geta feeling for what could have
been going on in Noah's heart.
He looked back at 120 yearsbuilding this big floating box.
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120 years of being made fun of,of saying, What are you doing,
old man?
You're crazy.
And then he goes into the arkand the door is shut by the hand
of God, and the waters begin tocome, and it comes from the
rain, comes from the storedwater under the earth, all over
the place, water comes and itfills the earth, and all flesh
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died.
That's heavy.
This is where it's not achildren's story, right?
As the rain started, peoplebegan to knock on the door.
Noah, hey, hey, hey, wait asecond, let me in.
And the water got higher andhigher, and they heard the
screams, and they heard all thesounds of people dying in the
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flood.
And Noah, that would have beenreally rough, no doubt, but Noah
looked around at his family.
They were there.
By God's grace, his family wassaved.
Um, and and and he had to havesaid in his heart, it was all
worth it.
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It was all worth it.
And and that's the life offaith.
You know, it doesn't just affectus, it affects those around us.
Um, but notice.
Well, before we go on in 30seconds, look at this and I go,
that's really nice, but that'sNoah.
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He's a Bible character.
He's superhuman, right?
To build an ark.
He's a Bible character.
Well, read Genesis chapter 9,verse 20 and 21, uh, a little
later, but we find out that Noahwasn't perfect.
We have a rather embarrassingstory as the flood is over, the
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ground is dry, and they beginharvesting things.
Um, Noah plants a vineyard,drinks a lot of wine, gets very
drunk, and takes all his clothesoff in Genesis chapter 9.
Now, why do we read that storythere?
There might be some reasons why.
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One, the Canaanites arementioned, and they're the
people that later become theenemies of God.
But but even more than that, Ithink it's for us, people like
me that look at it and go, uh,Noah, he was a Bible character.
I can never live up to that.
And you go, well, maybe I canlive up to that.
The man was not perfect.
The man had his faults and hisembarrassments.
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And that's an important thing toremember as we look at the life
of faith.
We're all flawed.
They were all flawed, and byGod's grace, God gives us what
we need to get through thislife.
Now, let's turn back one lasttime to Hebrews chapter 11,
verse 7.
I think we'll stay here.
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Um, He prepared an ark for thesaving of his houseball,
household by which he condemnedthe world and became heir of
righteousness, which isaccording to faith.
So, last off here, Noahcondemned the world.
Uh, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2,5, that Noah was a preacher of
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righteousness while he built theark.
So I had no doubt that Noahdidn't from time to time stand
up and say, judgment is coming.
God's gonna judge this place,you wicked people.
But probably even more thanthat, what preached for Noah was
the fact that he built a big oldark in his backyard on dry
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ground when it had never rainedbefore.
Um, it was his words, but it wasdefinitely his actions.
He drew attention to himself,like some kind of roadside
attraction, you know.
And he took a stand.
He had to have been taking astand as people said, Why are
you doing this?
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Well, God's gonna judge theworld.
We're all wicked.
God's gonna judge the world.
Get in the boat when the timecomes.
Get in the boat.
And Noah went the opposite way.
Think about it.
Noah went the opposite way fromnot just a few people, but the
rest of society, the entireworld's population.
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Was going this way, and Noah wasgoing this way.
Man, it's hard to live.
I have great fellowship with youguys, right?
And other friends.
But man, doing the right thing,being different in the modern
world is really hard.
You ever look at some of thestandards that you draw in your
life, and you know, you go,maybe I'm just being too
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critical of these things.
Maybe I'm taking too tough of astand on sin in my family.
And and you look around, you go,everybody else is doing it.
Why am I not doing it?
And you think of Noah.
Nobody else was doing the rightthing.
Nobody else cared either.
And here's Noah and his family.
And Noah says, look, this iswhat I'm gonna do.
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I trust God, I serve God.
And and and and he did the rightthing.
He took a stand.
I bet it felt lonely.
I think that's some comfort forus to take.
It probably felt lonely becauserighteousness, a lot of times, a
righteous life feels reallylonely.
You feel like you're the onlyone.
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But the thing we see here withNoah, being human, it can be
done.
It's something we oftentimes seein this passage.
It can be done.
Human people can live by faith,a righteous life, different than
the whole rest of the world.
Trust God with everything thatyou have.
People can do it.
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But the other thing it reallytells us is it's worth it.
Because as Noah sat there withhis family, God's grace, he made
it through.
He definitely said, well, it wasworth it.
120 years of being made fun of,it was worth it.
And it is.
And we see a great picture hereof not just the life of faith,
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but also life in Christ, right?
Uh the world will be judged.
I mean, sin will be judged.
The wages of sin is death.
But God provides an ark, ashelter through the storm, and
it's Jesus.
Now, it's being in Him, it'strusting Him.
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God's judgment was not takenaway without death.
Right?
Jesus died on the cross and hepaid the price, the judgment
that every single persondeserved.
But then he offers it as a giftand says, look, come in the ark.
Trust your life to me, andyou'll be saved.
And the biggest question of allwe can answer is, are you in
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Christ?
Are you trusting him witheverything?
Um because it's the only way tofind salvation in this wicked
world.
So, God, thank you so much forthis example of Noah, uh human
being, very flawed, but bygrace, he stood and trusted you.
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And God, uh, we see the evidencethat it was absolutely worth it.
God, I just pray you would takesomething from this into our
week.
God that we would learn to trustyou and what you have to say,
even when we don't see it, evenwhen the rest of the world care
less, God, we would trust you.
Uh, with our families and withour futures.
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God, whatever it is, God, wewould trust you completely with
all of our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray.
All right.
Here we are.
Hebrews chapter 11.
And you can, if you havesomething, you can hold your
place elsewhere will be Genesischapter 6.
Hebrews chapter 11.
Genesis chapter 6.
(00:30):
Perhaps you remember we are inHebrews chapter 11 today.
Passage known as the Hall ofFaith in many circles.
And we will step again into itshallowed halls.
A kind of who's who of faith.
(00:51):
Now that doesn't mean that thesepeople were perfect.
We'll see every single time justabout the uh the evidence that
they were not perfect, that theywere uh faulty human beings, but
uh they lived by faith.
We would notice as we werewalking into this museum of
sorts, perhaps on the door, wewould read the verse faith,
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there in verse one.
There's a substance of thingshoped for, the evidence of
things not seen.
Perhaps we would see verse twoon a plaque next to the door.
For by it, by faith, the eldersobtained good testimony.
Um, perhaps we would read theverse there, um, verse six, we
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covered last week.
But without faith, it'simpossible to please God.
For he who comes to God mustbelieve that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of those whodiligently seek him.
The whole idea of faith, thattrusting God is the thing that
pleases God for us to trust him.
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And we've seen examples of itthrough Abel there in the
beginning.
Uh, Abel in in verse 4, he was aman who worshipped by faith.
Now his life was cut short, buthis testimony goes on that he
pleased God through faith.
Now, Enoch, we saw last week, isan interesting fellow there in
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verse 5.
Uh, we see his exhibit there.
Um, that he walked with God backin Genesis chapter 5.
He walked with God and then hewas not because God took him.
Interesting uh thing we saw lastweek.
We move on uh to verse 7, andjust verse 7 today.
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It's Noah.
We see a well-known individual,it's Noah, the theme of many a
children's nursery, which isweird when you think about it.
Um, he has songs and children'spicture books and toys.
How many of us had Noah's Ark inthe bathtub?
(03:04):
I did, I did, and um, and yettoday we will consider his life.
Now, first off, I want to kindof review something we looked at
last week, the world that Noahlived in.
Well, let's read verse 7,because that's our verse here in
Hebrews chapter 11.
We don't want to miss it.
By faith, Noah, being divinelywarned of things not yet seen,
(03:29):
moved with godly fear, preparedan ark for the saving of his
household, by which he condemnedthe world and became heir of the
righteousness which is accordingto faith.
Noah, a man who lived by faith.
Now, again, a review uh what weconsidered last week.
They're in Genesis chapter six.
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So you can hold your place inHebrews.
We'll be back from time to time.
But we go back to Genesis six,just it's important and valuable
for us to look at the account ofNoah.
Now, the people that the authorto the Hebrews is writing to,
they were Hebrews, they wouldhave known this backwards and
forwards.
So the author just mentions Noahand some things that exemplified
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his faith.
But the people would haveflashed back to Genesis chapter
six, um, seven, eight, and nine,really, is what we cover uh the
account of Noah's life.
But look at chapter six, verseone.
Now it came to pass, men beganto multiply on the face of the
earth.
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Um, one thing we notice aboutNoah's day is that it included
people.
Men begin to multiply.
Uh, that is probably aninteresting word.
It's different to add, uh,adding and multiplying are two
totally different things.
You get a much bigger numberwhen you start multiplying.
And because of the lifespan,right?
(04:58):
Chapter five, we're all blownaway by 900-year-old people,
right?
In this account, people thatlived to 900 years and we're
still having children at 300,600 years old.
Man, uh, I don't know how theydid it, but they were different
people, right?
And they lived a long time andthey had lots of children, and
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men began to multiply on theface of the earth.
Um, the earth was filled withpeople.
Some conservative estimatespaint a population as large as
our population is today, maybeeven bigger.
So, in about 1,500 years worthof time, the population of Earth
is just hopping, right?
(05:42):
And and yet, what about thesepeople?
Well, we read there in versesone through four, there was some
spiritual weirdness going on.
You can read lots of books onwhat this might have been, but
it seems like there was somedemonic stuff going on in verses
one through four.
But look at verse five.
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The Lord saw the wickedness ofman was great on earth, and
every intent of the thoughts ofhis heart was only evil
continually.
Verse 11 shows us that the earthwas corrupt, right?
So just put those two thingstogether to begin with, right?
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Every intent and thought of theheart is evil only.
So you've got a world filledwith people, and all of them are
just thinking about how to doevil.
Now we're all capable of this,but they were really good at it
until the world there in verse11 was corrupt.
Now, the idea and the thing youcan picture on this word corrupt
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is something that's rotten,right?
We've all we've all looked intothe refrigerator, and you know,
maybe we smelled something, wasa little foul, you know, and we
look and in the back there'sthat apple or whatever, you
know.
It's just rotten, rotten to thecore, right?
It's rotten.
And if you're a guy, you go,well, I hope that takes care of
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itself.
And you shut the door and youwalk away, you know, right?
But then rotten, you know, andit can churn your stomach a
little bit, but that's the wayGod saw the earth was corrupt,
totally rotten, like somethingleft in the back of your
refrigerator.
Uh, verse 11 also tells us thatthe earth was filled with
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violence.
Uh, that word filled there isoverfilled, overflowing with
violence.
So you can picture the world ofNoah's day, evil thoughts and
intents in their heartcontinually.
The world is rotten to the coreand overfilled with violence.
Our world is overfilled withviolence, our entertainment is
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violent, our news feeds arefilled with violence, right?
And and and this was Noah'sworld.
This was a world that Noah livedin.
Now, one more thing that wenotice is God's response in
verse 6.
Verse 6, and the Lord was sorrythat he had made man on the
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earth, and he was grieved in hisheart.
So here we we see God given somehuman qualities.
It's an anthropomorphism, whichis just fun to say.
Um, that God is given humanqualities of grieving and
sadness.
That God looked at the world andhe grieved.
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That world word grieve there isthe idea of a young wife
experiencing infidelity in theirmarriage, wife or husband
experiencing infidelity in themarriage.
And you just look at God's heartin this and just aches, just a
heaviness.
This is not the way it was meantto be.
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This is not the beauty that Iintended.
Look at this rottenness.
And God was grieved.
Now, the world is evil, we seethere.
In verse 7, God's determined tojudge the world, but verse 8
shines a little bit in this darkworld.
But Noah, but Noah found gracein the eyes of the Lord.
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In a world populated, overfilledwith violence, Noah found grace.
Um, now what brought about thisgrace?
Well, verse nine, next verse,this is the genealogy of Noah.
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Noah was a just man, perfect inhis generations, and Noah walked
with God.
So this is kind of a simple sideof what made what brought grace
in God's eyes when he looked atNoah.
He walked with God.
Noah had a relationship withGod.
Um, when the rest of the worldcould care less.
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I think that's important topoint out.
Now let's turn back to Hebrewschapter 11.
You save your place here inGenesis.
We'll still be jumping back, butHebrews chapter 11, verse 7,
let's try to go about it alittle more structured like.
First thing we see about Noah isthat he walked by faith and not
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by sight.
Look at verse 7.
Noah was divinely warned aboutthings not yet seen.
He was moved with godly fear,and he prepared an ark.
So this is the part we knowabout Noah.
God calls him to build an ark.
Let's go back now, flipping backto chapter 6, Genesis chapter 6.
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We see the call to build the arkin verse 13.
God said to Noah, The end of allflesh has come before me, for
the earth is filled withviolence through them, and
behold, I will destroy them withthe earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood, make rooms in the ark, and
cover it inside and out withpitch.
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This is how you shall make it.
The length of the ark shall bethree hundred cubits, its width
50 cubits, and its height, 30cubits.
So here you know the story.
God tells Noah to make an ark.
And this word ark um is onlyfound one other place in the Old
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Testament, and it's not the Arkof the Covenant, which is
surprising.
This word Ark is also found inthe book of Exodus, when Moses'
mother puts Moses in the river.
She puts him in a basket, putshim in an ark.
And so the best we can get fromthis is what was the ark?
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It was a floaty thing, right?
It was a floaty thing, but wesee here it was rather large.
God gives Noah the dimensionsthere in qubits, uh, biblical
measurement.
Essentially, we're looking at150 yards long, which is easy to
figure out in your head, right?
A football field and a halflong, uh, about 15 yards tall,
(12:30):
about three stories total there.
But this is a big thing.
I think that's what we want toget out of this.
Something that's as long as afootball field and a half and
three stories tall, and Noah'smaking it in his backyard,
right?
God gives him uh this uh decreehere.
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I don't know, I couldn't thinkof a better word.
It gives him the plans for it.
Um, now it took, we gather fromGenesis 6, verse 3, it took him
120 years to build this.
Because in Genesis 6, 3, Godsays, man's years will be 120
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years.
Well, people lived longer thanthat following the flood, but we
get the idea here that Godstarts a timer when he gives
Noah the dimensions on the arkand he says, 120 years.
Now, picture that, right?
120 years.
Noah is building this ark.
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That's a big deal.
Um, and yet he really didn'thave all the reasoning as to
why.
Think about it.
God says, I'm gonna flood theearth.
And it's humorous to think aboutthis.
We can see Noah's side of thething, right?
God says, Well, Noah, I'msending a flood.
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It's gonna rain for a long timeand flood.
And Noah says, Okay, God, what'sa flood?
What's rain?
Right?
We get the idea from Genesis 2that it didn't work that way
before the flood, that therewasn't rain, that things were
irrigated through a mist thatkind of came up out of the
ground.
Uh, but it didn't work that way.
(14:16):
So you put all these thingstogether, and Noah's given this
huge um, what am I looking for?
What word?
Commands?
I don't know.
This is this thing, God'ssaying, do it, build an ark.
120 years, you're gonna buildit.
Now, Noah didn't understand allof that, he just trusted God.
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And we don't know how God wasspeaking to Noah at that point.
Was it just an impression in hisheart?
Was it an audible voice?
We don't know, but he justtrusted God's word to him, and
that's the foundation of faith.
To trust and take God at hisword, to walk by faith and not
(14:58):
by sight.
Um, it seemed a far-fetchedpromise.
Jesus tells us about the days ofNoah, that in the days of Noah,
people were eating and drinkingand marrying and giving in
marriage.
What does that mean?
Well, we know the world is evil,but what Jesus is saying there,
(15:18):
it was life as usual.
People were going about normal,everyday life kind of things.
And Noah looked at this andsaid, But God said he's gonna
judge the world.
God said he's gonna flood theworld, and I need to build this
ark in spite of that.
He didn't see it, but he trustedGod.
And we walk by faith.
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2 Corinthians 5 7 says, we walkby faith and not by sight.
And in a lot of ways, I've beenlearning a little bit lately uh
about flight in aviation, right?
Braden has been going throughschool, he's got his private
pilot's license, and I'm justexcited.
But I learn a lot of stuff.
I learn a lot of stuff about uhhow you really fly a plane.
(16:02):
I don't know how to do it, butbut the the second stage that
he's learned, now follow.
This is kind of interesting.
The the second stage is the IFRstage.
It's an instrument rating whereyou fly the plane using just
your instruments.
Um and and interesting, that'show most planes, most big
(16:23):
commercial planes, are flown,are by instruments and not by
sight.
They have windows, but there'svery few times that they need to
use the windows.
Use it for like two secondsright before you land.
Uh, but other than that, you flythe plane mostly by using
instruments.
Um, and that's what they learn.
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So check it out.
You realize you can't trust whatyou see.
That's one of the things he'sbeen learning.
You can't trust what you see.
Most crashes that happen thataren't mechanical, that are
human error, are because peopleare trusting what they see.
Um, you know, the the crash,Buddy Hawley back in the 60s or
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whatever.
Uh, the pilot was trusting, I'mgoing up when he was going down
through the clouds.
And and and most of the timethat's when things go wrong, is
when you trust what you see andnot what you know on your
instruments.
Now, here's how it parallels,right?
God's word is an unfailinginstrument in our life.
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God's word of truth will alwaysbe true.
What we see and perceive inlife, not always true.
You ever notice what you feel isnot always true, right?
Yeah, you wake up one day andyou're like, I just feel really
bummed out today.
Well, why?
I don't know.
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I just do.
You know, it's like we can'ttrust our feelings.
We generally can't trust what wesee on the outside of things,
but we can trust God's word.
And that's what Noah was doinghere.
He was trusting the instrumentthat never fails of God's word
to him.
He trusted God's word more thanhis own eyes.
(18:13):
That's important.
And even though he didn't seeit, he was divinely warned of
these things unseen, and hebuilt uh the ark.
Now, the next thing we see aboutNoah here in verse 7, always
verse 7, uh, back in sorry, inHebrews, we are flipping back
and forth a lot.
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That's okay.
The next thing we see here inverse 7 is that he was moved
with godly fear.
Godly fear.
King James here does say fearjust alone.
Uh, New King James tries to helpus out by putting uh the word
godly fear in there.
But but we might get the wrongidea from that word fear
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nowadays.
He was motivated by fear.
And we could simply put thatbeing motivated by fear is not a
great way to live your life.
It can just have a lot ofheartache involved in it, a lot
of stress involved in it.
Uh, Paul says, be anxious fornothing, but everything with
(19:21):
prayer and supplication, make arequest known to God, and the
peace of God that passes allunderstanding will guard your
heart and your minds in ChristJesus.
Don't be anxious, don't liveyour life in fear.
But godly fear is probably morelike reverence.
So Noah had a reverence for God.
Noah, in walking with God, knewwho God was, his character.
(19:45):
He saw that God was holy.
He looked at creation and he sawthat God was powerful.
He knew God's uh righteousnessand his perfection.
He knew God's character.
Um, he probably got to learnGod's love and kindness and
(20:08):
patience with him in his life.
He knew all these things aboutGod, and it changed the way he
lived.
Um he knew what God was like andwhat God liked.
I think those are two veryimportant things that we need to
know about God.
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What he's like, loving, holy,righteous, and what he likes.
What he doesn't like, sin,right?
Um, all these things.
Uh, and God is perfectlybalanced and he's just perfect
in all of his ways.
Um, now, the fact that God isjust, that's one of the big
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qualities you see here inGenesis chapter six, right?
God is just.
Uh, that's not a very popularthing for us to see as God's
character nowadays.
We like the fact that God isloving and kind, patient.
We like those things a littlemore.
And we look at God as a judgesometimes, who is just ready to
(21:13):
forgive, always ready toforgive.
Now he is because of Jesus, buthe's also just.
And we understand that a God whois loving but not just would not
be very good, right?
If he was just so loving that,you know, in in our minds, that
he let the murderers just goslide by.
(21:36):
Well, you know, I know youkilled someone, but but it's
okay.
I'm loving, I forgive you.
If God didn't have justice inthose situations, there's no way
we could look at him and saythat he was good.
So Noah understood this balancedidea of God's loving kindness,
(21:56):
but his righteous judgment.
And judgment was kind, the worldwasn't gonna slide by.
Now, it changed the way Noahlived.
Um, and he built an ark.
Now, notice here also in chapter11, verse 7, try to stay um
(22:18):
organized here.
Um, he prepared the ark for thesaving of his household.
And this really stood out to me.
Noah's household.
Um, the longer I go on in life,um the less I feel concerned
(22:39):
about having it all, right?
You know, there was a time backin the past where it's like, you
know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get amillion dollars.
That's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna earn a milliondollars, and you know, and and
whatnot.
Now that I'm older, more of mymotivation is I want to see my
family taken care of.
I don't know if that's justsomething that happens when you
hit 50 or something, but like, Ijust want to see my family taken
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care of.
I want to see my grandkids takencare of.
I want to see them okayphysically, financially, but
most of all spiritually.
I'm with John, right?
The apostle John, there later inhis life, I think it's in John
3.
He says, I have no greater joythan to know that my children
walk in truth.
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Man, nothing makes me happierthan to know that my kids follow
the Lord with all their heart.
And and I think as Noah went onin life, this is it.
He he made the ark for thesaving of his household.
Um and and in doing that, um, hereally showed them what God was
(23:49):
like.
I mean, he saved themphysically, but he also gave
them this spiritual basis,right?
Um, back to Genesis chapter 7.
We're running out of time, butthat's okay.
We'll get there.
Genesis 7.
We see kind of the process, andyou ought to just kind of
picture this in verse 13.
(24:11):
You can read the chaptersyourself, but in verse 13, just
picture this.
On the very same day, Noah andNoah's son, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth, and Noah's wife andthree wives of his son with
them, entered the ark.
So in verse 13, they entered theark.
Verse um 15, and they went intothe ark with Noah two by two,
(24:35):
all the animals.
That's always nice to remember.
They went into the ark uh andwere were saved as well.
Verse 16.
Uh so those who entered, maleand female of all flesh, went in
as God commanded, and the Lordshut him in.
So picture it as Noah, hisfamily, and all the animals uh
(24:56):
that were taken are in the ark,the door shuts, and God shuts
the door for him.
Now notice verse 21 as thewaters began to prevail there,
and all flesh died that moved onthe earth, birds and cattle and
(25:16):
beasts, and every creeping thingthat creeps on earth, and every
man, all in whose nostrils wasthe breath of the spirit of
life, all that was on dry landdied.
Now, this is where we really geta feeling for what could have
been going on in Noah's heart.
He looked back at 120 yearsbuilding this big floating box.
(25:43):
120 years of being made fun of,of saying, What are you doing,
old man?
You're crazy.
And then he goes into the arkand the door is shut by the hand
of God, and the waters begin tocome, and it comes from the
rain, comes from the storedwater under the earth, all over
the place, water comes and itfills the earth, and all flesh
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died.
That's heavy.
This is where it's not achildren's story, right?
As the rain started, peoplebegan to knock on the door.
Noah, hey, hey, hey, wait asecond, let me in.
And the water got higher andhigher, and they heard the
screams, and they heard all thesounds of people dying in the
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flood.
And Noah, that would have beenreally rough, no doubt, but Noah
looked around at his family.
They were there.
By God's grace, his family wassaved.
Um, and and and he had to havesaid in his heart, it was all
worth it.
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It was all worth it.
And and that's the life offaith.
You know, it doesn't just affectus, it affects those around us.
Um, but notice.
Well, before we go on in 30seconds, look at this and I go,
that's really nice, but that'sNoah.
(27:11):
He's a Bible character.
He's superhuman, right?
To build an ark.
He's a Bible character.
Well, read Genesis chapter 9,verse 20 and 21, uh, a little
later, but we find out that Noahwasn't perfect.
We have a rather embarrassingstory as the flood is over, the
(27:31):
ground is dry, and they beginharvesting things.
Um, Noah plants a vineyard,drinks a lot of wine, gets very
drunk, and takes all his clothesoff in Genesis chapter 9.
Now, why do we read that storythere?
There might be some reasons why.
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One, the Canaanites arementioned, and they're the
people that later become theenemies of God.
But but even more than that, Ithink it's for us, people like
me that look at it and go, uh,Noah, he was a Bible character.
I can never live up to that.
And you go, well, maybe I canlive up to that.
The man was not perfect.
The man had his faults and hisembarrassments.
(28:15):
And that's an important thing toremember as we look at the life
of faith.
We're all flawed.
They were all flawed, and byGod's grace, God gives us what
we need to get through thislife.
Now, let's turn back one lasttime to Hebrews chapter 11,
verse 7.
I think we'll stay here.
(28:35):
Um, He prepared an ark for thesaving of his houseball,
household by which he condemnedthe world and became heir of
righteousness, which isaccording to faith.
So, last off here, Noahcondemned the world.
Uh, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 2,5, that Noah was a preacher of
(28:56):
righteousness while he built theark.
So I had no doubt that Noahdidn't from time to time stand
up and say, judgment is coming.
God's gonna judge this place,you wicked people.
But probably even more thanthat, what preached for Noah was
the fact that he built a big oldark in his backyard on dry
(29:18):
ground when it had never rainedbefore.
Um, it was his words, but it wasdefinitely his actions.
He drew attention to himself,like some kind of roadside
attraction, you know.
And he took a stand.
He had to have been taking astand as people said, Why are
you doing this?
(29:38):
Well, God's gonna judge theworld.
We're all wicked.
God's gonna judge the world.
Get in the boat when the timecomes.
Get in the boat.
And Noah went the opposite way.
Think about it.
Noah went the opposite way fromnot just a few people, but the
rest of society, the entireworld's population.
(30:00):
Was going this way, and Noah wasgoing this way.
Man, it's hard to live.
I have great fellowship with youguys, right?
And other friends.
But man, doing the right thing,being different in the modern
world is really hard.
You ever look at some of thestandards that you draw in your
life, and you know, you go,maybe I'm just being too
(30:23):
critical of these things.
Maybe I'm taking too tough of astand on sin in my family.
And and you look around, you go,everybody else is doing it.
Why am I not doing it?
And you think of Noah.
Nobody else was doing the rightthing.
Nobody else cared either.
And here's Noah and his family.
And Noah says, look, this iswhat I'm gonna do.
(30:46):
I trust God, I serve God.
And and and and he did the rightthing.
He took a stand.
I bet it felt lonely.
I think that's some comfort forus to take.
It probably felt lonely becauserighteousness, a lot of times, a
righteous life feels reallylonely.
You feel like you're the onlyone.
(31:07):
But the thing we see here withNoah, being human, it can be
done.
It's something we oftentimes seein this passage.
It can be done.
Human people can live by faith,a righteous life, different than
the whole rest of the world.
Trust God with everything thatyou have.
People can do it.
(31:27):
But the other thing it reallytells us is it's worth it.
Because as Noah sat there withhis family, God's grace, he made
it through.
He definitely said, well, it wasworth it.
120 years of being made fun of,it was worth it.
And it is.
And we see a great picture hereof not just the life of faith,
(31:51):
but also life in Christ, right?
Uh the world will be judged.
I mean, sin will be judged.
The wages of sin is death.
But God provides an ark, ashelter through the storm, and
it's Jesus.
Now, it's being in Him, it'strusting Him.
(32:14):
God's judgment was not takenaway without death.
Right?
Jesus died on the cross and hepaid the price, the judgment
that every single persondeserved.
But then he offers it as a giftand says, look, come in the ark.
Trust your life to me, andyou'll be saved.
And the biggest question of allwe can answer is, are you in
(32:38):
Christ?
Are you trusting him witheverything?
Um because it's the only way tofind salvation in this wicked
world.
So, God, thank you so much forthis example of Noah, uh human
being, very flawed, but bygrace, he stood and trusted you.
(33:01):
And God, uh, we see the evidencethat it was absolutely worth it.
God, I just pray you would takesomething from this into our
week.
God that we would learn to trustyou and what you have to say,
even when we don't see it, evenwhen the rest of the world care
less, God, we would trust you.
Uh, with our families and withour futures.
(33:24):
God, whatever it is, God, wewould trust you completely with
all of our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray.
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