Scripture: Hebrews 11:7 (ESV)
“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
We are continuing our deep dive into what faith is and what faith does. We saw how faith causes the heart to respond in gratitude as we looked at Able’s faith. As we explored Enoch’s faith we saw that faith has content – it believes in God, and that it makes a person walk with God.
Today we move to the third faith hero: Noah. And again today we see there are two things we learn about what faith is and what faith does as we examine Noah’s faith.
Firstly, faith causes obedience to God.
When we think of Noah, we inevitably think of the big boat and the animals who came in by “twosies twosies”, as the children’s song tells us. But we don’t often pause to think about the actual time it took to build the ark. Now the Bible doesn’t specifically state how long it took Noah to build the ark, but given some of the clues in Genesis, it is likely that it took him between 50 and 75 years to build.
That is the work of a lifetime. Noah did this among people who did not believe in God. Hebrews 11:7 tells us that the ark was built by faith, and in reverent fear. Noah’s faith caused him to be obedient to God, even when God asked him to do something as crazy as building an ark.
Faith made him obedient to God’s word. Does your faith make you obedient to God’s word? The apostle James reminds us: “be doers of the word, not merely hearers”. Does your faith “do”?
Secondly faith makes the faithful inherit righteousness. This is important. Faith not only makes you obey God, faith is the instrument by which we inherit righteousness. Righteousness refers our standing before God. We are either “righteous” or we are “sinners”. Now the problem is, that because we are humans, we have inherited unrighteousness, sinfulness, from our first parents Adam and Eve. All of us are sinners. Our good acts in this world cannot wash away our unrighteousness. So we need to be made righteous in some other way.
Noah’s faith shows us how this works. Faith is the instrument by which we get righteousness. Noah inherited righteousness through faith. When we believe in Jesus, we inherit righteousness through faith. In fact both Noah and us inherit Jesus’ righteousness through faith. And that righteousness sets you free from your sinful state forever.
So faith makes us obedient to God, and faith makes us righteous by giving us Jesus’ righteousness.
Incredible.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you what we can learn from Noah’s faith. Help us to have the kind of faith that leads to obedience, even when it seems challenging or confusing. Thank you for giving us the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus, freeing us from our sins. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Today, identify one area in your life where you can be more obedient to God’s word. Take a specific action step in that area, trusting that God will guide and provide for you. Share your experience with someone to encourage them in their faith journey.