The Faith of Noah | Hebrews 11:7 | Bro. Josh Pippenger

Transcript

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Well, it's good to see everybody out this morning. I certainly hope that you've had a good week. Uh looking forward to another good week coming up. And I'll tell you what, I praise God that we have so many capable piano players here. That is truly a blessing. Farrah did a good job this morning. Well, as I was praying about the message this week and looking over the Sunday school lesson, I thought this might be kind of a week of judgment this week. Because our Sunday school lesson this morning was on judgment. Our devotional was about judgment, and the message this morning is going to be dealing with faith in the coming of judgment. So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, if you saw in the bulletin, we're going to start out in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7. The title that I have on the message this morning is The Faith of Noah, but we could also title this Strong Faith in the Face of Coming Judgment. And we know that Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith hall of fame, and we're going to look at a specific individual this morning and his faith at a time when there was a lot of sin and wickedness in the world. So in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7, the scripture tells us by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not as seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Let's go to the Lord's word of prayer. Our most kind and gracious Father in heaven, Lord, again we come before your throne of mercy and grace today. Just thankful for the rain that you've given us, the sunshine that we've had. Lord, we're just so thankful for the blessings you give us each and every day. Lord, we just again lift up to you all the prayer requests and prayer praises that's been mentioned this morning. We're just so thankful and grateful, Lord, that you are a response of God. Lord, that you care for us as your people, and Lord, that you would just be with each prayer request that's been mentioned today. Just pray, Lord, healing for those that are sick. We pray comfort for the hearts of those that are grieving. And Lord, we especially lift up to you all those among our congregation that are traveling. We just pray, Lord, that you would just watch over them and keep them safe. We just ask you to be with Matt and Nicole this week as they prepare for the arrival of the new little one. We just pray, Lord, that you would just comfort them. And Lord, that everything would just go smoothly with the delivery. We just ask you to be with us here this morning as we open up your word. We pray that we'd put aside the distractions of this world. Lord, that we would hone in on what the scriptures have to say, that we would just take and apply it to our lives in a way that would make us a more faithful servant for thee. And above all, Lord, we pray if there's one in the house this morning that needs to make a decision for thee. We just pray that today, Lord, would be the day they would yield to the Holy Spirit's conviction and power. We love you and we praise you, and we ask all these things in Christ's precious name. Amen. So Noah is one of those great and wonderful patriarchs that is mentioned in the faith hall of fame that we see here in Hebrews chapter 11. But I want to back up to verse 1 just very quickly in Hebrews chapter 11 and talk for a moment about faith, because it is important in relation to Noah, because Noah was a man that demonstrated great faith in the Lord, because he was being told about things that had never occurred on the face of the earth, and yet he accepted by faith what God told him. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1, the writer of Hebrews defines faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, there are a lot of people in our world today that will tell you faith is an outdated and silly thing. Especially when it comes to our faith in God and what the Bible tells us is true and right. There are many who will stand up and say, well, it's just absolutely silly to believe in those things. We're smarter now. We know more things now than they did in those days. And indeed, a lot of people in our world today view what the scripture has to say as nothing more than silly superstitions or the writings of primitive individuals. And yet what we know as believers to be true is found in the pages of the scripture. We can look around at our world and we can compare it to what the scriptures tell us, and we can see that the scripture is right every single time. In a lot of cases, uh what we call modern science is finally catching up to what the scripture has told us already. And it's not a surprise to us as believers to find out these things to be true because we know the Bible is the word of God. We know that everything that it has contained within it, from Genesis 1.1 to the last verse of the book of Revelation, is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. And he has told us everything we need to know contained in the scriptures, in the 66 books of the Bible. And yet we live in a day and time that is full of cynicism and doubt. Matter of fact, there is an individual that I listen to sometimes that says, in a lot of cases, we're told today to believe half of what we see and none of what we hear. And I thought, you know, there's a lot of people today that would take and apply that to our faith in the scriptures and in the Word of God. But the Bible talks to us a lot about faith and how important faith is. And our faith in God is often criticized, and in some cases, even here in the United States, our faith is mocked. We're told to doubt what the Bible tells us. There are other areas of the world, however, where it is a crime to even meet together as a church, where it's a crime to even own even a scrap of paper with one verse of the scripture on it. But yet those individuals who live in those repressed countries, they hold on to those scraps of paper with the scriptures on it, or if they're very blessed, they'll have a page out of a Bible somewhere that they hold on to, they treasure, because they have faith that that word is true. They have faith that what is written in the scriptures is the true inspired word of God. And they will even give their very lives up for that faith. And we read throughout the history of the church that there were those who held so tightly, they had so much faith in the Word of God, that they were willing to give their very life's breath, their very life's blood for the sake of the Word of God. And we see this in the Old Testament, we see it in the New Testament. There were individuals who did not count their lives as something valuable, but that they were willing to give their lives up because they had such great faith in God. They believed his word to be true, and they were willing to stand upon that, even if it cost them their very life. And we tend to think more about the New Testament examples of this. Stephen is a good example of that, the first martyr of the New Testament church. We know Paul was willing to give his very life for the sake of the gospel. We know that all but one of the apostles ended up being martyred for their faith. And one of the things that was in, I think it was our Sunday school book, one of the things that was mentioned was that John was the only one who was martyred with a long life. He lived to see all the other apostles put to death. He was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, and he was given the revelation, which we're going to look at here in just a little bit as well. But all these men demonstrated great faith in the Word of God. But as I said, we're going to look at specifically one individual from the Old Testament this morning, and that be that person being Noah. And I'll tell you, Noah is one of my favorite people of the Old Testament. When we get to eternity, if I had to pick just one person from the Old Testament that I wanted to sit down and talk with, it would be Noah. And I'll tell you why, because Noah, as the last of the pre-flood patriarchs, he saw a world which we have never known. But yet the Bible says that in the days leading up to the return of Christ, the world would get into a state that was very similar to what it was in the days of Noah. And so as I was praying about the message this morning, God kept bringing back to my mind and my heart about Noah and the great faith that he had to have in order to do what God told him to do. Because God was telling Noah that there was an event coming that the world had never seen. And not just an event, but God also told Noah that there was judgment coming. And that he needed to get his household prepared for that time when judgment would come upon the earth. But Noah was not to keep that message to himself, but through faith he was to preach and to proclaim to the people of his day that judgment was coming, that the wrath of God was coming down upon the world, and that they too needed to repent. They too needed to get their households in order. They too needed to be ready for the judgment that God was going to bring upon the world. So we're going to talk about why Noah is mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews chapter 11, and why that type of faith and dedication to the Lord is so important and relevant for us today. So let's turn to Genesis chapter 6. We're going to go all the way back there to the beginning in the Old Testament. And we're going to look at the world and the state it was in in Noah's day. Because as we'll see here in just a little bit, it's very important and relevant to our world and the message that we preach and proclaim today. And Noah, as we'll see, is a good example of faith in the middle of opposition and adversity to us today. In Genesis chapter 1, or in chapter 6, we're going to look at the first 13 verses starting out this morning, and we're going to see the problem that was in the world, God's response to the problem, and Noah's faith in the midst of God's proclamation. In Genesis chapter 6, starting in verse 1, the Scripture tells us, and it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wise of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh, also is flesh. Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and a perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Now can you imagine just for a moment what that world must have been like? We know that when God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis chapter 1, and we kind of see that zoned-in view in the first part of Genesis chapter 2, we know that God created everything in a state of perfection. The reason it was created in a state of perfection is because there was no sin at that time. When God made the heavens and the earth, he made them perfect. When he made every plant, they were perfect. When he made every animal in the ocean and every animal on land, they were created perfectly. When God created Adam and breathed into him the breath of life, Adam was created in a state of perfection. When God took the rib from Adam and created Eve and brought her unto Adam, she was in a state of innocence and perfection as well. There was no sin in the world in the beginning. But we know that sometime between the creation of Eve, Adam and Eve, and their placement in the garden, we know that at some point Lucifer rebelled. He took a third of the heavenly host with him, and he came to the Garden of Eden in the form of the serpent, and he tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. And we know that she looked upon that fruit and she saw that it was good. He appealed to the lust of the eyes, the lust of life, or the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And she gave in and she partook of that fruit. And she gave to Adam and he partook as well. And the scripture tells us that the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and so they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves covering. Sin had come into being. It had driven a wedge between the fellowship between God and man. And we know God came down in the cool of the evening and he called to Adam. And Adam said, I was naked and I hid myself because I was ashamed. See, God already knew what had happened. But he was giving Adam an opportunity to confess his sin. And so Adam blamed God, he blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. And that's been a problem ever since. Every time man sins, he blames it on someone else. But the bitter fruit of sin had already brought about separation between God and man. But the effects of sin didn't weren't just contained to the relationship between God and man. Sin brought a curse upon all of creation. And you fast forward, some scholars think it was 1,500, 1600 years between Adam and Noah, and I don't have an opinion on it one way or the other. But it was not that far removed from Adam and Noah. That sin had so corrupted everything on the face of the earth, not just man, but beast as well. The very planet had been corrupted by sin. Violence and wickedness was the norm. It wasn't the exception, it was the norm at this point.

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The world had become so wicked that when God looked down upon it, it grieved him at his very heart.

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How wicked and evil the world must have been in the days of Noah for God to look down upon this creation and be sorry that he ever made it. We know sin brought bitter fruit. It caused Adam and Eve to get kicked out of the Garden of Eden. We know that among their first two sons, Cain and Abel, the first murder took place when Cain murdered Abel, his brother, because he was jealous and he was angry at Abel because God accepted Abel's sacrifice rather than Cain's. And we know that Cain slew him and then denied that he knew what had happened. We know that Cain was driven out from the face of the earth and he went and dwelt in the land of Nod. And that he married and he had children. And that God gave Adam and Eve another son in place of Abel.

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They had their son, Seth. And that's important because God established that godly line through the lineage of Seth.

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Now, we see here in Genesis chapter 6, the world of Noah's day was painted in a very bleak way. As mankind multiplied and spread across the face of the earth, the curse and effects of sin became more and more prominent, not just in the lives of men, but in the very creation itself. Now, in Genesis 6 verses 1 and 2, it tells us it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. When I was studying on this message this week, and I was praying about it, I was looking at a lot of commentaries and references because these phrases here are used in verses one and two, the daughters or the sons of God, sons of God and the daughters of men cause quite a bit of confusion. Because the phrase sons of God is used in a couple of different ways throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. The daughters of men seems pretty self-explanatory. But as I was looking through a lot of commentaries and references this week on this, there were basically it comes down, there's two lines of thought on what these phrases mean. The most popular is that it's the godly, faithful line of Seth began to intermarry with the ungodly line of Cain, thereby marrying the righteous and the unrighteous together in an ever-widening spiral of downward decay and decadence. It's kind of similar to that phrase that we use today: one bad apple will cause an entire barrel to rot. And so will the toleration of any amount of sin in the life of a believer. So among many theologians, they believe that because the godly line of Seth was intermingling with the ungodly line of Cain, that it caused the godly line to become corrupted. It caused it to become even more polluted. And I do believe that that is probably the most likely interpretation of these phrases. But the other idea that's out there, which has started to gain a lot of traction in the last several years, is that the phrase sons of God is referring to the fallen angels that rebelled with Lucifer, that produced children with human women, thus creating the men of renown or what we call the Nephilim today. I think that is probably the least likely of the two, but that was one that I did come across this week. And I thought, you know, it's kind of interesting because it does talk about the giants in the earth there in verse 4. And there's a lot of debate and conjecture on what that means, but we'll save that for another day. But the point is that regardless of which of the two was the actual case, it caused such a corruption and a wickedness among men that God could no longer look past it, he could no longer tolerate it, he could no longer allow these things to continue to go on. And it got to the point where the thought and imaginations of man's heart was only evil continually. We see that in verse 5. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now there's two words that we read here in this verse. Um imagination, uh, it being one of them, and wickedness being the other. Now, when you look at those words in the original Hebrew, uh, the word that we read as wickedness in our English Bibles today is translated from the Hebrew word ra, which means very bad or evil. And the word imaginations, which is translated from the Hebrew word yatser, and it means a form, a frame, purpose, or framework. So when you put that together, what uh Moses is telling us through the inspiration of God as he wrote. The book of Genesis. He's telling us that the very form, the very framework of man's thoughts, the very framework of his imaginations in the days of Noah was only evil. It was only wicked continually. In other words, it had gotten to the point that it was so bad that from the time a person woke up in the morning till the time they went to bed at night, every thought, every imagination, every purpose that they purposed in their hearts was only wicked and evil continually. In other words, they were eyeballs deep in sin and wickedness, and they did not care. They were more concerned about fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life than they were about living righteously, than they were about living for God. Does that remind you of anything today? What do we see when we look out at our world today? We see the same type of attitude and mentality in a majority of the people today. They are more concerned about fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life than they're concerned about living for God. They're more concerned about appeasing the flesh than they are living for righteousness. The people of Noah's day, as we see, are very similar to the people of our day. Their framework for the thought and imagination is their heart was evil continually. That illustrates to us exactly what Jeremiah told us in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, where the Old Testament prophet there describes the condition of the human heart in these words. He said, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And there is so much truth in that. The human heart is one of the most desperately wicked things that we have in our world today. Because of that sin nature that we all wrestle with, that we inherited from our father Adam, we wrestle with that same sinful nature that the people of Noah's day did. And unfortunately, like many of the people of Noah's day, they have given in to the temptation to live for themselves rather than to live for God. Most people today, if you go out and you talk with them and you ask them, Do you believe you're going to heaven when you die? You know, 84% of people polled today, if you ask them if they believe they'll go to heaven when they die, 84% will tell you, yeah, I do. But when you ask that same group of people, how important is living faithfully to God and reading the scriptures and attending church, when you ask them, are those things important to you? The percentage drops down to less than a third. I think the actual percentage was something like 29 and a half to 31% of those same individuals said that Bible study, going to church and living faithfully to God was important to them. But 84% of them believe they're going to heaven when they die. It's a sad testimony to the day and time in which we live that more people are concerned about living for themselves rather than living for God. So we see back in Genesis chapter 6, God sees that the thought and imaginations of the heart and minds of men is only evil continually. And then we come to one of the saddest verses, I think, in the book of Genesis, there in verse 6, where the scripture tells us it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. My study Bible has this translation of it. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. We know that God created man to be an image-bearer of God. We know that God created man to walk in fellowship with him. We know that man was given the capacity for genuine love and worship and service to the Lord. We know that man was created with free will. Man had to choose to serve God. See, God could have made us in a way that all we did was serve and worship him, but there would have been no genuineness there. There would have been no true love there. We would have just been doing what basically we had been created and programmed to do. So God gave us the choice, and man had to choose to serve Him. Man had to choose to worship God. Man had to choose to love God. Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God and thus bring sin into the world. And many people today don't realize that they still have that same choice to make. You have to choose to serve the Lord. You have to choose to be faithful to the Lord. What did Joshua say in Joshua 24, 15? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. See, he made his choice. Joshua told them at the end of his life, he told Israel, choose you this day whom you will serve. And that is a call and an admonition to each and every one of us today. Choose today whom you're going to serve. Because you will serve a master one way or the other. Jesus himself talked about that in the New Testament. He said, You will't serve two masters. Because you'll love one and hate the other or cling to the other and flee from the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. See, the people of Noah's day had to make a choice, the same as we have to make a choice today. They either had to choose to be faithful to God or they had to choose to rebel further against God. And the majority of the people of Noah's day said, I want to do what I want to do. I want to live my life for myself.

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And so they did.

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Adultery, fornication, murder, drunkenness, all these things would have been rampant in the days in which Noah lived. And it got so bad that verse 6 tells us the Lord was sorry that he'd made man. And so we see God pronounce judgment. There in verse 7. He says, The Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. How bad must it have been in those days for God to look out upon the whole earth and say, I'm going to destroy not only man that I've created, but I'm going to destroy every beast, I'm going to destroy every fowl, I'm going to destroy every creeping thing on the earth, I'm going to wipe it all clean. I tell you, that had to be one of the most terrifying times in all of history up to this point for anyone to live. I can't imagine not only how sorrowful God was at that point, but how angry he was at that point as well. To get to the point where he says, I will destroy all that I've created. But even in spite of this level of wickedness, this level of sin, this level of violence that was on the earth at this time, we read of hope.

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We read in verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Not all was lost.

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Not all mankind was walking in a constant state of rebelliousness against God. Now, did Noah have a sin nature? Absolutely, he did. He had that same inherited sin nature that you and I have today. But rather than appease the flesh, Noah sought to serve the Lord.

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And because of that, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

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I want you to stop and think for a minute about what Noah must have been thinking and what Noah must have been feeling in his day. I mean, here was a man that he wrestled with sin, he wrestled with pride, he wrestled with selfishness, he wrestled with covetousness, he wrestled with all the same things that we do today. He wrestled with all the same things that the people around him did. And yet he intentionally chose to serve God rather than himself. And because of that, he stood out like a sore thumb. When people looked at Noah, they could see something different in his life. Could the same be said of us today? As New Testament believers, as the world looks at us, do they see someone that stands out like a sore thumb?

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Or do they see someone that looks like everybody else? See, Noah stood out because he sought to serve the Lord. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

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He strove to be faithful to the Lord in all that he did. He was not a perfect man. When the scripture refers to him as being imperfect, it does not mean that he lived in a sinless state. But it does mean that he strove with everything that he had to be faithful to the Lord and to serve him in all things. Now Noah's life and Noah's testimony shows us that even in the midst of the most dark and wicked times, God still has his faithful people. God still has his people who are shining the light of the truth out into the darkness to light the way so that sinners may come to know salvation before it's everlasting too late. So God looked upon the world and he found one righteous man, Noah. We're going to drop down to verse 13, and we're going to read through verse 21 here in Genesis chapter 6, because we're going to look now at God's command and Noah's faith. Verse 13, again, the scripture says, And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it, the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee I will establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee all of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. And what we see in verse thirteen is God came to his faithful servant Noah, and told Noah, because the world has gotten so wicked, because it has gotten so corrupted, because it has gotten so violent, that God was about to destroy all living creatures on the earth. But because of his faithfulness, and because his family had been faithful to the Lord, God told Noah, You will be protected if you do what I tell you to do.

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And we see that God gave Noah the instructions uh for building the ark.

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And God told Noah, If you will bring your family and the animals that I tell you to into the ark, you will be protected during the time of judgment that was coming upon the whole world. Now that's an important point that we're going to touch on again here in just a little bit. God told Noah everything he needed to know. He gave him the dimensions of the ark, he told him what animals to bring, what food to put on board, and everything that Noah needed to do to get his household ready for the judgment that God was about to bring upon the face of the whole world. Now, it had not rained on the earth up to this point. And I know there is debate and conjecture among uh theologians and Bible scholars about this particular topic, and it's about a 50-50 split. Some believe, well, when it talks about the mist that came up in Genesis chapter 2, verse 6, that the mist came up from the earth and watered the face of the earth. There are some that will say, well, that's the water cycle, that's rain that it's talking about. Uh I tend to lean more towards it had not rained, that God just basically caused a heavy dew to form, and that's what watered everything. I don't know definitively that's a case, but I do believe that one day we will know. I think that's one of those questions that will get answered when we get to eternity. But because it had not rained upon the earth at this time, the concept of rain would have been foreign to Noah, his family, and all the people alive at that time. So when God said that he's going to bring a flood of waters upon the face of the earth to destroy all things, Noah knew that this was something that was unprecedented. He knew this was something that had never happened before. We know later on that the scripture tells us that the fountains of the great deep were broken up and that the rain came down from heaven, so the water was coming down from the sky, it was coming up from the ground, and it was so much that it flooded the whole earth, wiped out everything. And Noah, upon hearing what God told him here in the last part of Genesis chapter 6, he had to have been awestruck. Wow, this is really serious. I don't know what rain is. I don't know how God is going to flood the whole earth, but he says he's going to, and he's told me what to do to get ready. Now it was at this point Noah had a decision to make. God had decreed to him the judgment that was coming. He had told him how to make sure that he and his household were spared, that judgment that was about to fall upon the earth. And so Noah had a choice. He had a decision that he had to make. See, he could choose to either ignore God's warning and instructions, or he could demonstrate faith in the Lord, and he could prepare for what God said was coming. And you may say, well, what does that have to do with us today? What does Noah having to choose to obey God at this time have to do with us as New Testament believers today? Well, I'll tell you exactly what it has to do with us because we are in the exact same position that Noah was in.

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Now, I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that God is going to flood the whole earth again because he's promised us that he wouldn't. But he did tell us that there is judgment coming upon the whole world once again.

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See, just as Noah was forewarned that God was going to judge the whole earth with a flood, that destruction was coming, and that if people did not prepare and get their hearts right and get their lives in order, they would suffer God's wrath and judgment. Just as God told Noah all those things, we today have been warned through the scriptures that judgment is coming as well. So how did Noah react to all these things that God told him? Well, in Genesis 6.22 it says, Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Noah did exactly what God told him to. Noah believed God. Noah had faith in God. Noah had faith that the word that God spoke to him was true and accurate, and that it was going to come to pass exactly as God said it would. See, Noah demonstrated faith in a faithless generation. Noah spent 120 years building the ark, all the while preaching and testifying to the people that judgment was coming. And you know people had to be going by where Noah was building the ark and laughing and ridiculing him. Saying, look at this fool here. He says there's rain coming. What's rain? He said the world's going to be flooded and everything's going to die, and he's building this big boat. We're in the middle of a landlocked area. He's just crazy. He's foolish. Noah is off his rocker, his sons are off their rockers, and we don't know why he's doing what he's doing, but he firmly believes that this world's going to be destroyed with a flood. See, Noah spent all that time preaching to the people while he was constructing the ark, told them that the only way to be spared, the judgment that was to come, was to get aboard the ark, which would be the one place of safety when the wrath and judgment of God fell upon the world. We know, because the Bible tells us, that at the end of all time, there is going to be a final judgment, and that all people, regardless of whether they're saved or lost, are going to stand in judgment before Christ one day. We know that at the time, at the end of this 120 years of time that Noah spent building the ark, that only Noah, his wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-laws were the ones that came onto the ark, besides the animals that God brought to be Noah, to be placed in the safety of the ark.

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120 years of preaching the judgment, and only eight people.

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Eight people out of all the possibly millions of people that would have been alive at that time responded to the message and came onto the ark.

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They came onto that place of safety.

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That tells you how wicked and evil the hearts and minds of men were at that time. We know that in Genesis chapter 7, the day came when God told Noah to get his family and to get all the animals on the ark. Because in seven days God was going to bring the flood of waters upon the earth. And so in Genesis chapter 7 and verse 5, once again we see Noah demonstrate his faith in God. Noah did exactly what God commanded him. Genesis 7, 5 says, and Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. Now, even though Noah and nobody else there had ever seen rain, they had never experienced it. Noah had faith in the Lord, and he believed that the word of the Lord was going to come to pass. And so he did what God told him to. He got his family on the ark, he got those animals on the ark, he got the food loaded, and we know that God came once Noah and everyone that was in the ark that was going to be in the ark, God came down and God shut the door of the ark, and then he waited seven more days. And I think the reason that he waited seven more days was to give the people one last final opportunity to repent and get their hearts and their rights or their lives right with the Lord and enter into the safety of the ark. But nobody did. And so we know what the end result was. The rain came down, the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and all those who were not in the ark perished in the great flood.

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God brought judgment just exactly as he said he would.

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Now again, just as Noah had been warned by God that judgment was coming upon the world in his day, the church has been warned that there is a day of judgment coming for all people as well. Now there are two distinct judgments that we read about in the New Testament that will take place based upon one's acceptance or denial of Christ. The Bible is plain and clear.

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It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.

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Every single human being, whether lost or saved, is going to stand before Jesus Christ in judgment. One day. Now, the choice and the decision that we make here in this life is going to determine which place of judgment we stand at. And there are two the Bible talks about. There's the judgment seat of Christ and there's the great white throne judgment. For believers, we are told that we must appear before Christ in judgment, not to determine our salvation. Praise God, our salvation was bought and paid for on the cross of Calvary. And if we have repented of our sins and accepted Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, our sin has been dealt with. We are washed, we are cleansed, we are made whole, and we have the promise and the assurance of eternal life. And no man, no angel, no demon, no creature, not even our foolish selves can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. When we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, the Bible is plain and clear. We are saved by grace through faith, and we belong to Him for all eternity. And praise God for that. That is a joyous and wonderful thing. But for those of us who are saved, we will stand before Christ in judgment, not to determine our salvation, but determine the level of reward for our faithful or unfaithful service to Him. In 2 Corinthians 5.10, we're told, Paul tells the church at Corinth, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. In other words, if we are faithful to the Lord, we will see rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. But if we have been unfaithful to him, we will see a loss of rewards that we could have had. See, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 12 through 15, Paul tells the church at Corinth, there is no other foundation that can be laid than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. And if any man's work abide, we know that those stones, those precious jewels, the gold and silver, if any man's work survive that he is built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, or the Bima seat, all the things that we've done after salvation will be tried by fire. And if we have been faithful to the Lord, if we have sought to serve him in deed and in truth and in all things in our lives, that will be revealed in that day. The Bible says it'll be revealed like gold, silver, and precious stones that we've built upon that foundation of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ. But if we've wasted our days, if we've wasted our talent, if we've wasted our opportunities that God gave us, it's going to burn up like wood, hay, and stubble.

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There'll be nothing left except that foundation.

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I think that'll be as close to sadness as we get at that time because we'll see all the things that we could have done for the Lord. We can see all the rewards we could have had that were just squandered away because of our unfaithful service to Him.

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But I will tell you, that is the judgment that you want to be at.

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You want to be at the judgment seat of Christ because it means you are a saved individual. You don't have to worry about being separated from God for all eternity. If you're at that judgment, you already belong to Him. But I will tell you, there is a judgment that you do not want to be at.

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See, the judgment seat of Christ is a judgment for the saved.

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For those that reject Christ, the great white throne judgment is what awaits you. And if you're here this morning and you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the remission and forgiveness of your sins, if you were to die this very moment, this is the judgment that you would face at the end of all time.

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And I'm here to tell you, you do not want to be there in that day. It will be the saddest, most terrifying day that creation has ever seen.

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Because all those who have rejected salvation through Jesus Christ, who went their own way, who told God, no, I'm good. I can make it on my own, I can do enough good works, I can make myself worthy to enter into your presence. I don't need Christ, I don't need the blood, I don't need your salvation, I'll get there on my own. All those who have rejected him will be at this judgment.

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Turn over to Revelation chapter 20. This judgment will be a terrifying, terrifying time.

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Revelation chapter 20, verses eleven through 14. John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is being revealed what uh he's seeing revealed what this judgment will be. John says, And I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. From the first person to die lost unto the last person to die lost, all will stand before Christ in judgment. The very heavens and the earth will be done away with, death and hell will be done away with. All the lost of all the ages will stand before Christ. All the books will be opened. The lost will be judged from those books, and I think some of those books will be the 66 books of the Bible. We know that their names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. When they stand at this time of judgment, and their names are searched for, they'll not be found. And because they will have chosen to go their own way, to try to get in by their own merit and their own works, they'll be found wanting, they'll be found lacking. And in that day, there will be only one sentence. And I can think of no more terrifying words in the scriptures than to hear Jesus say, Depart from me, ye accursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I never knew you.

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If you're at the great white throne judgment, you will be found guilty.

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No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And at that point there will be only one sentence: the lake of fire for all eternity. See, Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, the fallen angels, all these, along with all the lost of all the ages, at the final judgment will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The scripture says the smoke of their torment ascendeth forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night, an eternity of agony.

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Because they chose to reject the means that God provided for salvation.

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So the question I pose to you today is this do you have faith in God's promises? If so, do you have faith that he will execute judgment the way he has said that he would? See, Noah had faith in the Lord to fulfill his promises. Noah had faith that the judgment that God told him was coming would come to pass exactly as God said it would. And we read in the scriptures that it did just that. God brought a flood upon the face of the earth and destroyed all life save those that were with Noah in the ark. There is an ark of safety today that is available to all people. And that ark of safety is Jesus Christ. And if you're here this morning and you've not put your faith and trust in him, I want you to know there is a time of judgment that's coming. This whole world and all that's in it is going to be burned up. It's going to be done away with. And if you die lost without Christ as your Savior, you will stand before him at that final judgment, the great white throne. And you will be sentenced to eternity of separation from him in the lake of fire. See, Noah had faith that the Lord was going to fulfill his promise just as he said he would. And Noah moved forward in faith. And that's why we read about him in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews chapter 11. That's why we read there in verse 7, because Noah moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Do we have the same kind of faith today? I hope that we do. Because God has given us as a New Testament church not only the message of salvation, but he's also given us the message that judgment is coming. And we're to take the message of salvation, we're to take the message of the coming of God's judgment and wrath upon this world. We're to take those messages out into the world, and we're to preach and to proclaim the gospel, we're to preach and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the ark of safety and he will protect all those who come to him in repentance and faith. And so that's a question I ask you this morning. Have you repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in Christ? Because if you haven't, you have opportunity to do so today. You have opportunity in the here and now to get your heart and your life right with God. To be prepared for the judgment that's coming, because folks, judgment is coming. The Bible tells us this. We see the signs all around us, the things that Jesus foretold that he prophesied there in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew and Mark 13. We see all those things beginning to come to pass in our world today. And so, as the scripture tells us, when we see these things, we need to look up because our redemption's drawing nigh. The return of Christ is very close. If he were to come today, would you be ready to meet him in the air? If your life were to be over today, I ask you, which judgment would you be at today? Would you be at the judgment seat of Christ or would you stand at the great white throne judgment in shame? Only you can answer that. I can't look into your heart and tell whether you're lost or saved. But I will tell you this, and I believe it firmly. If the Spirit's dealing with you today, I would ask you to come. We'll have a song leader to come, we'll have verse invitation this morning, ask you to stand. There may be somebody here today who is uh wrestling with salvation. You know you're lost, you know you need to be saved. The Holy Spirit's calling to you, He's convicting you. I would ask you today, are you going to respond to that call? The scripture tells us today is the appointed day. Today is a day of salvation. You may not have another opportunity. Our lives are like the morning vapor, the morning fog, here one minute and gone the next. But what you do have is right here, right now. And if the Spirit's dealing with you, I would ask you to come as we sing. Page three seconds.