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Smyrna Christian Church -- Lee Delbridge, Minister
910 Concord Road SE -- Smyrna, Georgia 30080 -- 770.435.1723
www.SmyrnaChristianChurch.org

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The Faith That Makes A Difference
Part II

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) God requires you and me to have faith in Him. Last week we studied the verse that says: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) We learned that Biblical faith involves three things:

1. A firm conviction of God’s revealed truth in the Bible
2. A personal surrender to God
3. A conduct inspired by such surrender

1. THE SOCIETY OF NOAH’S DAY
   • Very sinful
     • Genesis 6:5 - 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.
     • Genesis 6:11-12 - Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
   • Very normal
     • Matthew 24:38 - For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
   
   
2. THE CHARACTER OF NOAH
   • He was righteous
     • Genesis 6:9 - These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
   • He was obedient
     • God commanded Noah to build an ark
       Genesis 6:13-14 - 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. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch....
     • Noah obeyed
       Genesis 6:22 - Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
     • Try to imagine the reaction of Noah sinful neighbors as he built the ark
   • He Lived by Faith
     • Hebrews 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 the righteousness which is according to faith.
   
   
3. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE EXAMPLE OF NOAH
   • We also live in a society that is very sinful and very normal
   • We should also be righteous and obedient. We too should live by faith
   • God commands us to do things that seem “strange” to our society
     • Always tell the truth (Exodus 20:16; Ephesians 4:25, etc.)
     • No sex outside of marriage (Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-28; Hebrews 13:4; etc.)
     • Attend church (Hebrews 10:24-25)
     • Give a portion of your income to the Lord’s work (Luke 6:38; Malachi 3:10; etc.)
   • Could you honestly say that “By faith I did what was right and obeyed what God commanded”?

Noah was a man of faith. He set a great example of faithful obedient to God in very sinful times. He was obedient to God in spite of his sinful neighbors, in spite of the ridicule he must have endured, in spite of the fact that God’s command was a little “strange.” I heard about a sermon one time entitled “What happened to the carpenters who helped Noah build the ark?” The idea was that Noah and his family must have hired some help to build this big boat -- they could not have done it by themselves. What happened to those people who helped Noah? Of course the answer is they died in the flood. What will happen to you who hear this sermon? Will you be lost? Or will you, by faith obey God? It’s up to you.

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