01-30-2022 – “Persevering Faith”

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:7 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 30, 2022
“Persevering Faith”
Hebrews 11:7

Read Hebrews 11:7…

7 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.

Noah was a man of obedient faith, fully trusting in and responding to God’s sovereignty, even about “things not yet seen.”

Noah was the last pre-Flood descendant (nine generations later) in the godly line through Seth; Noah’s father was Lamech

(see Genesis 5:28-29).

28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.

29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

During the early centuries in the life of Noah he watched as mankind rebelled against God, sinking into depravity, becoming more corrupt, until God was sorry He had made man

(see Genesis 6:5-7,

5 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.

6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 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.”

Genesis 6:11-13).

11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

13 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.

Through Noah’s obedient faith he became a recipient of God’s grace

(see Genesis 6:8-9),

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

Noah responded obediently to God’s command to build an ark, in order to save those humans who would believe, along with animals from every species that crawls or walks on the earth, or flies in the air

(see Genesis 6:14-22).

14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

16 You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

17 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.

18 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.

19 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.

20 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 will come to you to keep them alive.

21 As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”

22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

Noah lived in an arid dry land, where Noah had never seen a flood, and most likely had never seen a boat, but he obeyed the Lord without questioning or complaining.

And what a ship it must have been! Even the most conservative value for a cubit would have been 17.5 inches (from elbow to fingertips), meaning the ark was 438’ L x 73’ W x 44’ H. Modern naval engineers confirm that the ark’s shape and dimensions would form the most stable design for a sea-going vessel, and is fact that which is used for the large cargo carrying ships of today.

Hebrews 11:7

says God warned Noah about things “not yet seen” and yet, Noah believed God and obeyed, building the ark while also warning the people about the coming flood, when God’s wrath would be poured out on the earth.

See 2Peter 2:1-10…

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;

7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men

8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

Clearly no one gets away from God’s judgement, and no one who belongs to God will see judgement.

Did you notice in

verse 6,

“God did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.”

Wow! Although Noah was not trained to preach or to build a large ship, Noah did what God commanded him, Noah obeyed and was considered righteous.

Remember how Adam’s son, Abel, was considered righteous because he believed and obeyed God, offering

(Hebrews 11:4),

4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

a better sacrifice,” i.e., he did what God required of him, and God accredited to him righteousness.

Romans 12:1,

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

We don’t sacrifice animals as did Abel, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to please God.

Remember Enoch

(Hebrews 11:5),

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

But our priority today is to learn about Noah. Preachers often say that Noah built the ark over a 120 year period. Today I want to challenge that time frame and give you a more biblically correct way to think about it.

God said (Genesis 6:3),

“My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

We know that Noah was 480 years old God declared this, because Scripture tells us

(Genesis 7:6),

“Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.”

We also know

(Genesis 5:32),

“Noah was five hundred years old, [when he began having his sons] Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

So, Noah didn’t start having sons until at least 20 years after God’s declaration about His coming judgement upon mankind; and even if Noah had a son every two years (for six years), the youngest would have been 16 when Noah was 520 – that is 40 years after God began the 120 year countdown to the flood, i.e., that would only leave about 80 years for Noah to build the ark with the help of his sons; as it is doubtful that the godless generation living at that time would have been willing to help with the construction.

As we read earlier

(Genesis 6:11-18),

“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… you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.’”

Out of all who were alive on the earth at that time, only Noah’s family (eight people total) believed, got into the ark, and were saved by God who provided for and protected them — from the cutting down of the first tree, through the last application of the last bit of pitch, to the loading aboard of all the supplies and then the animals; and then their yearlong sea voyage that ended on Mt. Ararat (1 year and 10 days from the time they got into the ark), where they climbed out on dry ground and were given an everlasting covenant from God

(see Genesis 7:1-5,

1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.

2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;

3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”

5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.

Genesis 7:11-13,

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,

Genesis 7:17-24;

17 Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.

18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.

21 All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;

22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.

23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

24 The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8:2-6,

2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained;

3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;

Genesis 8:13-14,

13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Genesis 8:18-21;

18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

Genesis 9:1,

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:3,

3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.

Genesis 9:12-15).

12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;

13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

14 It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,

15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Talk about a tough assignment! God warned Noah when he was 480 years old, before the birth of his three sons who would help with the building of the ark, while also proclaiming the message that God’s judgement was coming upon all who would not believe and obey God.

Noah was not trained to preach or to build a massive ship; and yet, year after year Noah did what God had commanded him; no doubt, in the face of relentless mocking and ridicule from a wicked and rebellious people who wouldn’t heed Noah’s message of impending destruction and death. But then, the majority of the people, who have or ever will live on this earth, also reject God’s offer of salvation.

Only eight people out of all those who were alive at the time of Noah were willing to believe God and to get on the ark and be saved.

1Peter 3:18-22,

“ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 6:3-7,

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

Galatians 2:20,

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

1John 1:8-10,

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

In the above passages, Peter, Paul and John are all talking about a person’s pledge of faith based on their belief in God and a sincere desire to please Him,

as did Abel who

(Hebrews 11:4),

“obtained the testimony [from God] that he was righteous”;

Enoch who

(Hebrews 11:5),

“obtained the witness that… he was pleasing to God”;

and Noah who

(Hebrews 11:7),

“became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Sins cannot be washed away by water, like dirt from the body; nor can sin’s penalty be removed by religious rituals, pious law-keeping, performing good deeds, or ancestral heritage; only genuine repentance (a response to God’s Spirit convicting you of sin) can cleanse your heart from all unrighteousness.

God looks at us through the lens of His Son’s death and resurrection, by which we are made righteous “in Christ”

(cf. Romans 3:10-12,

10 as it is written,

“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,

THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;

THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,

THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Romans 3:23-24,

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Romans 6:23;

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8;

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:1;

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 10:9-10,

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:13).

13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

2Corinthians 5:21,

“He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him..”

Only those who have repented of sin and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation are considered righteous by God; and by the way, only the righteous go to heaven.

John 11:25-26,

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

John 14:1-3,

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

How about you? Are you going to heaven? How are you going to get there?

Noah and his family (8 persons in all) were saved from death, because they were in the ark that God instructed Noah to build; they were saved from sin’s penalty because they believed and obeyed God; all of the rest of humanity who were alive at that time drowned and were then condemned to hell.

Jesus is the ark of salvation for all who believe in Him; because He alone can forgive our sins and guarantee our safe passage and arrival into heaven. Your eternal security and safety is found in the heavenly ark of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.

1John 5:11-13,

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Pastor Mike
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