Noah’s Faith, Fear, Obedience, and Salvation

Noah's Faith, Fear, Obedience, and Salvation

A Sermon

(No. 2147)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, June 1st, 1890,

C. H. SPURGEON,

At [1]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he
condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith." Hebrews 11:7.

THE APOSTLE COULD NOT AVOID mentioning Noah; for in him faith shone
forth eminently. He has placed him in due order of time after Abel and
Enoch; but he had also another reason for the arrangement. These three
ancient believers are declared in Holy Writ to have pleased God. Of
Abel, it is said that God testified of his gifts. Enoch, before his
translation, had this testimony, that he pleased God: and Noah "found
grace in the eyes of the Lord." Again, it was meet that Noah should
follow close upon Enoch, as one of two who are described as having
"walked with God." "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took
him"; and we read in the sixth chapter of Genesis, verse eight, that
Noah also "walked with God." These two spent their lives in such
constant communion with the Most High that they could be fully
described as walking with God. Oh, that we may, through almighty grace,
be so pleasing unto the Lord that we may abide in fellowship with him!

We may take pleasure in thinking of Noah as a kind of contrast to
Enoch. Enoch was taken away from the evil to come: he saw not the
flood, nor heard the wailing of those who were swept away by the
waterfloods. His was a delightful deliverance from the harvest of wrath
which followed the universal godlessness of the race. It was not his to
fight the battle of righteousness to the bitter end; but by a secret
rapture he avoided death, and escaped those evil days in which his
grandson's lot was cast. Noah is the picture of one who is the Lord's
witness during evil days, and lives through them faithfully, enduring
unto the end. It was his to be delivered from death by death. The ark
was, so to speak, a coffin to him: he entered it, and became a dead man
to the old world; and within its enclosure he was floated into a new
world, to become the founder and father of a new race. As in the figure
of baptism we see life by burial, so was it with this chosen patriarch;
he passed by burial in the ark into a new life. In Enoch we see a type
of those of God's people who will go home peacefully before the last
closing struggle. Ere the first clash of swords at Armageddon, such
Enochs will be taken from the evil to come. But in Noah we see those
who will engage in the conflict, and bear themselves bravely amid
backsliding and apostasy, until they shall see the powers of evil
trodden under their feet as straw is trodden for the dunghill. The
fire-flood will devour the wicked, and only the righteous shall inherit
the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Let these few words
stand as the preface to my discourse; and now let us carefully consider
Noah's faith, trusting that the Holy Spirit may bless its teaching to
our own souls.

I. First, notice that in Noah's case FAITH WAS THE FIRST PRINCIPLE. The
text begins, "By faith Noah." We shall have to speak about his fear
being "moved by fear"; we shall also remember his obedience, for he
"prepared an ark to the saving of his house." But you must take
distinct note that at the back of everything was his faith in God. His
faith begat his fear: his faith and his fear produced his obedience.
Nothing in Noah is held up before us as an example, but that which grew
out of his faith. To begin with, we must look well to our faith. May I
pass the question round these galleries, and put it to you also in this
vast area? Have you faith? Let each one hear the question in the
singular number. "Hast thou faith? Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
Art thou resting in the promise of a faithful God?" If not, thou art
nothing as to spiritual things. Without faith thou art out of the
kingdom of grace, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Thou hast
neither part nor lot in this matter if thou hast no faith. But if thou
hast even a trembling faith, thou hast the root of the matter within
thee. Even if other gracious things be not in thee as yet, they will be
ere long produced by faith. Faith is the acorn, from which the oak of
holiness will grow. Faith is that handful of corn, the fruit whereof
shall shake like Lebanon. Without faith it is impossible to please God,
but with faith we become "accepted in the Beloved."

Notice, first, that Noah believed in God in his ordinary life. Before
the great test came, before he heard the oracle from the secret place,
Noah believed in God. We know that he did, for we read that he walked
with God, and in his common conduct he is described as being "a just
man, and perfect in his generations." To be just in the sight of God is
never possible apart from faith; for "the just shall live by faith." It
is a great thing to have faith in the presence of a terrible trial; but
the first essential is to have faith for ordinary every-day
consumption. Hast thou faith in God as to thy daily bread? Hast thou
faith as to thy children and thy house? Hast thou faith about thy trade
and business? Hast thou faith in the God of providence? Faith in the
God who answers prayer? Is it habitual with thee to roll thy burden
upon the Lord? If it be not so with thee, what wilt thou do when the
floods break forth? Faith will not come to thee all of a sudden, in the
dark night, if thou hast shut it out through all the bright days. Faith
must be a constant tenant, not an occasional guest. I have heard of
Latter-day Saints, and I do not think much of them: I far more admire
Every-day Saints. Thou needest faith this Sabbath-day: have it, and
come to the communion-table with it. But thou needest faith on Monday,
when the shutters are taken down to begin another six days' trading.
Thou wilt need faith the next day; for who can tell thee what will
happen? To the end of the week thou wilt need to look to the hills
whence cometh thine help. Thou needest faith anywhere and everywhere. A
man of God alone in his chamber still needs faith, or solitude may be a
nest for temptation. When the servant of Christ is at his ease, and has
no work pressing upon him, he has need of faith to keep him, lest, like
David, he fall into temptation, and commit folly. Rest days or work
days, we alike need faith. By faith Noah did everything before he
entered the ark. This is an important observation, though it may appear
a very simple one. I could not omit it; for I feel that a practical
work-day faith is what we most of all need. Men think that they need
faith in building a temple; but faith is also needed in building a
haystack. We need faith for ploughing, for buying, for selling, for
working, quite as much as for praying, and singing, and preaching. We
want faith on the market as well as in the prayer-meeting. We wish
everywhere to please God, and we cannot do it anywhere unless we have
unfeigned faith in him. The Lord teach us to have faith seven days in
the week!

Note, next, that Noah had faith in the warning and threatening of God.
Faith is to be exercised about the commandments; for David says, "I
have believed thy commandments." Faith is to be exercised upon the
promises; for there its sweetest business lies. But, believe me, you
cannot have faith in the promise unless you are prepared to have faith
in the threatening also. If you truly believe a man, you believe all
that he says. He who does not believe that God will punish sin, will
not believe that God will pardon it through the atoning blood. He who
does not believe that God will cast unbelievers into hell, will not be
sure that he will take believers into heaven. If we doubt God's Word
about one thing, we shall have small confidence in it upon another
thing. Sincere faith in God must treat all God's Word alike; for the
faith which accepts one word of God and rejects another is evidently
not faith in God, but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own
taste. Only that is true faith which believes everything that is
revealed by the Holy Spirit, whether it be joyous or distressing. Noah
had, in this case, received a promise; but, as the dark background to
it, he had listened to the terrible threatening that God would destroy
all living things with a flood: his faith believed both the warning and
the promise. If he had not believed the threat, he would not have
prepared an ark, and so would not have received the promise. Men do not
prepare an ark to escape from a flood unless they believe that there
will be a flood. I charge you who profess to be the Lord's not to be
unbelieving with regard to the terrible threatenings of God to the
ungodly. Believe the threat, even though it should chill your blood;
believe, though nature shrinks from the overwhelming doom; for, if you
do not believe, the act of disbelieving God about one point will drive
you to disbelieve him upon the other parts of revealed truth, and you
will never come to that true, child-like faith which God will accept
and honour. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark." With solemn awe believe the
bitter word of judgment, that the word of mercy may be sweet to you.

Furthermore, Noah believed what seemed highly improbable, if not
absolutely impossible. There was no sea where Noah laid the keel of his
ark: I do not even know that there was a river there. He was to prepare
a sea-going vessel, and construct it on dry land. How could water be
brought there to float it? O mad old man! how canst thou play the fool
on so huge a scale as to build a three-decked vessel of vast dimensions
where no waters can ever come? Yet he was bidden of the Lord to do it,
and he was persuaded that the Lord's command involved no blunder. The
floods would fill the valley, rise up the hills, and prevail above the
tops of the mountains. He believed all this, although it did seem an
unlikely thing. That faith which believes in the probable is anybody's
faith: publicans and sinners can so believe. The faith which believes
that which is barely possible is in better form; but that faith which
cares nothing for probability or possibility, but rests alone in the
Word of the Lord, is the faith of God's elect. God deserves such faith,
"for with God all things are possible." Not probability, but certainty,
is the groundwork of faith when God has spoken. Noah believed firmly,
and therefore prepared his ship on dry land, quite as cheerfully as he
would have built it by the sea.

At times you and I are assailed as to our faith in the Bible, by people
who say, "How do you make that out? It is in the Scriptures, certainly,
but how do you reconcile it with science?" Let your reply be We no
longer live in the region of argument as to the Word of the Lord; but
we dwell in the realm of faith. We are not squabblers, itching to prove
our superiority in reasoning, but we are children of light, worshipping
our God by bowing our whole minds to the obedience of faith. We would
be humble, and learn to believe what we cannot altogether comprehend,
and to expect what we should never have looked for, had not the Lord
declared it. It is our ambition to be great believers, rather than
great thinkers; to be child-like in faith, rather than subtle in
intellect. We are sure that God is true! Like Noah, we stagger not at
the Word of God, because of evident improbability and apparent
impossibility. What the Lord has spoken he is able to make good; and
none of his words shall fall to the ground.

Note well, that Noah believed alone, and preached on though none
followed him. There were no other believers, if you except his wife and
his sons and daughters. There were eight in all; but I am afraid that
some of these rather believed in father Noah than in the living God.
Noah shone as a lone star. He stood like yonder solitary column in the
midst of a ruined temple. He believed with an unbuttressed faith. How
pleasant it is to associate with our fellow-believers! It is a great
refreshment for a solitary Christian to get into a large congregation,
and to feel in unison with the child's hymn'

"Lord, how delightful 'tis to see

A great assembly worship thee!

At once they sing, at once they pray,

They hear of heaven and learn the way.

I have been there, and still would go,

'Tis like a little heaven below."

But how would you fare if you were alone, or were surrounded by those
who called you a fool for believing in the Lord? To dwell where
everybody is sceptical is as injurious to faith as for a man to live
where the yellow fever is raging. To have your faith pulled to pieces,
and held up to ridicule, is an ordeal which some cannot stand. What if
you should be like Noah, a preacher of righteousness; how stern the
duty of being a solitary witness! He preached for one hundred and
twenty years, and at the end of it not one person was ready to go with
him into the ark. His own family was saved, but nobody else-not a
solitary one. What a trial! How it has made my heart glad, during the
month of May, to see and propose for church-fellowship no less than
sixty-nine! But if I had to preach for a year with no converts, what
should I do? I hope I should persevere, in the name of the Lord God;
but what a trial! What if life were prolonged for one hundred and
twenty years, and after all that preaching nobody believed your word!
That would be an infliction indeed. Many people may have been converted
under Noah, and may have died before the deluge came; but he had not
one convert in the ark with him. His wife had not even a servant to
help her in domestic work, and his sons' wives had to wait on
themselves. There was not even a boy to clean the shoes, or help feed
the animals. Many were called, but only the eight were chosen. Noah had
preached apparently in vain, and yet he believed with none the less of
dogged resolve. The old man was not to be moved. That ark of his would
float; he knew it would. The world would be destroyed; he was sure of
it; as sure as if he had seen it. "Things not seen as yet" were to his
faith substantial and evident.

Noah believed through a hundred and twenty solitary years! It was a
long martyrdom. Our life is quite long enough for the trial of faith.
Even if a man lives to be eighty, and has sixty years of that life
spent in the exercise of faith, it is only by almighty grace that he
holds out. Noah lived two of our lives in this way. If a little flood
had happened and moved his ark a little, he would have had some
evidence for his faith; but there was no flood at all; and his ark lay
high and dry for a century and a quarter! How few could endure this!
Yonder dear friend has been praying for the last six months, and the
Lord has not heard him, and he begins to doubt whether the Lord does
hear prayer at all. You are not much like Noah. You can hardly believe
for one hundred and twenty days. "Alas!" says one, "I have prayed for
my husband these twenty years!" It is a long time to wait; but what
would you do with a hundred added on to it? Years made Noah's faith
more mature, and not more feeble. This grey father of the age went on
with his preaching, went on with his intercession, and, without a
doubt, waited for God in his own time to justify his servant before the
eyes of men.

Once more: Noah believed even to separation from the world. See Noah
and his family entering the ark! I do not think I should have selected
the ark as a place of residence myself, nor would you have chosen to
live in a place pitched within and without with pitch, with only one
door and one window to it, and a great menagerie of birds, and beasts,
and reptiles inside it. Whether that window ran all round the top just
under the roof, so as to let light into the whole structure, I cannot
tell; but I have no doubt that the jeering world said to Noah, "Well,
old man, you have built a prison for yourself, and the sooner you go
inside and shut yourself in the better; for we have had enough of your
preaching!" When the good man and his family went in, and the Lord shut
the door, they were dead to the world. Had Mrs. Noah been like some of
you she would have said, "The girls cannot go out to any more parties,
and our sons are shut out from all society. We are out of the world,
and shall soon be forgotten." Yes, yes, and Noah was glad of it, since
it was the Lord that shut him in. When the Lord shuts you off from the
world, you are best alone. Nowadays professors have not faith enough to
dwell alone. They want two or three doors in the back of the ark, so
that they may slip out every now and then, and do a little pleasuring
with the world, and then glide back again and look like saints. As to
being shut in with God and separated from the world religious and
irreligious' how few will endure it! How little is ever heard of that
cry "Come out from among them, and be ye separate!" "You might as well
be dead," cries one, "as be out of society." Exactly so: and that is
what the child of God looks for. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God." "Buried with him by baptism into death." "God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." That
separatedness which Noah took upon himself so willingly was involved in
his salvation; for if he had lived with the world, he would have died
with the world. Only in separation is salvation.

Thus have I worked out the idea that the first principle which actuated
Noah's heart was faith in the living God.

II. Secondly, FEAR WAS THE MOVING FORCE. Faith was the living
principle, but fear was the moving power; for the text puts it, "By
faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with
fear." Faith moulded him, but fear moved him. How was this? "I
thought," says one, "that perfect love casteth out fear." Yes, fear of
a certain sort; but there is another fear which perfect love embraces
and nourishes.

Noah had no evil fear. He had not a servile fear: he was not afraid of
God as a culprit is afraid of a judge, or a convict of the hangman. He
knew whom he believed, and was persuaded that he had a favour towards
him. Noah had not a careless fear, as some here have. Fools say, "We
never shall be saved, and therefore it would be useless to care about
it. We may as well gather the rosebuds while we may. There is no heaven
for us hereafter, let us make the best of the present." No, Noah was a
witness against such sensual carelessness. He so believed, that fear
came upon him, and that fear made him act as God bade him. Beware of
the unbelief which enables you to trifle; for trifling with eternal
things is the suicide of the soul. Noah, on the other hand, had not a
despairing fear, as some have. They say, "There is no hope. We have
gone too far in sin already to dream of pardon and favour. We may as
well let things take their course." Beware of the poison-cup of
despair. While life lasts hope lasts; and we beseech you not to lie
down in sullen hopelessness. Noah was a stranger to this paralyzing
fear: he bestirred himself, and built an ark. Some allow a presuming
fear: "If I am to be saved," say they, "I shall be saved; and if I am
to be lost, I shall be lost. I may as well be hung for a sheep as a
lamb, and so I will have my fling, and go into sin even as I please."
Noah never spoke thus; for with his fear he had a good hope. He
prepared an ark. He knew that none could save him but God; but as God
bade him prepare an ark, an ark he prepared, and thus he was saved and
his house.

What kind of fear was that of Noah? Well, Noah had a loyal reverence of
God. He feared him as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and when he
went about through the wicked world Noah often said to himself, "I
wonder the Judge of all the earth does not destroy these rebels, who
dare to be so vile and violent." When he saw their gluttony, their
infidelity, their lasciviousness, their oppression of one another, the
preacher of righteousness had a holy fear of judgment. Often his
righteous spirit indignantly cried, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the
ground?" He wondered how God could be so long-suffering. When it was
revealed to him that God was going to destroy the whole race from off
the face of the earth by a flood, he said to himself, "I thought he
would." He felt exceedingly afraid; for he knew that when God once
makes bare his arm for vengeance, the pillars of the earth must shake,
and the stars of heaven cease their shining. Thus the holy man of God
passed the time of his sojourning here in fear. Who among us would not
fear if we were to consider at this time the holiness of God, and the
provocations inflicted upon him by our guilty race? What sin defiles
this earth! Oh, the wrath to come! How awful will the judgment be! It
has not come yet; it may not come for years; but, when the Lord begins
to deal with men in justice, how will that day burn as an oven! "Who
may abide the day of his coming?" Noah by faith heard the cries of men
and women swept from their feet by the torrent. He heard the cries of
strong swimmers in their agony yielding to the overflowing death, and
sinking to their doom. Do you wonder that his heart sank within him,
and that he was moved with fear? He had a holy awe of God, and a solemn
dread of the judgments which sin was drawing down upon the giddy world.

Noah had a very humble distrust of himself. I wish we all had such a
fear. Let us fear God because of his greatness; let us fear ourselves
because of our sinfulness. Let us fear lest we should fall into sin,
and perish with the rest of the sinners. Let no man say, "I shall never
fall." Alas! those are the most likely to slip. Did you never note that
those who seem least likely to fall into a sin are the very people who
commit it? You would not have dreamed that sober Noah should be found
drunk; nor that righteous Lot should commit incest; nor that David,
whose heart smote him when he only cut off the lap of Saul's garment,
should be guilty of murder; nor that Peter, who said, "Though all men
should forsake thee, yet will not I," would have denied his Master with
oaths and cursing. Ah, friends! we may not trust ourselves; but we
ought to stand in daily fear lest we be guilty before God. Here was
Noah filled with such a holy fear of himself, that he took care to do
what the Lord bade him, even to the most minute particular. He did not
choose another sort of wood, nor alter the shape of the vessel, nor
make more stories, nor more windows, nor more doors; but he distrusted
his own judgment, and leaned not to his own understanding. He did
exactly what he was told to do, and thus left the consequences with the
Lord who commanded him. He feared his own wisdom: for he knew that man
is like to vanity, and no more to be relied upon than the mist of the
morning.

Fear made Noah hew the trees and square the timbers, and wield the axe
and the hammer. Fear wrought in him diligence and speed. It made him
despise the observations of onlookers, and build for his life in brave
defiance of the spirit of the age, and the judgment of the wise.
Perhaps I speak to persons who are in fear of the wrath to come. I
rejoice that you have faith enough to fear. By the way of that faith
which brings you unto fear, you will be brought out of it. Believe God
in justice till you tremble; then see that justice vindicated in the
suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and rest in the mercy of God,
which, through the cross, comes justly down to guilty men. A holy fear
will put wings upon your heels, and help you to fly to Jesus. Moved by
fear, may you be drawn and driven to the Lord Jesus!

III. Thirdly, OBEDIENCE WAS THE GRACIOUS FRUIT. Faith and fear together
led Noah to do as God commanded him. When fear is grafted upon faith,
it brings forth good fruit, as in this case.

Noah obeyed the Lord exactly. How often does the Scripture say, "Thus
did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he"! See
again and again, "Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded
him." Those who have faith in God should show it by a holy fear, which
makes them zealous to leave nothing undone which is commanded of the
Lord, and to add nothing of will-worship to the perfect law of God.
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it;" was the wise word of the Virgin.
Obey the Lord with all your mind and all your heart, in the way of
faith, if you would find salvation. Prove that you have grace, by your
accurate obedience.

Noah obeyed the Lord very carefully. God said to him, "Make an ark";
and we read in answer thereto that he prepared an ark. There was
careful preparation, and not hurried, thoughtless activity. He prepared
the right materials; he prepared the different parts so as to fit
together: he prepared his mind, and then prepared his work. In seeking
the Lord, let us exercise our best thoughts. People do not go to heaven
in the fashion of "hop, skip, and jump." Carelessness cannot tread the
highway of holiness. If you would know the way to hell, you may shut
your eyes and find it: a little matter of neglect will surely ruin you
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" But if you
desire to go to heaven, I beg you to remember that "the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." There
must be determination, thought, care, attention; and faith must work
with all these to produce obedience to the will of the Lord. Men are
never right by accident, nor obedient to the Lord by chance;
preparation of heart is wanted, and this the Lord must give. Alas! I
fear some of you will miss eternal life, for you trifle about it! If
you had a business to settle which involved the gain or loss of ten
thousand pounds, how particular you would be; but when your whole soul
is at stake, how many take up such matters at haphazard and risk
eternal destruction! Not so Noah: he was precise in his obedience, and
careful to remain so.

Noah obeyed at all costs. To build the huge vessel called "the ark"
must have cost Noah a great deal of money and labour. He could not get
everybody to work at the absurd task of building a vessel on dry land.
As they would be laughed at, his workmen would be sure to demand extra
pay. Possibly he had to pay double wages to every wright employed on
the ark. The patriarch was content to sink all his capital and all his
income in this singular venture. It was a poor speculation so everybody
told him; and yet he was quite willing to put all his eggs into that
one basket. God had bidden him build, and build he would, feeling that
the divine command insured him against risk. Can we do the same?

Noah went on obeying under daily scorn. The men of that generation
mocked him. He went out and preached to them; but many would not hear
him, for they thought him mad. Those who did listen to him said to each
other, "He is building a vessel upon dry land: is he sane? We are
scientific, and therefore we know how absurd his preaching is; for none
ever heard of the world being drowned by a flood." They called his
warning "an old wives' fable," and he himself was "an old fossil."
Doubtless he was the frequent subject of sarcastic remark. I cannot
reproduce the letters that were written about the sturdy patriarch, nor
can I recount the spiteful things which were said by the gossips; but I
have no doubt they were very clever, and very sarcastic. Those
productions of genius are all forgotten now; but Noah is remembered
still. For all the scorning of many he went on obeying his God: he
stuck to the lines on which God had placed him, and he could not be
turned to the right hand or to the left, because he had a real faith in
God.

Noah's obedience followed the command as he learned it. I admire his
going into the ark without a question. All the cattle and the beasts
and flying things are in the ark with him, and he does not pray to be
let out. We may equally admire him for coming out again when called
upon to do so. After we have once been shut in, some of us had rather
stop in. We are not fond of changes. We grow accustomed to a certain
line of things, and find in use a second nature; and we wish to remain
as we are. It is so safe in the ark, and we are so peaceful, so
conscious of being in the hollow of God's hand, that we fear to come
forth into a world so lately cursed. Noah came out without a question,
and the first thing he did was to build an altar to the Lord, and so to
prove that he was at home with God. Oh, for faith that will obey God
anyhow and anywhere! You remember how God said to Elijah, "Hide
thyself"; and away went the prophet to the brook Cherith, where none
saw him but the fowls of heaven. A brave prophet like Elijah finds it
hard to be in hiding; yet he does not disobey. Presently comes the
command, "Go, show thyself"; and out he comes from his exile and stands
before King Ahab, according to the word of the Lord. Whether God bids
his true servants show themselves or hide themselves, they do his will
at once.

"Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to dare and die."

The will of the Lord is to be done by his servants, whether on earth or
in heaven. If he saith, "Go," they go; if he saith, "Stay," they abide
in their places. Oh, for such a faith as this! It was easier for Noah
to build the ark than to render so complete an obedience; but the Lord
wrought in him by his grace.

IV. And now I come to my last point, upon which hear me patiently.
RESULTS DID NOT FAIL TO COME. One hundred and twenty years preaching,
and no converts remaining! One hundred and twenty years building a
ship, and yet no water to float it! One hundred and twenty years
warning people that God is about to destroy them, and yet no flood!
Surely, the good man's life is a failure. No doubt wise folks said of
him, "He is a good old man, but he is uncharitable, and has become an
alarmist." Some style him a "pessimist," others say, "He is a bigot";
others, again, affect to deplore that the good man has made such a
great mistake, and is wasting his influence under a delusion. I hear
fine gentlemen saying, "Do not take much notice of the old gentleman.
No doubt he is a very good man, but at the same time he is only one,
and his views are very peculiar. He has gone on chopping this logic for
one hundred and twenty years, and the world is not drowned yet: it is
really too ridiculous." The wilder spirits meet him in the morning, and
they say, "Well, father Noah, when is this flood coming? The country
would be improved by a good soaking. You have raised our expectations
so long, that it ought to pour when it does come. You ought to have
minded the old saying, 'Never prophesy till you are sure.'" Thus would
they jest at the preacher of righteousness; but Noah knew what he was
at, and was not silenced. All that he did was simply to repeat his
warning, and go on with his ship-building. God's time was coming on:
the storm was gathering, and before long the deluge would end the mirth
of the godless.

What did come of it? The first result was, He was saved and his house.
Oh, that God would give to every preacher of righteousness this full
reward himself and his house! O my brothers in the ministry, there is
no greater joy for us than to know that our children walk in the truth!
Perhaps some of you fear the Lord; and yet he has never given you your
Shem, Ham, and Japhet. Alas! it may even happen that she that lieth in
your bosom does not yet know the Lord. Nevertheless, be you faithful to
your God, and to the souls of men. Hold the truth, if you stand alone.
Even if in your own house you find your worst foes, hold on, and never
doubt. Do not come down a stop or two as to holiness, nor seek a lower
platform upon which to meet more cordially an ungodly world. Believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the ever-blessed gospel. That
is the one business of your life; and I believe that if you have faith
in the Lord as to your family, your beloved ones shall be given you as
a prey. Remember the Philippian jailer, to whom Paul said, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Do not
rest content with half the promise. Grasp firmly the words, "and thy
house." Have you an Ishmael? then get alone, and, like Abraham, cry to
God, "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" God will hear your prayer
and bless Ishmael also. Oh, what a privilege it will be if you yourself
and all your house are saved!

The next result was, that he condemned the world. Read, "By which he
condemned the world." "Ha! ha! ha!" they said, "we judge the old man to
be out of his mind." But he was their judge. The merriest jest that
flashed forth at the banquet of wine was pointed with a sarcasm about
old Noah and his dry-land ship; but all the while he was solemnly
judging and condemning that ribald world. The Lord had made him
serenely bear witness against iniquity; yes, and even to sit on the
throne and condemn the world. I do not read that Noah ever entered into
any dispute with the men of his times. He never argued or cavilled,
much less did he wish them ill; he simply believed and told them the
truth, kept his own faith intact, and went on building his ark; thus
practising what he believed. In this way he condemned those who
criticized him. Ah! you may laugh, ye worldlings; but the man of God is
your master after all! His preaching condemned them: they know the way,
and wickedly refused to run in it. His warning condemned them: they
would not regard it and escape. His life condemned them, for he walked
with the God whom they despised. Most of all, the ark condemned them.
Did none of them ever say, as he passed it in the morning, "This is the
strangest fabric that ever was. There is not, in all the world besides,
such another thing as this. Yet Noah is no fool. He can make a bargain,
as I found to my cost, when he was buying nails, and I tried to get
double their value from him. The man is cool and calm, shrewd and
sharp. He bought my wood upon the hill; but he first made an accurate
estimate of the timber in it, and its worth: he bought as well as any
man could do. How is it that on this one particular point he is so
strange?" Did not such men at times think that there must be something
in it after all? If they did not think so, at any rate the fact that
Noah carried out his principles to the full, and invested all he had in
the building of this strange ark, would have forced them to conviction
if they had not been hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. How his
faith condemned them! When the floods began to rise, and the door was
shut, how the sight of the ark condemned them! I can imagine, when the
water began to get knee-deep, there would be frightened ones around the
ark door; but it could not be opened, since God had shut it. When the
ark began to float, some of them fled to the sides of the mountains;
and what a condemnation the sight of the floating ark was to them! Noah
could not help them then. The day in which they might have entered was
gone by. If they ever saw Noah look out of the ark, how the face which
once pleaded with them would condemn them! Oh, my hearers, how often
have I warned you to flee from the wrath to come! I have warned you of
those dread waves of fire, and of that horrible tempest, which will
sweep over all the earth, and destroy ungodly men and their works. How
often have I spoken of the pit which God hath digged for the wicked,
into which your feet will slide in due time unless you seek the
Saviour! May be, in those days of terror, the face of the preacher will
condemn you, as you remember how he looked at you with earnest love,
but you would have none of his pleading, and chose to perish in your
sin. Your blood shall be upon your own heads. It is a solemn thought,
that one lone man condemned a world. It was one against millions! Yet
the one condemned the millions. If God is with a man, though that man
be only one, he is in the majority. Men of the world wilt soon become a
weeping, wailing, and despairing company; but he that stands alone for
God shall be had in honour, and shall both judge and condemn the guilty
world.

The last thing Noah earned by his faith was this, he became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith; for God said of him, when he bade him
come into the ark, "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation." God declared him righteous; not righteous by his works,
although his works, following upon his faith, proved him to be
righteous; but righteous by his faith. He believed God, and found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. He received the righteousness which God gives
through Jesus Christ to all them that believe. Wrapt in this he stood
before the Lord, justified and approved. By faith he was adopted and
became a son, an heir. For him the promise of the woman's seed, though
it was all the Bible that he had, was quite enough. The woman's seed,
and the Lamb's sacrifice, which Abel had seen, these were almost all
the revelation he had known. He had no Pentateuch, no Psalms, no
Gospels, no Epistles; but he so believed that little Bible of his, that
he expected that Christ in him would bruise the serpent in the world.
God honoured his faith, and he condemned the world. He lived when the
rest perished; he was secure in his ark when the myriads were sinking
in the deluge: he became "heir of the righteousness which is by faith"
when others were condemned. May God make us all so, and unto his name
shall be the glory through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON Genesis 6:5,22; Hebrews
11:1-7.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 913, 652, 504.