Noah: The Obedience of Faith | Sermon by Tony Evans

the hallmark of a hero bravery integrity selflessness they saved the day ask for no reward and ride off into the sunset the Bible also tells the stories of heroes but they are always brave good or selfless in many ways they're people just like you and me missing the mark or dropping the ball what is it that in Abraham or a sermon or a Moses have in common that we should be telling their stories even today what makes them heroes abraham believed God and became the father of many nations Sarah believed God and became a mother in her old age Moses believed God and became the delivery of the people in bondage they're all connected by virtue of their great faith the harm [Music] one of the great Old Testament illustrations is Noah one verse is given to him in the Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7 and here's what it says by faith Noah being warned of 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 were introduced to Noah as the illustration of faith at work now this event occurs in Genesis chapter 6 remember this is an Old Testament figure given to New Testament Christians to teach us how to live by faith we're told something about Noah in Genesis 6 verse 9 these are the records of the generations of Noah Noah was a righteous man blameless in his time Noah walked with God we're saying nor was a righteous man he lived to please God he was a blameless man he had integrity with people and the reason he could be righteous and the reason he could be blameless had to do with his walk he walked with God he says Noah walked with God he was on the same page that God was Ord and trust me when you walk with God he's walking with you nor walk with God and we're told that he was a man of righteousness blamelessness and spiritual integrity and character he wasn't perfect that shows up later on in his life and in his story walking with God is called pleasing God pleasing God means to make God smile to make God happy nothing pleases God more than to see somebody walking by faith making their decisions based on their relationship with God bringing God to bail on all their decision-making now God becomes real to you but here's what's interesting it is the context in which he walked with God because the first eight verses of Genesis chapter 6 lets you know what the world around him was like when he was walking with God it says in Genesis chapter 6 verse 1 it came about that men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful they took wives for themselves whomever they chose then the Lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man for ever because he also is flesh nevertheless his days shall be 120 years the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also after words when the sons of God came into the daughters of men they bore themselves children those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown 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 the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and was grieved in his heart the Lord said I will blot out men from whom I have created from the face of the land from the man to the animals to the creeping things and to the birds of the sky for I am sorry that I have made them Noah was walking with God when nobody else was Noah was the exception to the world rule he was watching out of step with the culture because he was marching to a different drum beat it says the whole world had become wicked what was some of the wickedness what if you were to read the scriptures you would find that there was immorality violence looting this vulgarity profanity lying killing blasphemy and then it hit the bottom demon-possession so the fallen angels who are sexless infiltrated evil men who had relationships with women producing a demonized population you need to understand how demons work demons work because they need a vehicle through which to express themselves because their spirit beings the angels fallen angels so they need a vehicle that's why when Jesus cast the demons out of the end Fame man they asked could we go into the pigs because they were unclean and so give us a place to reside we need a house to express ourselves through shame now the problem is not only the sin that brought about the addiction the reason why it's so hard for addicted people to get over the sin is they not only have to try to deal with the sin but the demonic amplification of the sin because the demons have gone into a garbage environment and made themselves at home there that's why it is an addiction because it has been demonically infiltrated that's why when people try to deal with the sin without dealing with the demons they wind up right back at it because the spiritual was unaddressed in whatever the addiction happened to express itself to me that's why the wall cause of addictions the Bible calls it a spiritual stronghold the spiritual stronghold of pornography the spiritual stronghold of gambling the spiritual stronghold of whatever it happened to be drunkenness because there has been a grip by the demonic world he says the demonic world had gripped the culture but here's Noah who was a righteous man a blameless man who walked with God meaning he's the odd man out he's the weirdo he's the crazy man because he wasn't conforming to the culture be not conformed to this world he wasn't agreeing just because everybody else was going in he wasn't doing it just because everybody else was doing it his goal was not to be popular with the world in which he lived because the world which he lived was not popular with God he saw himself as pleasing God not pleasing the culture but uh when you in a world like that that's a lot of pressure that's pressure some of you work in pressured environments you're under pressure to do this to act that way to go with them to be there to submit to this and you're under pressure you're being squeezed some of you are in educational institutions that's squeezing you and pressing you cuz cuz you're the odd man out if you're walking with God and they are see it's easy to be a Christian here this morning there's no competition in the house everybody here basically agrees with everybody else and even if you don't you gonna fake it because of the environment in which you are in but once you leave here and go back to family and friends and work and and environments you're gonna feel pressure when you try to be a Noah in a secular world in this post Christian era there used to be a time when we grew up when the Christian worldview dominated so even if you weren't a Christian you respected the Christian worldview that is the pre-christian era we live in the post Christian era and now Christianity has become persecuted all around the world we're now in a post-christian environment where that value system that ethic is no longer accepted as the respected norm and the more serious you are with your walk with God the more awed you will look like not because you're trying to be weird not because you're trying to be different it's that you just are different Noah watch this walk so close to God that he was the only one God was talking to he was 11 saying being warned of God since we're hanging out together I'm gonna see the reason some of us don't hear from God as we too far God wants to speak to you but he wants to speak to you because you're walking with him you hanging out together you're in close proximity so he speaks to the mine and bring thoughts that you didn't think bring perspective you didn't have bring an orientation you weren't about because you're close enough that you can hear his voice speaking to you and woe to the Christian who spends their Christian life never having heard the voice of God God says Noah verse 11 of Genesis 6 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 on the earth then God said to Noah the end of all flesh has come 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 got to be kidding me you've got to be kidding me God talks to him I'm gonna destroy the world and I want you to make a boat now let me explain something Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah built an ark when he hadn't seen anything meaning he'd never seen a flood it hadn't rained up to this point because the earth was was warded from underneath so God is warning him about something he'd never seen he lives a hundred miles away from an ocean what in the world do you build a boat a hundred miles from the water you gotta put the boat on so let me give you a signal when God is close enough to you to speak to you and what he tells you is weird makes absolutely no sense that mean you're ready to something big the weirder God gets in leading you the bigger the thing is he's involved with he's going to destroy the whole world he tells Noah build a boat on dry land even though you've never seen rain you don't know what a flood is and trust me let me tell my big this boat is because God gives the measurements in the chapter to use our foot and yard measurements the measurements God gives in the chapter for the ark is one and a half football fields long that's how big the Ark is one and a half football fields long it is four stories high so it's higher than this church building and it took him a hundred and twenty years to build it the scripture says 120 years some of you been saying I've been waiting on God for a long time and I have seen it rain yet I haven't seen a flood yet I didn't see anything yet but what we find out in the scripture is it says that Noah as soon as God told him verse 22 of Genesis 6 thus Noah did according to all that God had commanded him so he did then let me tell you what we do we do some of what God tells us to do to walk by faith involves completely what God tells you to do the work he's called you to the obedience he's demanded of you but remember that obedience is coming because you're walking with him if you're not walking with him and told to obey Him obedience becomes an irritation if you're walking with him obedience becomes a natural outgrowth that's why some people like obeying God and some people hate obeying God even though they may be doing the outward thing they may hate obeying God because they haven't been walking with God the folks who love obeying God out of the folks who are walking with God so you need your walk to appreciate the obedience even with the obedience doesn't make sense nor exercise faith when he went out and chopped down the first gopher wood tree and he was gonna spend a hundred and twenty years obeying God without seeing anything I don't know this but I'm sure they had to be days when he said tired of traffic trees I'm tired of putting this thing together his huge boat on dry land but not only that guess what second Peter says second Peter says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness talks about the second Peter 2:5 1st Peter 3:20 Noah is a preacher of righteousness so washes now Noah is chopping down trees during the day because he has to work during the day to see what he's doing and he'd going to town to preach at night maybe he only got a three word sermon it's going around it's gonna rain God told me to tell you it's gonna rain it's dad was right all I know is you know wet stuff coming down from Earth and it's gonna rain God told me to tell you it's gonna rain you talked about looking like a fool he worked and he witnessed Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes if you can put placards on your car placards on your lawn about who you're voting for in the election then why are you an undecided voter when it comes to standing up and proclaiming your faith in Jesus Christ it says he proclaimed his faith in other words on your job if you were accused of being a follower of Christ would there be enough evidence to convict you or would you be found innocent of all charges he was crystal clear where he stood the atheists aren't silent the folks teaching your kids evolution and there is no God they're not silent so he worked by day he witnessed by night and he walked with God that's how he rolled Hebrews 11 says he prepared his art in reverence reverence that's a worship word ah to all God to fear God you know you remember though you know whistle while you work he worship why he worked so he out there chopping down go verges I praise you I give you glory I don't see no rain but I'm praising you I'm giving you glory I'm I'm putting up this wood just like you told me and I'm gonna bless your name in the middle of the work even though I don't see any results of the work I don't see what you do it I'm give you glory you worship while you work he says he built his ark in reverence and then it says holy horses men and then it says haul your horses Kingdom men he built the ark for the salvation of his family because a job of a real man is to save his family the job of a kingdom man is to save his family Kingdom men don't walk away from their families don't abandon their children don't sit home while she goes to work and he does nothing no no no he was out working he was out working and it was clear that if nobody else believes me I would make sure my family believes me I'm gonna make sure my wife's walking with me I'm gonna make sure my children walking with me because a real man delivers his family even if nobody else believes it Noah built the boat and he saved his family he says that's gonna be these seven other people and they're gonna see my faith at work they ain't gonna see me sending in the church they gonna see me leading them the church ain't gonna be saying when they have a Bible question ask your mother I'm gonna discover the answer myself and I'm going to I'm gonna best I can give it to a wife cuz I'm responsible for my family's salvation I'm responsible to leave my kids to Christ I'm responsible because the definition of a man is you're responsible even if you're not to blame you can't walk with your Heavenly Father and let everybody else dictate to you cuz they're your friends you're walking with God and it says and by his walk he condemned the world Hebrews 11 says verse 7 he condemned the world he condemned the world with his work and his witness and then it happened 120 years later with all the silence plop plop plop water coming down from the sky North says to his family it's time mr. Lyon looked at mrs. Lyon and went wrong [Applause] mr. bird looked at mrs. bird sweetly d20 nor was given instruction without knowing how God was gonna pull it off how are we gonna get all the animals into the ark in fact got you asked me to build an ark and you all of all the instructions you gave me you gave me nothing related to navigation so how do I know where I'm going in fact how am I even gonna get to water because he didn't know how all this was gonna work how is all this school work getting the food to feed all these animals 49 God may not give you all the information but do the work of obedience he's called you to do until he shows you how he plans to pull it off all of a sudden crystal clear that the one man was right and the civilization was wrong okay it became crystal clear it took a while I know some of you want to give up some of you want to quit you're trying to live the Christian life nobody's buying it nobody's believing it maybe ladies guys are rejecting you because you won't compromise your standards maybe maybe maybe folks are leaving you because because you won't hang out with them and do what they're doing and yes you're going to fit but there is coming a day when God will make it inextricably clear where he stands and if you're walking with God he's standing with you and they came a day when they begin to realize no one's walk with God was the truth their rebellion against God was a lie and they found it out too late because the floods came the Bible declares that one day Jesus is coming back it says as it was in the days of Noah shall it be when the Son of Man returns we are seeing the days of Noah right before us we're seeing the demonic we're seeing the the compromise of values we're seeing the rebellion against God we're seeing the dismissing of God from the culture we are in the days of North the Bible says when you see those days look up your Redemption draweth nigh you will be the one who will because I love this I'll just mention it it says that he had to seal the boat with pitch pitch keeps the water from getting into the boats of Ceylon he sealed the boat with pitch the Hebrew word for pitch is the root word for atonement so he sealed the boat with the atonement of pitch guess why you're gonna be safe for eternity you will be safe for eternity because the Hebrew word for pitch is atonement and the blood of Jesus Christ seals the eternal destiny of anyone who comes to God by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and so Jesus is your Ark of safety God has an ark for you to build he's waiting on you to obey and to obey Him completely not partially if God says do this and you only have done this much that he will move he will not move until obedience has been completed until faith has been fully exercised that's why as we go through the Hall of faith and we learn from these folks I had a sister who I was talking to my office and she said I want faith but I don't have it I don't have it and I looked at her and I said then piggyback off of mine because I got enough for both of us you better hang out with somebody who does have faith when you don't have faith grab ahold of their faith ride their backs until it's transferred to you because God has integrity and he can be trusted even though he's confusing at times one of the old television shows I love was something called early edition it was this man who got tomorrow's newspaper today he got tomorrow's newspaper today so he saw what was coming the day before it came because he had the early edition the day before the actual event he could do things to make changes because he knew what was coming tomorrow no one knew what was coming tomorrow he walked in light of it today if you are a believer in Jesus Christ you know where this thing is going so why don't we walk with God today so that we can hear his voice be prepared for what he wants to do in this life and reward us in the next life because like Noah we walked with God save our families condemned the world and then it closes by thing and he became the heir he was the beneficiary because his family was saved and protected may God help us as a church collectively as individuals personally to be known not for our buildings not for our program not for our resources not for that that that all that's good but to be known for one dominant factor those folk walk with God may that be what we're really known for [Applause] [Music] like Noah we're all called upon to exercise faith in the most inconvenient times Noah had never seen rain and yet he was to act based on what God said even though it made him look very foolish not only that but faith is often anti-culture he had to go against the whole community in which he lived and the world in which he existed faith will make you seem like a loner sometimes it'll make you make others think that you're a fool but we see at the end of Noah's story that he was not the foolish one those who rejected him were actually the foolish ones so you walk with God even if it makes you hard in the culture as long as you're obeying God even if it's something you've never experienced before seen before expected before because God cannot be put in a box he will blow your mind let him blow your mind and if you have to build an ark on dry land if you have to do something you've never seen heard of or you've seen anyone else to do before it's okay because when you obey God by faith you set yourself up for not only a miracle but the covering of your own family even when there's destruction and the culture taking place all around you obey by faith even when it makes you seem like you're being foolish you the Bible tells stories of people that today we call heroes they sought to inspire humanity for over 3,000 years we also have a story and is connected to these heroes by virtue of our faith my CD series heroes of the faith include 12 sermons in two bodies but you can have that will get the amount whether it's my way of saying thanks for helping us with God's words to a world indeed visit our website at Tony or request your copy today you

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Keywords: faith, noah, obedience, faith sermon, Tony Evans, sermons on faith, sermons on obedience, obedience of faith, obeying God, heroes of the faith, Biblical heroes, heroes of the Bible, Christian sermons, sermon videos, full length sermons, Tony Evans sermons, sermon by Tony Evans, Christian, sermons, Christian faith, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: nA1Z9Pe9eOk

Length: 28min 41sec (1721 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 12 2018