Title: The Faith of Noah (Hebrews 11:7)
About 1600 years after God created the heavens, the earth, and humans, He saw that the whole earth was full of sin and judged the world with water. But among the many, only Noah and his family were saved. How they were saved is the message of today's text.
Everyone! If an event or person in the Old Testament is repeated several times in the New Testament, then that event must be a very important relationship shown to us today as a model of salvation.
The salvation of Noah's family during the water judgment was mentioned by Jesus himself in the Gospel of Matthew. It is mentioned in Hebrews and 2 Peter. However, the important thing is that they are constantly appearing as a model of the universal judgment, the unjudgment that will come upon the world. Therefore, if our salvation today is not the same as Noah's faith, we will never be able to escape the judgment of fire.
Today, many people go to church and lead a religious life, but there is something sad about it. The fullness of the knowledge of the Bible, that is, actions derived from the knowledge of the Bible, Sunday holy water, tithe offering, prayer, service, and good deeds are sure to follow, but these are only expectations for the present world or vague expectations for the next life. That is, the act of faith to look directly at the judgment and prepare for the judgment is the issue. As Christianity becomes inconvenient, it is becoming a culture of Christian intellectualism and Christian materialism.
What motives and purposes do you go to the chapel today?
Is it just a habit, a trick for the well-being of the family, a reluctant civil defense training ceremony, and the doctrine of a special purpose just because you think it's good? Are you prepared for a non-judgment?
Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not forsake our meeting together, as is the habit of some, but exhort us, and all the more as we see the day drawing near.”
He told them to look forward to the Day of Judgment and try to gather together.
Noah's faith was 100% believing in the judgment, not the truth, and it was the faith that followed the actions in preparation for the judgment. That is the faith that saved Noah.
It is that we too today do not vaguely believe in salvation, but that we can receive true salvation only if we have faith in preparation for judgment like Noah did. Noah's faith was manifested in three concrete ways.
First, faith warned of things not yet seen.
Second, the fear of God
Third, faith to prepare the ark
First, faith warned of things not yet seen.
Noah had seen everything in the world, but he had never seen the whole world judged by a flood. Even rain had never appeared in the Bible until then. According to theologians, there was no rain until the time of Noah.
Noah accepted God's warning of a judgment of the flood that he had never seen or experienced. God's warning "God told him" received the word of God
Noah had only heard and believed the Word of God, not the visions or dreams of the water judgment or similar mystical experiences.
“Faith is not having any doubts about the Word.”
The Lord is speaking to us today as well.
Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; for it is better for you to enter eternal life crippled than with two hands into the unquenchable fires of hell.”
God's word is so scary.
Genesis 3:19 "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return"
With this single word, more than 6,000 people are all returning to the dust. Even if you become disabled, isn't God's word that you should not go to hell?
We haven't seen a judgment call yet. No, in a vision, in a dream, even though I did not hear or see even a voice, I hope that you believe that it is the same faith as Noah, who believed in the warning of the unjudgment of God's Word without 1% doubt and responded with Amen.
Second, Noah's faith was the fear of God.
Reverence means "God speak and he obeyed" and absolutely obeyed the Word of God. Faith that obeys the Word is an expression of serving God as God. God is the speaker and we are the listeners. Noah did not question God. I didn't even ask. Obedience without words is a declaration of trust that there are absolutely no lies in God's Word. Even when will Noah be judged? You didn't ask that I would prepare without a hitch if you gave me a little bit. He didn't even ask me how to build a ship. Noah just obeyed the word of God. He threw away all of Noah's thoughts, experiences, and knowledge and obeyed only the Word. Noah did not know the date of the judgment. For Noah, the judgment was 100 years later, but Noah did not know it and waited for 100 years with faith. Faith that obeys the Word does not follow the question of why or when. This is Noah's faith. It is important that God judges, but it does not matter when or why. Because the word of God is fulfilled as it is.
Many people today do not obey God's Word. Human beings, who do not dare to match God's authority and power, commit the folly of ignoring or resisting God's Word. Even Christians commit this folly. God does not set a time or hour, but says that He will judge the world with fire at any time. At that time, they are resisting that they cannot submit to God's secret will. On the other hand, despite the dire situation that judgment may come even today, the members of the church are not interested in preparing for judgment. The Word is a wicked sin of rejection.
Today's age is no different from the days of Noah. Despite the dreadful days of hellfire approaching according to God's word, people get married, marry, and lead religious lives without any awareness. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, there is a strong disregard for impending wrath.
Today, the church neglects salvation and tells the story of Heaven and Hell in a way that matches the assortment of stalls. Even though they claim to believe in Heaven and Hell, they never obey God's word by adding a little bit of their own merits, not 100% of Jesus' blood. I make an error that I can't. Those who never obey the Word will eventually be judged by fire and fall into hell of eternal torment, just like in Noah's day and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Third, Noah had faith to prepare the ark.
In fact, the ark is the result of faith and an act of obedience. Even though there was no sign or sign of rain or flooding, the ark perched atop a mountain is proof of faith.
There are two ways to respond to God's Word. It is not a simple slogan of “believe with your lips” but a form of whether or not to build an ark. If Noah had any doubts or doubts about God's Word, or if he had not been interested in the judgment of water, he would have said "amen" with his lips, but in reality, he would not have done the construction of the ark for 100 years. The construction of the ark on the top of the mountain in Noah's day must have been ridiculed by everyone in the world for being insane. Noah's faith is the result of a neo-liberalism that believes and follows only the Word of God, not the evaluation of the world.
If we also believe in God's word today, we must follow the faith of building the ark like Noah did. So, what is the ark of this age? The ark that saved Noah's family was built according to God's plan. It is a holy ship that floats on the sea but does not allow seawater to enter it. Although he came into the world wearing fleshly clothes, he shed the blood of the cross for us as an innocent son. Jesus Christ, who saved us, is the Ark of Salvation. Therefore, only those who are in Jesus Christ in this age can become righteous and enter the kingdom of heaven. At the time of judgment in Noah's day, there was no way of salvation other than the ark. When the judgment of unjudgment comes today, there is no way of salvation other than Jesus. Although the chapel is often thought of as an ark, this building will collapse without leaving a stone at the time of the judgment of fire. The faith that the chapel chair is not the ark, but the conviction that Jesus Christ has solved 100% of my sins and made me righteous is the saving faith that enters the ark.
Why didn't people enter the ark at that time?
Matthew 24:37-39 "Before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they did not realize it until the flood came and destroyed them all; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
They were busy with the world and did not have any interest in the water judgment. Were they, then, completely ignorant of God? Not at all. They knew and experienced God better than we do.
Sleep. Numerous people live around Noah, including Noah's brothers and relatives. Noah can experience God accurately through Noah's father. Because Noah's father, Lamech, lived with Adam. Adam died at 930 and Lamech was born 54 years before Adam died. Therefore, Noah's father would have realized the vivid creation and divinity of God from Adam, and Noah would have experienced great grace from his father Lamech.
Are you interested in God's judgment? Have you already been justified for God's judgment?
Conclusion.
Sodom and Gomorrah are a model of judging the world with fire, and Noah's judgment of water is a model of judgment on all people in the world. We must see the invisible world through the events of Noah. Many who mocked Noah realized that Noah was right only at the terrible moment of his death in the wrath of God, but the opportunity would have passed. Sadly, even today those who are heedless of God's warnings will have little interest in Heaven and Hell, and they view the cry of soul-saviors as vulgar and try to hold onto anything other than the salvation of souls in the Bible, pretending to be noble.
I'm really wary of something today. Even though so-called Christian intellectuals seem to be faithful to the Bible, who know the Bible a lot and accept Christianity as an ideology, there is an evil in them that ignores God's warnings.
For example, through Bible study, prayer, praise, and missionary activities, they appear as the most intelligent and pious Christians, but in reality, if they tell them God's progress and the judgment of heaven and hell, they are treated as ignorant religious people. In God's warning, they cover their ears and worship God with other things, but in reality, unless they start from hell, their purpose of becoming a righteous person is also unclear. They have no interest in the cross that accomplished God's righteousness.
So I agree with Noah's feelings to some extent. We need to be careful about the hedonism of the ideology, which has a lot of new knowledge of the Bible, salvation, and the gospel.
Today, I hope that we too, imitating Noah's faith, will obey the Word and become the blessed saints who lead to eternal salvation through faith that prepares for God's judgment of fire.