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UNSINKABLE FAITH We will basically be taking our lesson from just one passage of scripture, although there will be a few others sprinkled in along the way. (Heb. 11:7) --- "By faith, Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence (NKJV -- moved with godly fear) prepared an ark for the salvation of his household,by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith." I'm sure just about everyone alive on this planet today have either heard, read about or have seen movies about the sinking of the Titanic. This great old ocean liner which set sail in April, 1912 was not only the largest ship of it's day, but also it was said to be UNSINKABLE! --- And that's about the only thing it really did, was sink. --- This huge ship was a luxury liner in the strictest sense; --- All the amenities of the day; ---Ball rooms, Beauty saloons, Tennis courts, Sauna baths and all the comforts of royalty.
And I believe
as we look at the sinking of the Titanic, we can learn a pretty good
object
lesson from it. So, by way of introduction I would like for us to
notice
three things about the Titanic; --- First of all, she was marked by
CONFIDENCE;
--- And how confident they were. --- They boasted that she was
unsinkable;
Kept afloat by a new concept in shipbuilding at that time called
watertight
compartments; --- If one compartment would develop a leak, the others
would
keep her afloat. --- So the designers and crew would
But not only was the Titanic marked by confidence; --- She was marked by CARELESSNESS! --- You see, people were not in their wildest dreams thinking about this new ship sinking; --- Since it was "unsinkable", --- They were all just out to have a good time; --- One lady who was a survivor was heard to say; --- "We were out on a lark and revelry was the key, the weather was superb, the comfort and luxury aboard were all that had been promised; --- The days simply passed too quickly and I felt as if I could go on until the end of time!" --- And those keeping watch, every now and then, would sound the hour and would say; --- "All's well!" But all was NOT well; --- And so it was on the night of April 14, 1912; --- This majestic ship was gliding along on an ebony sea (just as smooth as silk), --- There was no moon out, but it was a clear night and the stars were lighting the heavens; --- And this ship was moving along, very carelessly; --- convinced that it was "unsinkable"!! But not only was she marked by confidence and carelessness; --- but you might notice, she was marked by CALAMITY! --- Because on that night, moving at 22 knots, at 11:40 P.M., the Titanic hit an iceberg!! --- And a 300 foot long gash was ripped along the side of that ship and five watertight compartments were slashed open like a can of sardines. --- There was a jolt, but many people were so engrossed in their party making and revelry that they never even felt it. --- No alarm was sounded, --- And for those who were a little frightened, a soothing word of assurance was sounded that they were in absolutely no danger!! --- And so they went right on with their merry making; --- But at 12:45 A.M. a distress flare was fired into the night air in what was to be the first of eight futile attempts to try to signal for help; --- But no one was anywhere around to see them!! --- Finally it became apparent that they should man the life boats; --- And so the call came down through the corridors; --- "Women and children first!" --- But there was some who still refused to believe they where in any danger what-so-ever; --- But by 1:30 A.M. that dream cruise turned into the most terrible nightmare. --- There were over 2,000 people aboard and only enough life boats for less than half that many; --- In fact, between 1,500 and 1,510 people died that night. --- Men were even disguising themselves as women and trying to get in the life boats. --- And finally, all the boats that could be filled, were filled, ---and as they paddled out away from the ship, they formed a circle and watched in horror and total dis-belief as this mighty ship slithered beneath the surface, into a watery grave; --- And the impossible had happened and the Titanic had sunk!! --- And nothing was left but just a few desperate survivors!! Now, when she set sail, there were all kinds of classes and degrees of people on board; --- upper class, middle class and lower class!! --- But after she had sunk, there were only two classes; --- Saved and lost!! And as we reflect back on this unfortunate event in human history, we can't help but notice the stark contrast between the sailing of the Titanic, under Capt. Smith; --- and the sailing of the ship of God under Capt. Noah!! --- So with this comparison in mind, I'd like for us to consider several aspects about Noah, his unsinkable ship and Noah's UNSINKABLE FAITH! --- And number one, let us observe; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NOAH'S FAITH (Heb. 11:7) --- "By FAITH Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen; --- being moved with fear prepared an ark --- " Noah prepared this ark by faith!! --- Noah's faith was a WORKING faith; ---You see, Noah's faith led him to DO something; --- Because God has told us that; --- "Faith, if it has no works, is DEAD, ---" (Js. 2:17) --- Now, Noah may well have preached all day about how much faith he had; --- But had he not built that ark, and had he not built it after God's own design, his faith would have been dead, null and void!! --- However, he showed his faith by his works. --- (Js. 2:18) --- "I will show you my faith by my works," --- And again, (Vs.24); --- "You see that a man is justified by works, and NOT by faith alone." (As the Calvinist would have you to believe!) --- And the fact that Noah did build that ark in obedience to God is concrete evidence that Noah's faith was real, --- and was genuinely acceptable to God. Don't you tell me that your faith is real; --- if it's not strong enough to promote you to repentance and baptism into Christ' one body! --- Not strong enough to get you to study the word of god with a view to growing in grace and knowledge of our lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! --- Not strong enough to get you out of bed to come and worship our God and to edify your brethren on Sunday morning and when ever else the church is gathered together for the work of the Lord! --- Not strong enough to lay down your money, your time or even your life for the support and defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ!! I
fail to
understand how it is, that so many people claim to be ready to DIE for
Jesus Christ; ---When so precious few are willing to LIVE for Him! ---
One of these days you're going to die and end up in hell, dear soul;
---
Because your faith is not real!! --- The word of Almighty God says, ---
"Faith without works is DEAD and useless" --- Just like the body
without
the spirit is DEAD! (Js. 2:20-26) --- Remember this; --- Noah's faith
was
a WORKING FAITH!! --- But something else we should be impressed about
Noah's
faith; --- GOD'S DIVINE
REVELATION
--- "By faith Noah, being WARNED BY GOD about things not yet
seen;"
You see, Noah didn't just decide one day; --- "Well, I think I'll build
me an ark, because I want to have faith to build an ark!" --- No! It
wasn't
that way at all; --- Noah acted in obedience to the word of God; ---
and
you can't have faith for anything that God has not first of all spoken
about! --- Faith is not mere positive thinking!
Real faith, lasting, true Bible faith is a kind of faith that will stand alone. --- Real faith does not depend on appearances; --- Look at it again; --- "By faith Noah, being warned by God about (about what?) things NOT SEEN; --- " --- There is absolutely no evidence that it had ever rained up to this point; --- There's nothing in the Bible that so much as implies that it had rained before Noah's day; --- But rather (Gen. 2:5-6) says; ---"The Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth; --- But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground." --- So as far as we know, there had never been such a thing as rain, much less a world wide flood. --- And Noah didn't say, "Now Lord, you say it's going to rain? --- Just put a few clouds out there and let me feel a few drops, and then I'll believe!" --- Oh no! --- "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for; --- the conviction/evidence of things NOT seen!" (Heb. 11:1) --- And the Bible reveals that Noah had not seen these things; --- All he had to go on was the pure naked word of God. --- God said it, and that settled it! --- So Noah said, --- "That's good enough for me!" --- and don't you dare try to walk by sight; --- But rather, like Noah of old, walk by faith!!
It may well
have been a cloudless day when God announced that he was about to
destroy
the earth and every man or beast by flood who was not safely on Noah's
ark; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. NOAH'S FEAR
Going back
to our text once again; --- (Heb. 11:7) --- "By FAITH Noah, being
warned
by God about things not yet seen; --- being moved (motivated)
with
FEAR prepared an ark --- " --- This phrase (moved by fear), really
comes
from a rather hard to pronounce Greek word found only once or twice in
the New Testament; eulabeomai, pronounced yoo-lab-eh-omahee, meaning;
1.To
be circumspect/apprehensive 2. To reverence/ You see, Noah was motivated by fear, and that's why he built the ark. --- He loved and highly reverenced his God; --- therefore, when God told him what He was about to do; --- When God warned Noah; --- Old Noah resolved that he didn't want to drown; --- resolved to save his own life; (nothing wrong with that!) ---When God created man, He put within each of us an instinct called self-preservation. --- Sometimes brethren get the mistaken idea that it is wrong, ever to use fear as a motivation for doing what is right. --- Just ask yourself; --- "How many times in this life am I motivated by fear?" --- Think about it! --- I had better lose some weight or I might have a heart attack! --- I'd better drive safely or I could get into an accident, or get a ticket!
And you'd
be surprised how much you do or don't do out of fear. --- You eat
because
you're afraid you'll starve to death! --- You wear a coat in the winter
because you're afraid of catching a cold! --- I live on a side street,
but let me tell you, I look both ways before I cross because I'm afraid
I'll be hit by a car! --- We're motivated by fear in a hundred ways
every
day; --- except the greatest way sometimes; --- And that's in a
Yes, Noah was most definitely motivated by FEAR!! --- Because the Bible says; --- "It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31) --- Alright now, let's move on and talk about; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. NOAH'S FORESIGHT "By FAITH Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen; --- being moved with FEAR prepared an ark " --- Look for a moment at the phrase, "prepared an ark"; --- That means Noah made preparation; ---Noah had foresight!! --- He did not wait for it to start raining before he started working on the ark; --- For it would have surely been way too late by then! --- This was God's way of saying; --- "GET READY!" --- You see, one of these days it will be too late! --- And had Noah not made all the necessary preparations before the rain came, it would have been too late when it started to flood. The stories told about this preacher and another man who had come very close to a really bad accident; ---By the time they finally got stopped, their car's bumpers were just inches from a head on collision; --- The other driver jumped out of his car and came yelling; --- "Blankety blank, blankety blank, blank, blank; ---just cursing, waving his fist and carrying on something fierce! --- The preacher said; --- "Sir, we just about had a terrible accident just now; --- had I hit you and taken your life --- Would you have wanted to go into the presence of God with that kind of profanity in your heart?" --- You know what the man said? --- He said; "Don't you worry about me, I'll take care of that when I get there!!" Oh, but then, it'll be too late! TOO LATE!! --- He won't take care of it when he gets there; --- He'd better take care of it now! --- It'll do no good to stand before Almighty God on Judgment Day and say, --- "Now, dear Lord, I want to take care of my profanities; --- I want to take care of my lust, my lying, my bad habits, my pride etc. etc.!!" --- No, it will be far too late then! --- For the Bible says; --- "It is appointed for men to die once; --- and after death comes the judgment!" (Heb. 9:27) But Noah, moved with fear, had some foresight to prepare an ark!! --- Isn't it amazing how so many people have wisdom and foresight in so many ways concerning their worldly future? --- Yet possess little or no wisdom at all when it comes to making things right with God?? Let's look for a moment and see what Jesus Christ had to say about the lack of foresight in Noah's generation; --- In (Mt. 24:) Jesus is specifically talking with reference to His figurative coming in the form of the Roman army to carry out God's judgment on the Jewish nation to destroy them (in 70 A.D.); ---(Mt. 24:37f) --- "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah. --- For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, --- And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away!! --- So shall the coming of the Son of Man be." However, When Jesus does come in the final judgment and destruction of all things this time, by fire; --- (2 Pet. 3:10) Peter warns; --- "But the day of the Lord will come LIKE A THIEF, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, --- and the earth and its works will be burned up!" --- "Like a thief"; --- just like in the days of Noah!
What were
the three marks of Noah's day? --- 1. INDIFFERENCE: --- (Vs. 38) "they
were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage,"
---
What does that mean? --- It simply means that they were going on with
the
same hum-drum, daily merry-go-round way of life. --- They were
completely
wrapped up in the physical/material things, rather than the spiritual
and
eternal things! --- You listen to the The vast majority of people care not at all about things pertaining to the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ. It's not that they're so much "anti-God"; --- It's just that they are indifferent!! Now to look at another mark of Noah's day; --- 2. Not only the indifference, but look at the IMMORALITY: Jesus said they were "marrying and giving in marriage!" --- Let me be the first to point out, there's nothing wrong with marrying and giving in marriage! --- However, I believe if we were to go back to (Gen. 6:), we will discover that this is more of a case of sexual immorality that was going on.
(Gen. 6:4f)
Here, Moses is talking in reference to the same subject Jesus was in
(Mt.
24:37f); ---"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also
afterwards,
--- (Now look at it) --- when the sons of God came in to the daughters
of men, and they bore children with them! --- Those were mighty men who
were of old, --- men of renown." --- The Nephilium were giants. ---
These
giants and their daughters were a Godless The days of Noah were days of IMMORALITY! --- The days of Lot were days of SEXUAL PERVERSION, --- And the days of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. were days of IMMORALITY! --- History is like an old broken record! Look at the world today; --- If you want to find out the moral level of any particular society; --- See what amuses them! --- See what they laugh at! --- When people start laughing and snickering at lust, fornication, adultery, sexual perversions and such like; --- You can mark it down, --- We're just like in the days of Noah! 1. INDIFFERENCE, 2. IMMORALITY --- And the third mark I would like to point to in Noah's day; ---3. IGNORANCE: --- (Mt. 24:39) "And they DID NOT UNDERSTAND until the flood came and took them all away, ---" --- Now they should have understood, but they didn't; --- It wasn't that they were not warned, --- nor was it that they did not hear, --- but rather, they chose to remain in ignorance!
One of the
stunning aspects of our modern age is man's intellectual abilities and
his spiritual ignorance! --- Man today, has all his computers (even the
knowledge and ability to invent and improve on them almost daily); ---
He has books and college degrees coming out his ears; --- Yet by and
large,
he chooses to remain spiritually ignorant! --- This reminds me of the
words
of Jesus to Nicodemus, when Nicodemus asked, "How
But Noah was different than everyone else; --- Noah, in the face of indifference, --- in the face of immorality, and in spite of everyone's chosen ignorance; --- Noah made PREPARATION!! --- Have you made that preparation? --- If not, why not??? --- We've spent sufficient time talking about Noah's FORESIGHT; --- Now let's talk some about; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. NOAH'S FAMILY You see, not only did Noah save himself and all those animals, but he got his family into the ark! --- (Back to our text) --- ""By FAITH Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen; --- being moved with fear prepared an ark ; --- for the salvation of his household; ---" Not only was Noah saved, --- but his wife was saved, --- and his children and their wives were saved!! --- Is your family in the God's ark of safety? --- Is your faith the kind of faith Noah had; --- a household faith?? Noah's attitude was; --- "I'm going to please God and go to heaven; --- and I'm going to take my wife and children with me!! --- Are you determined to take your family to heaven? --- Or, are you going to let your loved ones go to hell, while you go to heaven?? --- Or, are you going to hell and take your family along for that eternal ride?? I can imagine some little boy coming up to his dad back in Noah's time, and saying; --- "Daddy, may I have a talk with you?" --- Dad, in a very kind and understanding way says; --- "Why sure son, let's sit down and talk, I love to talk with you! --- What's on your mind, son?" --- (Son); --- "Well dad, do you know Mr. Noah, the man whose building that big old thing he calls an ark? --- (Dad); --- "Why sure, son, what about Mr. Noah?" --- (Son); --- "Well daddy, some of us boys were over there the other day, playing, and Mr. Noah sat down on a sawhorse and he talked with us, and he said; --- "God is very angry with everybody; --- and that God is getting ready to destroy the world!" --- Mr. Noah said, that there's going to be something called a flood, and if people expect to be saved, they're going to have to put their faith in God and come aboard that ark! --- And daddy, I'm really worried and wondering what you think about all that?" --- I want you to hear this father as he mockingly said; --- "Ha, ha, ha; --- Oh son, ha, ha, --- forgive me for laughing son; --- I'm not laughing at you; --- I was just thinking, it's so funny you should ask me that because, you see my boy, here's the funny part; --- When I was a young boy, I went over there to play around that old thing; --- You see, he's been building that big thing for a long time; --- and do you know what, son? --- That old man told me the same story and scared your daddy right out of his wits! --- And that's not the funniest part; ---- Here's the real gasser; --- I went home and told my daddy, and you know what he told me? --- My daddy, your granddaddy told me that, that old fool told him the same story and scared him half to death, when he was a little boy!" --- Son, don't you pay any attention to that old religious fanatic, --- he's been saying that same story for well over a hundred years! --- Don't worry, son, just run on out and play, and just remember, son, daddy loves you, so you just have a good time today, after all, that's what life's all about!" Do you know any fathers like that today? --- "Oh, don't let those Christians warn you about the second coming of Christ, the judgment and all that stuff!" --- "Don't you let them talk you into becoming some kind of Bible thumper!" --- "After all, you can push a good thing too far, you know!" Noah brought his family into the ark!! --- Now we've talked about Noah's faith, his fear, his foresight and his family; --- Now let's direct our minds to; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. NOAH'S FORECAST What was Noah's occupation? --- Well, besides being a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5), --- a great carpenter, Noah was a fine weather forecaster! --- I might add, a heap more accurate than any meteorologist we see around here these days. --- (Heb. 11:7) --- "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,"
Now, how
did Noah condemn the world? --- By WARNING the world! --- By giving the
proper forecast and warning the people about what was about to happen,
concerning the weather and God's righteous judgment! Don't get the idea
that this generation was a generation that did not know; --- God spoke
to these people (through Noah)! --- Noah preached to these people
for 120 years! --- (And you think my sermons are long?)
How did Noah condemn the world? --- Because he forecasted the judgment that was to come! ---He preached about the flood and God's wrath; --- But they would not believe him! --- They can't come to God with the excuse; "I didn't know!" --- They most certainly DID KNOW! --- But they loved darkness rather than light! ---Jesus said; --- "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, --- and men loved the darkness rather than the light; --- for their deeds were evil." (Jn. 3:19) One final thing I would like for us to notice about Noah, and I'll be finished; --- But I would be remiss if I were to leave this out; --- And that is; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. NOAH'S FORTUNE Please bear with me while I run through this wonderful verse one more time; --- (Heb. 11:7) --- "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 righteousness which is according to faith."
That is,
Noah had an inheritance, --- Noah gained a FORTUNE in other words! ---
Noah became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith!! ---
But that's not all he inherited; --- Have you ever thought about the
time,
money, effort and labor Noah put into that ark? --- Have you ever given
thought as to the tremendous cost it must have been to build a ship of
such immense proportions, --- which took well over 100 years in
Other people
were busy with buying, selling and making profits. --- They were
marrying
and giving in marriage; --- And they were living high, wide and
handsome;
--- And I can just imagine they thought that Noah was missing something
"upstairs"! --- Noah was nothing more than a fool!! --- But Noah was no
fool; --- and he had everything "upstairs"!! --- You see, there came a
turning point, by and by!! --- Now, all their
But what
about Noah, --- did Noah lose it all? --- NO! Noah gained it
all!!
--- I mean, when Noah and his family stepped off that ark on to dry
ground;
--- He owned the whole world!! --- THE WHOLE WORLD!!! Reminds me of the
words of Jesus; --- "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth."
(Mt. 5:5) Truly, truly, --- you can't out give the ever living God!!
---
Yes, Noah gained the whole world; --- But what was it that Jesus said?
--- (Mt. 16:26), "For what will a man be profited, if he gains
the
whole world, and forfeits Every time you start worrying about how much money, time and effort you've invested in the cause of the gospel of Christ; --- think of Noah's fortune!! --- Think of the ungodly, and think of their great loss!! But let me give you something else to mull over in your minds, friends; --- That's not the real fortune we're talking about here; --- This is but a mere pittance compared to the real wealth the Bible talks about; --- The Bible says; --- "Noah was an heir of righteousness!!" --- (Gen. 6:8-9) The Bible says; --- Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. --- Noah was a righteous man. ---He was blameless in his time. --- And Noah WALKED WITH GOD!! What does God think of Noah? --- Look for a moment over in the O.T. book of Ezekiel; --- (Ezk. 14:12f) The prophet of God says; --- "Then the word of the Lord came to me saying; --- 'Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, --- destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, --- even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own RIGHTEOUSNESS they could only deliver themselves, --- declares the Lord God." Noah's fame and fortune came about as a direct result of his UNSINKABLE FAITH and UNYIELDING OBEDIENCE!! You see; --- Noah and his family is an O.T. picture of those who are saved. --- All the other people of Noah's day represent those who are lost!! ---The flood water that washed and cleansed the earth of sin and wickedness represents the blood of Jesus Christ which today washes and cleanses the sins and wickedness of all those who hear and obey Christ in repentance, confession and baptism!! (Rom. 10:17, Acts 2:38, Acts 8:35-39, Rom. 6:3f) What about the ark? --- What does the ark represent? --- Just as all those who were inside God's ark during the flood were saved; --- Today, all those who are in the Lord's N.T. church and remain faithful to Christ, will be saved. --- Are YOU in God's ark of safety today?
(1 Pet. 3:20-21)
The Bible says; --- Jesus Christ, in the Spirit through Noah, preached
to those of Noah's day who are now in prison; --- That is, those
disobedient
people who died in the flood, --- their souls are now in that
spiritual
realm known as Hades (specifically tartarus) or (prison, which is the
same
place Jesus said the rich man of Lk. 16:23 went when he died); --- to
be
held there awaiting the final judgment!
Now, what
does that mean? --- (Vs. 21) continues; --- "And corresponding to that,
baptism NOW SAVES YOU! --- Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, ---
(Baptism is not like just a bath to wash dirt and grime from your body,
but rather) --- an appeal to God for a good conscience; through the
resurrection
of Jesus Christ." That's what Peter has reference to in (1 Pet. 1:3)
when
he said; --- "Blessed be the God and Father of our
May your faith be unsinkable, as Noah; Any questions or comments, always welcomed: ewilburn@austin.rr.com
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